Summary
[Warning: The following article containsspoilers aboutStarfield’s ending.]
Starfieldis known for its vastness, with over 1000 planets to explore across 100 star systems, but those who have completed the game’s main campaign know that that’s only the beginning. The final moments of the campaign see players becoming one of the Starborn after they find the Unity and cross over into another dimension. This triggered a kind ofNew Game Plus where decisions are wiped, and the story can be replayed or skipped entirely on the next playthrough, serving as a kind of New Game Plus mechanic that also gave the game a fairly cyclical narrative.
Some elements aren’t quite as players remember from a previous playthrough, and those who have played the campaign multiple times will start to notice more major changes to each universe. This was the case with RedditorWisdomOfTheStar, who posted on the r/Starfield subreddit about how, after jumping through the Unity 22 times, they entered a universe in which every character at the Constellation’s lodge was a variant of WisdomOfTheStar’s custom character.
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How Does A Universe Full Of Player Variants Even Work?
A Universe Without Normal Companions Drastically Changes The Option To Replay The Main Game
While WisdomOfTheStar only shared images of their variants, a video shared byxGarbetton YouTube provides a better idea of how this universe works. The “Everyone Is You” universe - or should that be “YOUniverse” - comes with its own unique dialogue that’s extremely different from the normal New Game Plus variations, as technically, none of the main characters from the game are present.Instead of companions such as Sarah Morgan, Barrett, Sam Coe, and Andreja, each of the characters at the lodge is named based on their affiliation, with the Constellation variant being the main ones players talk to, while others such as the Crimson Fleet, UC Vanguard, and even a loner variant are all represented.
Because of how much thisimpactsStarfield’s main story,it’s fairly easy to skip through this universe’s version of events, with the Constellation variant telling the player that while they don’t know exactly what happened to Constellation in this universe, they had already collected several Artifacts and had the lead on locations for many more. This essentially gives players the chance to acquire all of them quickly, should they wish, in order to move on to the next universe.
Starfield’s NG+ Gets Option To Choose Universes With Easy Mod
Starfield players looking for more control over which universe they ultimately fall into can now choose their multiversal variant thanks to this mod.
Some Of Starfield’s Universes Range From Heartbreaking To Surreal
The Unity Offers Many Possibilities
There are currently 11 alternate universes inStarfield, with the one that’s exactly the same as the original playthrough and others that range from completely heartbreaking to mind-bendingly surreal or humorous. The “Everyone Is You” universe obviously falls into the latter categories, along with one where players initially believe Sarah Morgan is a houseplant but it actually turns out everyone at Constellation has happily retired.
Sadly,many of the other universes feature the death of Constellation in some form, and it’s often the player’s fault, with those left behind, be it Sarah Morgan, an adult Cora Coe, or a group of children pretending to be the group of space explorers telling the player exactly how Constellation fell. Others are even bleaker, as they feature characters such as Andreja turning to the dark side and taking over with House VaRuun - the group that will play a major part in theupcomingShattered Spaceexpansion- or show that the Starborn known as The Hunter has been one step ahead of players and has been toying with them the whole time, beating them to the lodge and killing everyone there.
As with the “Everyone Is You” universe, these changes mean that players can’t play through the story as normal, so they are often handed the artifacts as they had been pre-collected and are able to jump straight ahead to the point in which they enter the Unity to explore another universe.
While many could seeStarfield’s ending as a way to simply reuse assets - acomplaint the developers have even addressedwhen speaking at the 2024 Game Developer Conference (GDC) - it’s bizarre universes like this that certainly makes what could be a straightforward New Game Plus mechanic feel more entertaining. Because the game randomly determines where players are going to end up, there’s always the excitement of not knowing where the Unity could take them next and just what the multiverse has in store.
Sources:WisdomOfTheStar/Reddit,xGarbett/YouTube
Starfield
Bethesda Game Studios presents Starfield - the first original IP from the studio in twenty-five-plus years. Set in the year 2310, the United Colonies and Freestar Collective are observing a shaky truce after a war set 20 years prior. The player will customize their character as a member of a space exploration team called Constellation while navigating The Settled Systems and the conflicts between the warring factions. According to Bethesda, players can explore over 100 systems and 1000 planets to find resources and build their ships, living out their own sci-fi journeys.
