Exploring Starfield is an experience, to say the least. Its vast size – its undisputed girth – is offset only by the sheer number of things to find – stuff to loot. Secrets abound in a universe as wacky as Starfield, but such scale can be off-putting, and when that happens, players will certainly start putting their controllers down for good. That being said, new discoveries await, and there is always something on the cosmic horizon – likely behind several celestially ordained loading screens – ready to pull you right back in.
Experience New Game Plus
We start with arguably the coolest thing Starfield has to offer – it’s completely bonkers New Game Plus mode. Whilst not called that in the game, it very much acts like a warped version of your traditional “buffed second playthrough”. We aren’t going to spoil anything here, as doing so would be a disservice to Ludo narrative harmony executed to perfection, but we do recommend you jump back in to finish your playthrough.
From a purely mechanical standpoint, you will retain all of your experience, Skills, and Powers. However, everything else? Well, that’s gone. This lets you start fresh, but fresh with a bit of a boost. Explore new worlds, find new loot, and discover the other funky secrets you missed on your first playthrough.
New Game Plus
We start with arguably the coolest thing Starfield has to offer – it’s completely bonkers New Game Plus mode. Whilst not called that in the game, it very much acts like a warped version of your traditional “buffed second playthrough”. We aren’t going to spoil anything here, as doing so would be a disservice to Ludo narrative harmony executed to perfection, but we do recommend you jump back in to finish your playthrough.
From a purely mechanical standpoint, you will retain all of your experience, Skills, and Powers. However, everything else? Well, that’s gone. This lets you start fresh, but fresh with a bit of a boost. Explore new worlds, find new loot, and discover the other funky secrets you missed on your first playthrough.
You can even check out the other cool things in this guide. It’s almost like this was all planned ahead of time.
Obtain The Star Powers
Starfield is so opulently enormous that you might have spent hundreds of hours doing stuff and never realized you can harness the power of the sun to destroy your foes, warp reality, and bend the universe to your will. It’s a pretty cool gig all things considered, but it’s linked to the Main Questline, a questline so innately boring compared to the concept of exploring the vast void that you can be forgiven for missing it.
But miss it you should not as these powers are not only numerous but incredibly powerful. – both in and out of combat. Tracking them down and using them makes your life easier, and more importantly, makes you look pretty darn cool. Nobody else is running around manipulating the fabrics of existence – own that, you deserve it.
Become A Drug Lord
Starfield has a very robust crafting system that lets you craft all kinds of things. You can even make narcotics on a cartel-sized scale and start your own drug-running business. With the right ship upgrades, you can effortlessly pass undetected and sell your wares at will. It’s not an honest life, but it can be pretty darn profitable and a veritable goldmine for roleplayers looking for something a bit different.
Unleash Your Inner Ship-Smith
The dream for many will be to make their own ship from scratch – well, the dream for many will actually be to make someone else’s ship from a different IP from scratch. Starfield allows you to do that. Are you a fan of Futurama? Startrek? Literally anything? With enough dedication, you can build a thing from that thing. It’s really cool. You can even break the game by making a giant space donut which apparently breaks the enemy AI and turns you into a god.
Uncover New Alien Species
Starfield is massive, but it isn’t infinite. Heck, the amount of enemies you can fight might seem fairly small once you get into it. That doesn’t mean there aren’t weird things to find if
you pay attention and go looking. Recently, Reddit User Diamond Zoyd discovered a species of oxygen-sucking cockroaches that seemingly only exist on one planet. If you want to find said planet, then simply head to Moloch 2. Before long you will start to bleed oxygen as swarms of the little buggers come to munch on your suit. The existence of these critters begs the question – are there more weird life forms out there?
Become A Corporate Spy
Joining Ryujin Industries might sound like a trip into a unique kind of hell. I mean, you are literally signing up to be a coffee boy for some hoity-toity corporate mug, an irony surely lost to time. But don’t let a simple setup dissuade you from espionage, assassination, and corporate meddling.
Sure, you are carrying coffee now, but by the time you leave the coffee shop, things begin to unravel. From there you work your way up the ranks whilst doing all kinds of petty crimes in the shadows to ensure your employer’s dominance. To start this quest simply head to Neon and ride the elevator to Ryujin Industries. Easy peasy.
Become A Space Pirate
The moment you join the Crimson Fleet, 90% of the threats in space are no longer threats. You even get to talk to random pirates and get some pretty awesome dialogue options.
But you don’t need to be a Space Pirate, to be a Space Pirate. You see, it can all be a cunning ruse. A gambit deployed by Vanguard to get a “nobody” on the inside, to unravel the fleet like an inpatient seamstress. You can be a double agent, and this is awesome.
What if you actually were a Space Pirate all along? What if you are a secret triple agent going out of your way to mislead and betray – working every angle – getting every reward – being the ultimate tinker? That’s up to you. Starfield is a roleplaying game and it rewards you for roleplaying. Get to backstabbing.
Get Infinite Money & Loot
Bethesda hides a shopkeeper’s inventory below the world. When you talk to a vendor, you purchase goods from this hidden stash. Simple as that.
Starfield launched pretty darn smoothly all things considered, but that doesn’t mean it launched flawlessly. These hidden stashes are sometimes placed too close to the ground and are accessible by intrepid players looking to abuse the system. The easiest stash to find is in New Akila.
Fly there, head into the city and make your way to Shepherd’s General Store. Just outside is a puddle. If you crouch next to the puddle whilst in third-person mode and finagle your aim a bit, you will suddenly gain access to a treasure trove of items. Loot everything you can, keep what you want, and sell the rest. You can even sell it back to the owner as none of these
items count as stolen.
Embrace The Different Mods
Mods are the bread and butter of every Bethesda game and embracing the culture is a must if you want to make the most of your time in Starfield – well, assuming you are playing on PC. If not, then you are out of luck at the moment. You don’t get to have quite as much fun.
When it comes to modding, we have a few suggestions to get you started. Of course, running Priqrade’s Achievement Enabler is more or less a must. After that though? How about the ability to modify your FOV so you can see more in first and third person, courtesy of Hellstorm102. If you hate lockpicking then Easy Digi Picking from Ixion XVII is for you.
Since we mentioned new game plus way back at the start of this guide, did you know you can even mod your game to make it easier to access New Game Plus and all of its secrets? Because you can and it’s pretty awesome. There is a lot to see in New Game Plus, but we still refuse to spoil any of it – we leave that to you.
We hope some of these tips help you get back into Starfield. Embedded above is our video coverage, giving you more insight into the guide. Check out more Starfield guides and walkthroughs right here.
