Starfield player discovers that planets are much more realistic than they appear

Joseph Pascoulis
starfield alien wildlife on planet

Starfield is host to an expansive universe of different systems with hundreds of planets, and one player has found a feature that makes all of these planets even more impressive.

With so much content on offer, it’s no surprise to see Starfield becoming Bethesda’s most successful game launch, as players have been thoroughly enjoying all of the missions, planet exploration, ship customization, and more.

Players seem to keep finding new features that make the game even more impressive, and when it comes to the game’s planets, a Reddit post has highlighted an incredible detail when it comes to planets’ ecosystems.

Reddit user ICCanada put a post up explaining what they found while playing a “white-coat scientist build,” aiming to survey planets and discover all the wildlife on offer.

When trying to scan 100% of a planet, players may need to search every nook and cranny to find wildlife, including small beetles and little bugs. The player became so fed up with trying to look for these small bugs that they eventually put the game’s scientific realism to the test.

The OP noticed that “beetles always had scavenger in their name,” so they decided to follow hunters “to a location where they engage and kill a bunch of prey,” and then wait to see if these scavengers would appear, and guess what, they did.

This isn’t just a great way to 100% scan planets in Starfield, but it also shows off the incredible details the devs implemented into the game.

Essentially, this discovery means that Starfield’s planets have working ecosystems with predators, prey, and even scavengers all working antagonistically in the background to sustain life.

Another player in the comments also made a similar discovery, stating that while struggling to 100% the survey data on a planet, they noticed that a species they were yet to scan could be found very easily once they understood the planet’s ecosystem:

“I realized that every time I saw a bird species on the planet circling in the sky, they were feeding on that species. I just kept my eyes open for that and I got all my scans within the next 30mins!!”

While the OP does state that it doesn’t work “100% of the time,” they do feel that it is an “intentional” feature. Next time you’re looking to complete a survey of a planet in Starfield, keep this feature in mind, as it just might lead you to that last percentage you need.

For more on Starfield, make sure you also check out the best planets to build outposts on.