The Starfield gameplay trailer has been pored over and picked clean, as fans of Bethesda’s upcoming space RPG search for clues about story, mechanics, and of course, the Starfield release date. A recent find, however, suggests something more subtle, a sly hint that the worlds of Starfield, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 76 might be linked.
We already know there are aliens in Fallout. They’re in basically every Fallout game, and even have their own expansion in the form of Fallout 3’s Mothership Zeta — Fallout 3, incidentally, contains my personal favourite appearance of the aliens, via the incredibly rare Firelance Event, whereby you spot a burning UFO hurtling through the sky, then have to locate the crash site, complete with dead alien bodies and the titular OP handgun. I’ve always found it very spooky, for some reason. But I digress.
Aliens are in Fallout – okay, there’s our first, galactic connection. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you encountered them – the little, green, 1950s-looking dudes from the various Wastelands – on one of Starfield’s 1,000 planets, either. But there’s another link between the space and apocalyptic RPGs. Fallout and Fallout 2 both contain an enemy called a Floater – it’s also present, in much more detailed, 3D form, in Fallout 76. Likewise, it was meant to appear in Fallout: New Vegas, but was ultimately cut from the final game, remaining present in the file archive in name only. Goofy, big-headed, kind of dopey-looking things, Floaters are a regular companion of Fallout 76’s super mutants. And according to the Starfield gameplay trailer, it’s possible they can also be found in space.
The “Diseased Metropus Floater”, shown fleetingly in that first Starfield footage, bears a striking resemblance to the creatures from Fallout, and seems to move and attack in a very similar style. The creature was captured by Starfield fans, who are now discussing possible connections to Fallout.
Aliens in Fallout. Fallout monsters in Starfield. If not a direct connection between the game’s two universes, it’s likely we’re going to see a lot of crossovers, either in the form of similar enemies that pay homage to Bethesda’s previous works, or subtle easter eggs for the benefit of long-time fans.
That word “Metropus”, however, sounds very much like the name of a planet or a star system, especially given that it’s being used to specify a particular type of Floater. Perhaps, regardless of Fallout connections, we’ve stumbled across a new Starfield planet – something to add to our already vast guide to Starfield locations.
We’ve also got everything you need to know about the possible Starfield release date, as well as details on the release date and single-player mode for Fallout 5. If you’re killing time between now and Bethesda’s big space adventure, you might want to try something from our list of the best RPGs, or maybe join us as we anticipate the Starfield mods that we’d like to see.