Starfield Almost Happened In Fallout’s Earth, But Bethesda Couldn’t Make It Work

A series of Starfield live-action shorts are on the way to help you get to grips with the Settled Systems, and we’ve got our first look at the incredible set design already. Helmed by videogame short filmmaker Stephen Ford, the live-action series of shorts will help you learn even more about Bethesda’s newest universe.

Starfield is a sprawling RPG that promises cosmic awe, mysteries of the universe, and a vast galaxy to explore. Even though its narrative and scope are very large and philosophically profound, I find myself instead tickled by many of the small details and silly moments in Starfield. Bethesda RPGs have a certain jankiness to them that persists throughout all their titles, and Starfield is no exception.

I've read several comments here and elsewhere that Bethesda's Starfield is "a mile-wide but deep as a puddle", or variations on that theme. Said commenters might be tickled to know that there is, in fact, a puddle in the game's Akila City that contains infinite loot: by dint of peering into it, you'll magically gain access to a nearby store's inventory. Strip the shelves, then wait a day or two, and you'll be able to do so again, forever and ever. Or at least, that was the case till this week's Starfield patch, a small update consisting of exactly ten bulletpoints, including one that tackles "an issue that allowed for a vendor's full inventory to be accessible". Boo! Time to go looking for another convenient in-game metaphor, I guess. Perhaps there's something incredibly clever you can say about all the flying cities.

Feel like going for a dip in Starfield? Then you might want to avoid this particular planet. It has a lake or ocean that’s so corrosive that it instantly kills the animals in it. What were they doing there? That’s a question you should perhaps ask Bethesda.

Starfield is a massive open world that is itching to be explored, but a lack of maps, especially for its established cities, can make it a pain to navigate. No such headache is more prominent than in New Atlantis, previously confirmed to be the biggest city Bethesda Game Studios has ever made. But if you're getting lost venturing New Atlantis, there's a mod that finally adds a map into the city.

Starfield guide: Our hub of adviceStarfield console commands: Every cheat you needStarfield mods: Space is your sandboxStarfield traits: The full list, with our top picksStarfield companions: All your recruitable crewStarfield romance options: Space dating

Starfield developer Bethesda has outlined a raft of improvements coming to the space role-playing game post-launch.

Starfield officially launched last week, and while the reaction has generally been fairly positive, as with most Bethesda games, there’s still some missing features to be added and a lot of bugs to clean up. Today, Bethesda provided a bit of an update and what they’re working on – perhaps most excitingly, while the AMD-partner game only launched with FSR, it seems DLSS support is already in the works. That’s welcome news that hopefully means players will have the full suite of upscaling options before the end of year (modders have tried to step in to provide DLSS support, but the results aren’t always that stable). In addition to that, players can look forward to a proper FOV slider, HDR calibration options, ultrawide monitor support, and more. Here’s a brief rundown of what you can expect…

Earth is an inhospitable wasteland in Starfield. Sounds familiar, aye? Nuclear war ravaged our little floating rock in the Fallout series, leaving much of the planet a smoking radioactive desert. However, the two games aren't connected, but Bethesda did consider setting Starfield in the Fallout universe at one point during development.

Starfield guide: Our hub of adviceStarfield console commands: Every cheat you needStarfield mods: Space is your sandboxStarfield traits: The full list, with our top picksStarfield companions: All your recruitable crewStarfield romance options: Space dating

For reasons I won't get into here because it may constitute a little bit of a spoiler, the planet Earth in Starfield is a bit of a wasteland. But what if it was The Wasteland—that is, the post-nuclear hellscape of Bethesda's other big sci-fi-ish game series, Fallout? In an interview with The Washington Post, creative director Todd Howard said developers actually gave thought to the idea.

You may have heard about a little space game called Starfield, the gravitational pull from which risks swallowing all games discourse for months and possibly years to come. Perhaps that's no surprise for a game that's been in development and hyped for as long as any title that I can remember (well, ones that have shipped anyway) but it's easy to forget now the thing's in our hands that it was subject to multiple delays along the way.