Is Earth in Starfield? The question of what happens to our home planet is one that budding spacefarers have been wondering for years, as delays have pushed back the answer time and time again. However, there has been enough information revealed – and leaked – ahead of launch for us to explain whether you can visit Earth or not.
There has been plenty of speculation online about what happened to Earth in the RPG game, including a theory that the huge arch shown right at the beginning of the official Starfield gameplay trailer is the St. Louis Gateway Arch. We can neither confirm nor deny that specifically – but we do have the low down on if Earth is one of the 1000+ Starfield planets or not. Of course, minor spoilers follow, so if you want to go into Starfield completely blind, click away now.
Can you go to Earth in Starfield?
Yes, you can visit Earth in Starfield, but don’t expect a bustling hive of activity when you land. Humanity has moved away from Earth due to its hostile environment, so it’s almost completely barren.
If you visit the museum in New Atlantis – the biggest of the Starfield cities – you can find out exactly what happened to Earth and why it’s now a barren wasteland.
Online discussions are rife with players wanting to build their bases on Earth, visit dilapidated landmarks, or even find where their home would be. We’re not banking on the last one being possible, but we know that you can find out exactly what happened to Earth, and run around the now barren wasteland that once housed over eight billion people.
How to get to Earth in Starfield
Here’s how to get to Earth in Starfield:
- Open the Starmap
- Open the star systems view
- Find Sol, locate Earth, and hold ‘jump’
- Zoom in on Earth to select your landing target
To get to Earth as soon as possible, you’ll need to follow The Old Neighbourhood mission. You must have enough fuel for your ship, and the amount needed depends on how far away you are from our own Sol system.
The surface of Earth can give you the ‘Extreme Solar Radiation’ status effect but this can be avoided by selecting the right spacesuit or taking an aid item with you to minimise the effect.
What happened to Earth in Starfield?
Earth lost its atmosphere a few centuries ago, by the time Starfield takes place. This happened gradually, giving humans a chance to evacuate to planets with safer climates.
Discovering exactly what went down happens in part of the main quest, as lead quest designer Will Shen explained in the above Q&A video that “very early on in the main quest we take you to our solar system, which in our lore is called the ‘Old Neighbourhood’. You’ll be sent there on a mission from Constellation to discover the mysteries of the artefacts and you’ll get in contact with the question of ‘what happened to Earth?’”.
He goes on to explain that shortly after that you’ll visit Mars, where one of the early settlements humanity created after leaving Earth can be found in the form of Cydonia. Obviously, Earth and Mars are part of our own solar system known as Sol, and you can visit over planets in the Sol system, too.
Earth now resembles a large, barren wasteland as the planet lost its atmosphere over a period of around half a century. Supervisor Lin tells us at the beginning of the game that some people don’t even believe in Earth, as the Starfield timeline sets the loss of Earth’s atmosphere a few hundred years before the game takes place.
There’s more to discover about Earth in Starfield throughout The Old Neighborhood mission, but we won’t spoil everything here. In the meantime, read up on everything you need to know about the many Starfield factions – there sure are a lot of them – along with the friendly Starfield companions that can accompany you on your journey.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools.