Starfield players left puzzled by “absurd” Earth plot hole
BethesdaIn Starfield, Earth has been left completely abandoned by the start of the game, but players have noticed an “absurd” plot hole that left them wondering why humanity had to leave.
Starfield is a space-exploration RPG in which you can visit over 1,000 different planets. You can construct your own outposts on any of these, some of which are inhabited by alien flora and fauna while others are barren rocks. There are several colonized planets complete with cities and countless NPCs, but Earth remains abandoned.
According to in-game lore, the planet was no longer habitable, which is why humanity relocated to distant star systems. However, Starfield players now believe that there is no solid argument for why humanity abandoned Earth. A Redditor named ‘Th3Element05’ called the reason completely “absurd” on the Starfield subreddit.
They went on to explain: “Because the atmosphere was sputtering away, literally all of humanity needed to completely abandon the Earth to go build colonies on other planets, like Mars, which has no atmosphere.” The OP said that Earth could just have made cities with airlocks like on other Starfield planets without an atmosphere.
“It would have been easier to build these types of habitats right on Earth, rather than transport or gather materials to build them on other planets,” they added. Most Starfield players on the subreddit agreed, finding “the total lack of anything” on Earth to be quite unconvincing.
Others couldn’t help but mention Fallout, believing that nuclear war would have been a more plausible reason for leaving Earth. One user said, “I would have actually loved if the path to Earth was hidden by the UC because they did not want to admit that nuclear war was the real reason. And when you find the Earth on a side mission you basically enter Fallout.”
As one user pointed out, the unreachable ruined Earth trope is a common theme in space-based sci-fi games. In other words, by letting you visit Earth, Starfield may have undermined the credibility of its plot.
If you want to read more Starfield stories, check out how some players claim Bethesda did melee players “dirty.” Or, read about the long-awaited Community Patch that has finally arrived to fix lingering issues in the game.