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Starfield easter eggs

A huge amount of Starfield easter eggs, callbacks, and references can be found throughout the Settled Systems, so we've gathered them all here.

Starfield easter eggs

You’ll find the Settled System littered with Starfield easter eggs – little images, objects, or references to previous Bethesda titles, memes, or real-world trivia. Finding them all can be quite the challenge, so we decided to collate them together into one easy catalog.

Adoring Fan

Those familiar with 2006’s The Elder Scrolls Oblivion game will more than likely have encountered one particularly annoying NPC: The Adoring Fan. He has made a return in Starfield, and is even voiced by the same voice actor.

In order to find the Adoring Fan, you’ll need to take the Hero Worshipped trait during character creation, at which point he will find you when you land in the city of New Atlantis. It’s one of the first Starfield easter eggs you can encounter, so we recommend selecting the trait on at least one of your playthroughs.

Curiosity Rover

Launced in 2011 to explore the surface of Mars, NASA’s Curiosity Rover in Starfield has since finished its mission and been reclaimed by the Constellation faction. You can find the Curiosity Rover at the The Lodge, where it was first spotted during the Starfield Direct gameplay trailer.

History of Space Flight Museum

Though not a strict easter egg as it is a location full of historical references, the History of Space Flight Museum could well hide more than a few interesting references and secrets. You will discover it when exploring Earth as part of the Unearthed main quest.

Screenshot of the Starfield History of Space Flight exhibit.

Real-life astronauts and scientists

It seems that all of the planets in the Alpha Centauri system have been named after real-life astronauts, with some planets and systems take their names from famous scientists:

  • Chawla – NASA Astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian origin to go to space, 1997.
  • Gagarin – Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel into space, 1961.
  • Jemison – NASA Astronaut Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space, 1992.
  • Olivas – NASA Astronaut John D. Olivas, who took his first journey to the International Space Station in 2007.
  • Faraday – Scientist Michael Faraday, who invented the first electric motor in 1821.
  • Feynman – Scientist Richard Feynman, who is noted for his work in the field of theoretical physics.
  • Heisenberg – Scientist Werner Heisenberg, one of the major figures in the history of theoretical physics.
  • Newton – Scientist Isaac Newton, who discovered the concept of gravity in 1665.
  • Schrodinger – Scientist Erwin Schrödinger, famous for his work in the field of quantum mechanics and the invention of the Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment.

Public domain books

As well as including the names of some real-life astronauts and scientists, you can find a plethora of literary icons in Starfield thanks to the inclusion of a bunch of public domain books. The whole list includes works by Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, and Matthew Arnold, as well as one of the fathers of modern science fiction, H.G. Wells.

Star Trek connections

Should you chose the Kid Stuff trait during the Starfield character creation window, you’ll be able to find and visit two NPCs: Mom and Dad. Voicing these two characters are none other than Nana Visitor and Tim Russ respectively, famous for their roles in Star Trek.

Nana Visitor previously starred as Kira Nerys in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, while Tim Russ starred as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager.

Cowboy Bebop

You can mutter the infamous “See you, space cowboy” line from the science fiction anime Cowboy Bebop during the Missed Beyond Measure quest. However, things need to go quite badly wrong for you to actually use the dialogue line, so it might be worth saving before you begin the quest to get what we’re calling ‘the bad ending’ before trying again.

An Arrow in the Knee

This is one of the more obvious Starfield easter eggs, paying tribute to the iconic “I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee…” line from Skyrim. The Crippling skill at rank 4 clearly shows an arrow going right through someone’s knee, ending their adventurous lifestyle. We knew Bethesda wouldn’t be able to resist including a reference to one of its most famous lines of dialogue.

Lord of the Rings Potatoes

If you’ve got any potatoes on board your ship, you can quickly check this one out for yourself. In the in-game description for potatoes, the text reads ‘Can be prepared many ways. Boiled, mashed, used in a stew – the recipes are nearly limitless.’ This is almost an exact copy of Samwise Gamgee’s forgettable line to Gollum, where he teaches the ring-worshipper the utility of the root vegetable with the line “PO-TAY-TOES. Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew.” If it’s good enough for Sam in Middle Earth, it’s good enough for us on Eridani VII-a.