Starfield's planets aren't all interesting, but they're not all "supposed to be Disney World"

You'll probably find that a lot of planets in Starfield are pretty boring, but Bethesda says that's kind of the point.

When Bethesda said that Starfield would have around 1000 planets, immediately questions like "will they all be interesting?" were raised. The answer to that, as evidenced by the game itself, is a big fat no. Not even our own planet earth is worth visiting. Of course, for some that won't matter in the slightest, and making all of the planets be filled with things to do was never the intention. In a new interview with The New York Times (paywalled), various Bethesda devs spoke about the game and its massive amount of planets.

According to managing director Ashley Cheng, not every place you visit "is supposed to be Disney World. The point of the vastness of space is you should feel small. It should feel overwhelming. Everyone’s concerned that empty planets are going to be boring. But when the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there. They certainly weren’t bored."

Game director and Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard feels similarly, highlighting that he wanted players to feel like explorers. "We could have made a game where there are four cities and four planets," Howard said. "But that would not have the same feeling of being this explorer." He even noted that the devs of the game made sure that you don't find much in some cases, so that players "get some periods of loneliness."

Of course, it'll be down to each individual player to decide whether they find the 90% of lifeless planets boring or not, but it does make sense that a game that massive wouldn't have aliens coming out the wazoo left, right, and centre.

Finding your way through Starfield's big universe might be a daunting task, but thankfully we've got a little hub set up for you that can help you with quests, item locations, and more.

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