It’s actually remarkably easy to stumble over the necessary quest steps to unlock SAM while doing other sidequests, so here’s our guide on how to recruit this livewire janitor companion early on in The Outer Worlds.

The Outer Worlds: How to Find SAM

You can find SAM on the top floor of your starship, the Unreliable. He’s sitting behind a doorway in the crew quarters. In order to activate the robot, you’ll need to complete the quest called “The Cleaning Machine”. You can also grab the quest from your terminal in the captain’s quarters.

How to Complete “The Cleaning Machine” and Activate SAM

Completing the quest to get SAM is as easy as following the quest chain titled “The Distress Signal” near Roseway, which you’ll find if you follow Gladys’ instructions in the main quest “Passage to Anywhere”.

When you go to pick up the weapon blueprints from the Storage Facility, you’ll find an Acid Steeper sitting on one of the shelves nearby. If the plans are on your left, the shelf is on your right. 

With the Acid Steeper in hand, return to SAM on your spaceship and you’ll complete the quest, rewarding you with the ability to take your new chromatic companion into your party with you.

What can SAM do?

If SAM is in your party, they grant bonuses to your Intimidate, Hack, and Science skills. They also have these unlockable perks:

Bonus Support Intimidate: Adds +10 to your Intimidate skill. Cleaner: Reduces the negative reputation effect of killing members of a faction by 20%. Bad Samaritan: Deal increased damage to automechanicals.


Now that you know how to repair and recruit your very own caustic robo-custodian SAM in The Outer Worlds, it’s time to get out there and clean up the colony. Meanwhile, stick around for more The Outer Worlds guides.

Here are a few to get you started: 

Prismatic Hammer Weapon Location Guide How to Change FOV The Outer Worlds PC Blur Fix Guide Tactical Time Dilation (TTD) Guide Shrink Ray Scientific Weapon Location Die Robot Logic Core Location Guide Walkthrough Guide: Finding Zoe Walkthrough Guide: The Frightened Engineer Walkthrough Guide: Illustrated Manual How to Use Tactical Time Dilation  The Outer Worlds  How to Get SAM   The Outer Worlds - 50The Outer Worlds  How to Get SAM   The Outer Worlds - 85