Summary
By the timeStarfieldtakes place in the year 2330, Earth has become uninhabitable.What remains of humanity’s home planet is nothing but a few landmarks among a vast desert wasteland, and over a century since its fall, mankind has set up homes across a variety of different star systems, referring to them as the “Settled Systems.”
[Warning: The following article containsspoilers for Starfield.]
Despite this,players can still visit the abandoned planet and can unlock several points of interestbyreading books found throughout the game, bringing them back to crumbling landmarks such as London’s Shard, New York’s Empire State Building, or Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.Starfield’s main story will also involve traveling to Earth as part of the mission “Unearthed,” which comes quite late into the campaign. At this point, players will visit the NASA Launch Tower in Cape Canaveral to uncover the planet’s past.
Collectable snowglobes can be found at each of Earth’s locations.
Starfield: All Hidden Landmarks On Earth
Although it’s no longer deemed to be inhabitable for mankind, it is still possible to visit Earth in Starfield and see its remaining landmarks.
What Year Earth Became Uninhabitable In Starfield
Earth Fell Over A Century Before Starfield’s Story Begins
Earth was deemed uninhabitable in 2203, over a century beforeStarfield’s story began, but its fall began sometime before that. The reason Earth is inhospitable is that the planet’s magnetosphere collapsed, andits atmosphere dissipated into space.
This was brought about after theoretical physicist and NASA astronaut Dr. Victor Aiza’s discovery of an Artifact in the 2100s, and the invention of the Grav Drive technology - something that players now use forfast travel inStarfield- in 2138.A mere twelve years into these experiments, in 2150, scientists announced that the magnetosphere would fail completely approximately fifty years later, and Earth’s nations banded together to coordinate a massive evacuation effort.Despite these attempts - which continued up until 2199 - only a fraction of the planet’s population managed to escape, and billions of people died when Earth finally fell in 2203.
Very few people are aware thatEarth’s destruction was completely avoidable, but Aiza confessed that upon his first interaction with an Artifact on Mars, another universe’s version of him warned him of what would befall Earth should he pursue his venture into developing Grav Drive technology. Aiza continued regardless, believing that it was for “the benefit of science” and the “greater good” as it would grant humans access to countless other worlds across the cosmos.
In Aiza’s final years, he reflected on his decision to pursue science over protecting mankind. He began to doubt whether he had made the right call, which led to his confession in his personal journal about his interaction with his counterpart from another universe. While Earth is still talked about often inStarfield, with various artifacts such as the aforementioned books being taken off-world with the evacuees to preserve some of its history, it’s clear that there’s no way to bring life back on the planet, at least not without theuse of mods.
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.
