Your Companions are your followers in The Outer Worlds. They will partake in quests with you, fight for you and offer advice in some of the games crucial decision-making moments.
With them being fighters, they’ll initiate fights with any nearby enemies. If you haven’t upgraded their gear enough, then it’s likely they’ll die within a few hits. Depending on your game mode, this can mean a few different things.
In any of the normal modes (anything other than Supernova), they will get back up after any nearby enemies have been cleared. Then they will automatically regenerate health, they won’t require medicine or any other interaction from you.

However, on Supernova difficulty, once a companion dies, they’re gone for good. You’ll lose any side quests they offer, interactions and perks, they can’t be revived. Your only option in this case is to load back to a previous save, where they’re still around.
Below, we’ve added a few tips for saving companions. For more guides & content for The Outer Worlds on PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One, make sure to check out our dedicated area here!
Stop Companions Dying
The first, and most obvious way of keeping companions alive in The Outer Worlds is to ensure that you are constantly updating their gear. This includes their Body Armor, Helmets and Weapon. You can do this by opening up the player menu (TAB on PC) and selecting a companion at the top of the screen, it only shows companions who are currently with you.

Here, you can change their armor and weapons. It’s a good idea to take the armor and weapons into a Workbench first and upgrade them, allowing them to provide extra damage reduction. You can also apply some modifications too, making them even stronger.
Next, make sure to choose the right perks for your companions. You can change perks under the same menu as changing armor and weapons. If you’re playing Supernova, it’s probably a good idea to choose perks which increase health, and make companions more tanky in general.
Your final option is to simply not bring companions on adventures with you. If you know they’re going to die, keep them in the ship until you feel it’s safe. Make a manual save before heading into a battle, so you can always go back in the event of their death.