Games

Starfield’s Physics is Insane

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STARFIELD

Bethesda RPGs have a longstanding reputation for their expansive game worlds, intricate questlines, and the moral dilemmas they present to players. However, with the release of Starfield, the gaming community has been astounded by the meticulous attention to detail, especially when it comes to the smallest objects scattered throughout the game’s environments and the physics governing their interactions.

For years, players have been known to pick up and hoard seemingly random items in Bethesda’s other titles, such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. Starfield continues this tradition, but what sets it apart is the sheer scale of possibilities for interaction with objects, ranging from sandwiches to coffee mugs, leaving players in awe. One remarkable example that captured the community’s imagination was a starship filled with potatoes.

Recently, a user named Moozipan shared a video on the Starfield subreddit titled “Time To Let Something Go.” The video showcased a hatch opening on the Frontier, revealing a cascade of hundreds of potatoes spilling out into the ship’s hallway. What truly impressed viewers was not just the fact that Moozipan had meticulously collected and placed all those potatoes on their ship, but also how each individual potato rolled out in a beautifully choreographed and fluid animation.

The video quickly gained traction on social media platforms, with even industry experts like Digital Foundry’s John Linneman expressing their amazement. John tweeted, “This is pretty mind-blowing, actually. The fact that these objects all have physics is impressive.” Meanwhile, the Starfield subreddit was ablaze with disbelief, with fans praising the “spill physics” as beautiful and marveling at the fact that it was rendered in real-time without causing technical issues.

Players have also been pleasantly surprised by the level of real-time interactivity with other objects in the game. While the classic Bethesda RPG tactic of putting buckets over NPCs’ heads to steal items remains, one enterprising player discovered a unique method of acquiring items without technically adding them to their inventory. They pushed various items into containers and then carried these containers away, effectively making off with a treasure trove of goods.

The Starfield community has been buzzing about a recent video titled “A very unique way of stealing lots of credits (Game physics at work),” which demonstrates this unconventional approach. In the video, the player uses a desk organizer to push credit chips into a laundry basket, accumulating 2,000 valuable space bucks. This loot is safely transported to a secluded spot in the kitchen, where they can pick it up without risk. Comments on the video reveal a sense of camaraderie among players who appreciate the quirks of Bethesda games.

There has been some debate about why Starfield runs at 30 frames per second on Xbox Series X/S when other “next-gen” games offer performance modes that achieve 60 frames per second. While not a technical expert, it’s worth noting that the sophisticated object physics and object permanence in Starfield may be a contributing factor to this choice. Nevertheless, the game manages to accommodate players’ eccentric playstyles while avoiding many of the crashes and bugs that plagued some of Bethesda’s past releases.

While Starfield is far from a flawless game, it has certainly captured the curiosity and imagination of players. The community eagerly anticipates discovering what other unique and unexpected experiences the game has in store.

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