Starfield – 15 Amazing Things it Does

Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield has been out for a few weeks now on Xbox Series X/S and PC, and much like the developer’s previous titles, there are all kinds of crazy things to discover. There is much to discover, from little moments you would have otherwise missed, cool interactions, physics abuse or incredible details. There’s bound to be more over the coming months, but here are 15 amazing things that Starfield does.

Steal Credits With Physics

Stealing tons of stuff in Starfield isn’t difficult, but you can make it even easier by using the game physics to your advantage. Take a container, position it below a table with Credits on it, and then use another object to slide them in. It won’t trigger a response from the NPCs since you’re not technically touching the Credits. Walk out with the container to a safe spot and collect them peacefully. While far from the best money-making strategy in the game, being able to do this is pretty cool.

Vasco’s Humor

If you’re not a fan of the companions from Constellation and how straight-laced they can be, take Vasco along. Though his sense of humor tries to mimic Barrett, he can be brutal when afforded an opportunity. When asked if he knows any human jokes, Vasco will reply, “I am looking at one.” Say what you will about the others, but Vasco pulls no punches.

“Invincible” Ships

Space combat is surprisingly fun in Starfield, but it can get annoying when you’re overwhelmed against multiple opponents and haven’t outfitted your ship. The solution? Build a vessel without a midpoint. No, seriously. Take your ship and arrange the components so there’s nothing in the middle. Enemies will target the midpoint of your ship in combat, so if there’s nothing there, they deal no damage when facing them from the front. Granted, they can occasionally deal damage while you’re turning, but even if they fire missiles from behind you, they sail off harmlessly into the void. Incredibly dumb, yes, but it works very well.

Glowing Stars

It may not be obvious when navigating the star map, but some stars are glowing while others are white dots or fainter red dots. The glowing stars indicate locations the player has visited, while the white dots indicate places you haven’t, but can still be traveled to via Grav jump. The red dots are stars which can’t be jumped to from your current location. It’s subtle, and a clever way to indicate which systems are available to explore.

Patches on Companion Suits

Want to keep track of the different Skills that your companions have? Take a closer look at the patches on their spacesuits – they mirror the images used for Skills in the various Skill Trees. While you need to memorize the image for each Skill across all the trees, it beats constantly bringing up the companion list to check their Skills. Unfortunately, you can’t cover yourself in these patches to show off your mastery of various Skills.

Ship Dashboard Details

There are a lot of different consoles and control panels throughout Starfield’s extensive universe. You probably noticed when jumping to a planet from your scanner in space or when dogfighting, but they’re incredibly detailed. Is it possible for the average person to understand what everything means? Probably not, but they go a long way towards immersion and making you feel like a space explorer.

Placing Objects on the Dashboard

As detailed as your ship dashboard can be, it’s boring to stare at the same thing over time. The good news is that you can decorate it with various items. So if you have decorations, plushies, potted plants etc., that would look good, place them on the dashboard to admire them while traveling and spruce up the journey.

Chaotic Conversations

Throughout the many conversations, you’ll notice that the game doesn’t pause when speaking to someone. NPCs can walk freely, staring at you with vacant eyes. However, sometimes, enemies can attack. One particularly hilarious encounter involves chucking a grenade at enemies before a scripted conversation plays, and before they can get a word in, they’re immediately dead to the explosion. You could save some people on a planet, only to have an alien creature run up from behind and kill them mid-conversation.

Helping the Needy

Some of the best moments in Starfield can be found while simply wandering around. You encounter a child in Cydonia who tells you about their mother and how sad she is. If you find the mother, you can listen to her story and even give some money to help her. Again, not a quest per se but just an emotional conversation to discover while wandering around (which does lead to an adorable side quest).

Hours Without Incident

While wandering around in Cydonia, you may have noticed a sign that indicates the number of hours which have passed “without incident.” What constitutes an “incident” is unclear, but pull out a shotgun, shoot someone, and it resets to zero in real-time. Then again, even if on your best behavior, returning to the city could see the timer at a lower number, indicating something terrible happened in your absence.

Emergency Cuttable Walls

Have you ever come across any Emergency Cuttable Walls? As it turns out, you can cut them open with your mining laser. Slice through the four locks in each corner and open sesame. If you ditched the tool, don’t worry – weapons will work, whether it’s a pistol or a knife (as bizarre as it sounds).

Umbrella Ships

Have you ever ventured to a planet and stood outside in the rain admiring your surroundings? If so, take a closer look at your ship. It and the surrounding area will get wet, as you’d expect, but the ground underneath it will stay dry, just like in real life, and leave an outline. While not super practical, it’s another nice detail.

Screenshots as Loading Screens

If you’re one to take screenshots in-game, whether of stunning sights or ridiculous moments, then they eventually pop up during the many loading screens. It’s a feature that carries over from Fallout 76 and provides some nice variety when going from one location to another. It makes the tedium of fast travel much more bearable if nothing else.

Bullet Casings Affected by Gravity

Starfield was hyped up before launch for its low-gravity and Zero-G environments since firing a ballistic weapon in the latter caused the recoil to propel you backward. However, since bullet casings are separate objects, ballistic weapons are worth using purely to see how gravity affects them. In normal gravity, the casings fly out normally. They take longer to fall to the ground and even bounce higher in low gravity. In Zero G? Get a mod that causes them to linger for longer and stare in awe as thousands of casing float through the environment.

Hunters, Prey and Scavengers

While surveying a planet, it’s quickly revealed to have an actual ecosystem with hunters, prey and scavengers. If you follow the hunters and observe them killing their prey, the scavengers will appear later to mop up the remains. Not only is it realistic, but a great way to scan every species if you’re missing some.

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