Highlights
- Starfield presents a bleaker future for Earth than the devastating Great War of the Fallout franchise, with the planet left as a lifeless, barren rock and sand orbiting the sun.
- In Starfield, Earth's destruction is attributed to one man's desire to expand human life into the stars, utilizing powerful artifacts that weakened the planet's gravity and caused its atmosphere to float off into space.
- The hubris of world leaders in Fallout and a solitary scientist in Starfield both led to the destruction of Earth, but while Fallout's inhabitants have a chance to rebuild, Starfield's Earth is beyond salvation.
With a thoroughly ravaged version of the planet now taking center stage in two of Bethesda’s biggest franchises, players could be forgiven for thinking the developer has a fascination with destruction. But while neither version of humanity’s home planet looks like a particularly pleasant place to live, Bethesda’s Starfield features an even bleaker future for the Earth than the devastating Great War of the Fallout franchise. The apocalyptic conditions that afflicted Earth in both games left the world worse for wear but, whereas the scattered remnants of humanity inhabiting the world of Fallout have been able to work towards rebuilding, this option isn’t available in Starfield’s version of the future.
In the lead-up to the launch of Bethesda’s sprawling sci-fi epic many gamers were curious to learn what happened to Earth in Starfield given its no-show status in marketing for the title. Although some pre-release screenshots, such as one showing what looked to be the Gateway Arch in St. Louis Arc rising up from a desert landscape, hinted at a catastrophic future for the planet the full truth of its unfortunate fate wouldn’t be revealed until Starfield was released. What players eventually found when they traveled to humanity’s home would reveal a far darker fate for the Earth than the one seen in the post-apocalyptic Fallout franchise.
Fallout’s Earth is Simply Inhospitable, Starfield’s is Utterly Uninhabitable
Throughout the numerous games in the long-running Fallout franchise players have been presented with a version of the Earth that, while battle-scarred, still manages to hold some strong similarities to the real world. Although Fallout’s Great War unleashed an unparalleled wave of destruction across the globe as China and the United States battled for supremacy, by the time the games took place humanity has managed to begin the process of rebuilding from the rubble. On the barren Earth of Starfield’s universe no such efforts were possible, and the planet now sits as a lifeless, barren ball of rock and sand orbiting the sun.
Although they no longer resemble the gleaming monuments to progress they were during their heyday, gamers have had the chance to visit what remains of some of Earth’s major metropolises throughout the Fallout franchise. There they’ll encounter people who survived the Great War and, against all odds, have been able to rebuild some semblance of civilization in the ashes of the world that was. In contrast, all that remains of the cities and landmarks of Earth in Starfield for curious players to find are silent ruins slowly succumbing to the sand dunes that envelop the planet.
Warning: Story spoilers ahead for Starfield
Hubris Paved the Way for Earth’s Destruction in Both Fallout and Starfield
It isn’t until players near the end of Starfield’s campaign that the tragic fate that befell humanity centuries earlier is revealed. Instructed to travel to the dead planet by the powerful entities at the center of the game’s story, when players visit Earth in Starfield’s latter half they discover that it was one man’s desire to expand human life into the stars that brought about the world’s destruction. Harnessing the immense power of Starfield’s mysterious artifacts, a scientist created the grav drives that powered humanity’s expansion into the galaxy and ultimately led to Earth’s destruction.
While the grav drives revolutionized space travel and opened the cosmos to exploration, they also began to irrevocably weaken the Earth’s gravity. As humanity ventured forth into the stars gravity continued to weaken until the planet’s atmosphere, much like that of ancient Mars, simply floated off into space. Just as the hubris of world leaders led to the apocalypse in Fallout, the hubris of a solitary scientist sewed the seeds of Earth’s inevitable destruction in Starfield.
Though the details of their destruction differ, the Earth of both Fallout and Starfield fell victim to humanity’s hubris. And while the inhabitants of Fallout still have a chance to make the world right, even the strongest Vault would have been no match for Starfield’s Earth-shattering apocalypse.
Starfield is available now for PC and Xbox Series X/S.