The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

The achievement unlocks during The Demolished Woman main story quest (and before you complete it) when you meet Rachel Lockwood and decide her fate. Your decision does not matter. The only criterion is that you meet with Rachel and decide what to do with her. It is missable because you can reach the point of no return in the game without completing the quest.

In order to get The Demolished Woman quest, you must make the decision on Groundbreaker to tell Udom Bedford you have info regarding Phineas’s whereabouts. The game’s story line branches at this decision point. If you elect not to divulge info on Phineas’s whereabouts to Udom, you do not acquire The Demolished Woman quest and miss the achievement.

Once you tell Odum you know where Phineas is, he will give you the Balance Due quest. You must retrieve his Board Seal. When you give it to him, he gives you the Navkey to the Adjutant Akande Landing Pad in Byzantium. The short Puppet Masters main quest automatically begins. For the upcoming events, it is of value to take Felix with you for his lockpicking bonus and to improve his opinion of you. If your lockpicking is below 60 or so, take Parvati as well—she also boosts that skill.

You land on Byzantium and meet with Sophia Akande. This completes Puppet Masters and automatically initiates the The Demolished Woman main story quest.

Sophia wants you to retrieve some documents for her. Go up the elevator in the Bureau of Exploration to Rachel Lockwood’s office. You can pick the lock (skill check of about 60) and obtain the documents from her desk. At this point, you can return them to Sophia to complete the quest although she will not be entirely pleased. Nevertheless, you will have declined to ‘deal’ with the cartographer and, thus, will not unlock the achievement. Use the unsecure terminal on her desk to learn Rachel went down into the [maintenance] tunnels.

You are not required to talk to the ‘receptionist’ on the ground floor. But, if you do, with high intelligence, you can deduce he’s a contract killer hired by Sophia. You can also pick the lock of a nearby room to find the body of the real receptionist and figure out the man behind the window, Sherman Bradshaw, is an assassin.

Bradshaw will give you the keycard to Rachel’s office if you ask him and pass a persuade check of about 40. This should be easy with Felix and Parvati in your party—they both provide bonuses to the Persuade skill. Or, you can enter the receptionist’s office, sneak up behind Bradshaw, and pickpocket him to get the keycard by stealth.

More importantly, once you have snuck up behind Bradshaw, kill him. This is not required but simplifies the quest in general and unlocking the achievement in particular. You can attack him head on, if you want, but he’s a slightly pesky opponent and the sneak kill is more efficient.

Having learned of her location in the Maintenance Tunnels, follow the quest marker to Rachel. If you kill her before talking to her, the achievement will pop immedately. If you talk to her, you can decide to spare or kill her. All of these choices will unlock the achievement at the time you commit to a decision.

If you didn’t kill Bradshaw, he will show up. If you allow him to kill Rachel, you will still get the achievement. If you tell Bradshaw you are letting Rachel go, he will oppose you and you must kill him. Afterwards, talk to Rachel. Whether you let her go or renege and kill her, the achievement will pop. In short, once you meet with Rachel, regardless of your decisions, you will earn the achievement.

My recommendation is to let Rachel live and, as stated earlier, kill Bradshaw when you first encounter him so he doesn’t interfere. Whereas her fate does not influence the ‘best’ ending in the game, it does have an effect on Felix. If you spare her, Felix’s opinion of you improves and increases the likelihood he will remain your companion. Felix is staunchly anti-corporate. Many of the expediencies you take during the game do not sit well with him. He is at risk to defect. Completing Felix’s companion quest and persuading him to remain your companion are matters that pertain to the best ending not to mention that completing his companion quest is tied to an achievement.

Although the achievement has popped, you still have to complete The Demolished Woman. Follow the quest marker to Percival and give him Rachel’s papers. He will patch you through on the comms to Sophia. She will already know you let Rachel live (if you decided to be nice). She’ll dock your pay a small amount but you still get credit for a completely successful mission and initiate the next main story quest, Long Distance.