The Outer Worlds 2 DLC ‘Side Effects Guaranteed’ Launches December 2

Obsidian’s first story expansion for The Outer Worlds 2, Side Effects Guaranteed, launches December 2, 2026 for $14.99 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with the second part of the story due in spring 2027. Every Outer Worlds 2 story we publish sits on our tag page, and the date is on our release calendar.

The story opens with a distress signal from a derelict ship whose crew is in suspended animation. A video message from the captain says the crew was contaminated on a heist with something that will cause explosive cell death unless they find a cure, and Obsidian’s communications director called it a liquefaction instead of an explosion. Elysium Valley is the new region on Eden that the expansion opens up, and Sub Rosa is the criminal organization that steals from the game’s factions instead of working for them. Two Sub Rosa agents want different things in that valley’s settlement of former Protectorate subjects, whom their own leaders have forgotten. Gordon Hazen needs information that might save his crew and leans on diplomacy; Algernon Lankester wants to use the settlement for his own gain. Your choice decides how Sub Rosa ends up and carries straight into the second expansion next spring.

The level cap goes from 30 to 36, with 15 new perks added and three more perks to pick up along the way. Four new flaws come with it, and they are not cosmetic. “Lethally Tolerant” raises your maximum toxicity so that a Toxicity Crash kills you instantly. “Must Have Been the Wind” marks an assassination target in a combat group, worth 20 percent more damage and speed until that combat ends and a 10 percent penalty for 30 seconds if you hit the wrong person.

Five new weapons arrive, including the Immobilizer, a gun that makes gravity forget to exist around its target so it hangs in the air while you switch weapons, and the 1/6 Resolver, where every sixth bullet packs an extra punch. New armor, new outfits for each companion and a Sub Rosa radio station with 20 new songs round it out, along with primal sprats about 100 times the size of the small ones and vicious canids. A free update lands the same day and lets you reallocate your skill points at any time, plus a custom game option for how many skill points you get per level. You can also start the DLC directly from the main menu on a pre-made level 27 character, although the expansion’s events trigger just before the point of no return in the main game.

If you already own the base game and want part one, $14.99 is the short answer. The $30 upgrade only pays off if you plan to buy both expansions.

The free skill-point reset is the quiet headline for a returning Commander. It arrives on the same day as the expansion, so a level 30 save built around the old cap can be rebuilt around the three new perks as soon as the content lands. That shortens the usual power-creep grind after a cap increase. It also makes the $14.99 standalone price easier to justify on its own terms: the $30 upgrade is really a bet on the spring 2027 installment, and the second part’s reviews will tell you whether that bet is worth it.

No launch hour for December 2 has been announced yet.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report