Starfield‘s gameplay experience is a great one most of the time, but the bugs of Bethesda’s past have made their way into their latest RPG. You can expect bugs to be present in a game as massive as this one. Still, in an experience aiming to immerse you in space, these hiccups can rip you right out of the moment, reminding you this is another Bethesda game lacking proper polish before release. These bugs come in various forms; some might force you to reload a save. Conversely, others can be hilariously weird events that make you shake your head in disappointment or disbelief. That said, here are 10 Starfield bugs that prove this new space RPG franchise is still run by the same old Bethesda.
10. Enemies Spawn Without Weapons In Starfield
There is nothing like sneaking into a base full of space pirates only to find that a handful of them showed up to the party without a weapon. Not that Starfield is difficult, but on harder difficulties, it can give you a solid challenge in intense firefights. When an enemy shows up without a gun, you’d think they would start to fight you in hand-to-hand combat. That’s not the case either, as the hostile NPC will still act like they have a gun, resulting in an awkward and pitiful spectacle.
9. Textures Fail to Load on Planets In Starfield
Landing on the various planets in Starfield is always a thrilling experience. However, what isn’t thrilling is seeing those planets suddenly pop into existence or, on occasion, not load in at all. When this happens, it looks like you’ve loaded into a place you’re simply not supposed to be. Prior to launch, we were promised we could go anywhere in Starfield. Instead, many players will land on these buggy planets, sigh in disappointment at the broken visuals, and leave.
8. Sound Often Cuts Out Bug
This bug is rare, but there are times in Starfield when the audio will just stop working altogether. This can occur during a conversation or combat, or it can just happen with the background music. This will result in extremely awkward moments where the lipsync is all over the place, and it can ruin important moments in the game. It’s usually more present on PC and likely due to a memory issue or a problem with where the game was installed. Regardless, this is something that should’ve been addressed prior to release.
7. NPC’s Don’t Look at You
This one is just one of those typical hilarious Bethesda bugs that doesn’t hamper the experience but is nonetheless a bug. Sometimes, when you approach a character, such as someone at a shop, they will begin talking to you without looking at you. Now, you might think that’s normal, as some people do this in real life, but in Starfield, they just stay that way. They never turn to you and sometimes have entire conversations with the back or side of their head facing you. It’s just bizarre and hard to believe this wasn’t something that was picked up by QA testers.
6. The Den Causes Invisible Ships In Starfield
Here, we have a bug in Starfield that is nothing to laugh at and can, in fact, break the game. This happens when you steal an enemy ship and take it for your own. If you do this, go to The Den, switch back to your primary spaceship, and enter the cockpit, you will be mysteriously sent to New Atlantis. Strange, right? Even stranger is that your vessel is now invisible, and the ship trade kiosk is gone. Also, The Den is no longer able to be accessed whatsoever. The fix for this predicament is reloading your last save before this all went down. If that’s not an option, there are several workarounds players have found, thankfully. This is a terrible bug in Starfield and one that should be fixed by Bethesda as soon as possible.
5. Faces Don’t Load In Starfield
With Halloween around the corner, Starfield incidentally has a spooky event for horror fans: faces of NPCs can stop loading midway through. This causes the facial appearance of characters to only possess floating eyes and teeth. While you can go through conversations like this if you’d like, it’s best you spare yourself the nightmare and just reload the game before another faceless monstrosity shows up.
4. NPCs Floating
Starfield throws you into zero gravity a ton of times throughout your playthrough. Still, there’s a bug that causes NPCs to float in normal gravity. This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s definitely jarring when a quest NPC suddenly levitates 10 feet above the ground out of the blue. Sometimes, the NPCs will continue on their journey into the cosmos, ascending into the atmosphere. In this case, you’re better off reloading before they become permanently broken.
3. Headless Main Character Bug in Starfield
Perhaps you became jealous of the NPCs that loaded without a face and thought, “Why can’t I do that?”. Fear not, because sometimes, when you aim down your sight, your character’s head will just up and disappear. You can fix this by reloading a save or roleplaying as the “Headless Spaceman,” whichever suits you best.
2. Unlocking One of the Best Spacesuits in Starfield
This might not be a bug, but it certainly seems like one. At The Lodge, there is a spacesuit that gets unlocked late in the story. This bug allows you to get it at the start of the game. It’s behind a master lock, which requires some hefty leveling up to be able to even attempt. However, if you peek through the crack in the glass case, you can snatch the suit without any repercussions. This turns you into a tank at the start of the game and removes any challenge from most fights. Bethesda presumably didn’t want you to be this strong this early in Starfield, and a simple patch should fix this bug. You can choose to play with integrity until then, but it sure is tempting.
1. Your Companions Are Missing in Starfield
This is probably going to be a fan favorite. This particular bug in Starfield has your companions going missing from your ship while you’re in space. This can be a moment of panic for sure, but don’t worry. You can resolve this issue by switching to third-person, going to photo mode, and shifting the camera around to the front of the ship. You will find your missing crew are enjoying themselves hanging out on the outside of the ship in space. They won’t die, thankfully, and the result is just a hilarious bug that can be fixed by fast traveling or reloading the game. Nonetheless, it’s impressive how, with each Bethesda release, the bugs get more and more outrageous.
