Highlights
- Attention to detail in Starfield is evident through an interactive detail found in the game's Mars colony, where the "hours without incident" counter resets when the player causes an "incident."
- Provoking the security forces in Cydonia is not recommended, but the responsive incident timer serves as an intriguing Easter egg for daring players.
- Starfield offers a variety of missions set on Mars, giving players ample opportunity to explore the Red Planet and discover more Easter eggs.
One Starfield player exploring Mars stumbled upon an impressive interactive detail that makes the game's world feel that much more alive. Their discovery helps underline the immense attention to detail that went into the making of Starfield.
Bethesda's latest RPG finally released for PC and the current-generation Xbox consoles on September 6. However, anyone who purchased its Premium Edition has been able to play it five days early, in addition to qualifying for a number of Starfield pre-order bonuses.
That group also includes one Cade Onder, whose early-access travels took him to Starfield's Mars colony of Cydonia, where he stumbled upon a unique interactive detail. Namely, it turns out that the "hours without incident" counter found in one of lower sections of the settlement isn't just ordinary set dressing, but actually responds to the player's actions. In a brief video demonstration of this feature shared on Twitter, the fan decided to attack a nearby Trackers Alliance agent while the sign was displaying 57 hours. After executing the unsuspecting NPC, the player turned back toward the board, confirming that its counter reset to zero.
Provoking the security forces of Cydonia or any other major settlement in Starfield is generally ill-advised. Most such places have enough well-armed NPCs to completely overwhelm even high-level characters. But this newly discovered detail still serves as a unique nod to anyone daring enough to go on a rampage in Cydonia. The reactive incident timer is also far from the only Easter egg that Starfield players can discover on Mars.
Fans eager to explore the Red Planet will be able to do so almost immediately upon starting a new campaign; while Starfield's story takes a while to get going, its vast universe opens up after a brief prologue that's about as short as the introductory sections from Bethesda's past games such as Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Many of the RPG's quests—including its main story missions—also take place on Mars, making it likely that the average player will spend quite a bit of time running around the planet.
While numerous Starfield Easter eggs are undoubtedly still waiting to be found, the chances of their discovery are significantly higher now that Bethesda's latest title finally left early access, thus reaching a far larger audience. Which isn't to say that the RPG wasn't already shaping up to be a huge success beforehand, as underlined by the fact that Starfield cracked the top 10 most-played Steam games even before release.
Starfield is available now for PC and Xbox Series X/S.