Starfield lead confirms full planetary exploration is possible after you've landed

News
By published

You won't be held back from exploring planets once you've landed

Starfield character wearing helmet with space backdrop
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield will let you fully explore a planet as soon as you land on it.

Earlier today, Bethesda's Pete Hines took to Twitter to respond to a query, asking if it would be explore a "whole entire planet" upon landing on it. Hines washed away any doubt, straight-up confirming that yes, anyone who lands on a planet in their spacecraft will immediately be able to hit the road and begin exploring it.

See more
Make sure you're ready for Starfield

Starfield release times
Starfield preload

However, don't take Hines's comments to mean there won't be any loading screens or cutscenes during this transition. During the Starfield Direct earlier this year, the showcase appeared to confirm cutscenes for both take-off and landing transitions on planets, meaning you wouldn't be able to just seamlessly fly down to or take off from a planet of your choosing. 

What Hines probably means is that you won't have any gameplay barriers standing in the way of you exploring a planet as soon as you land on it. You won't have to do some menial sort of task like surveying the planet before you can begin strolling around on it, for example.

Interestingly, Star Wars Outlaws offers what Starfield doesn't by way of space-to-planet transitions. The Ubisoft Massive game has seamless transitions between spacefaring and planet exploration, with no cutscenes standing in the way of the transition. Just a fun little comparison for everyone there.

This might be an innocent little detail about Bethesda's game, but be warned, because Starfield has broken street date ahead of launch on September 6 (and September 1 for Starfield early access players). There's already gameplay floating around the internet, so be extremely cautious if you don't want plot points and other details spoiled for you.

Here are the Starfield system requirements for you to run Bethesda's new RPG on your rig. 

See more Games News
Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

Read more
Starfield
10 best games like Starfield to get swept up in when you're ready to leave Constellation
Starfield
Bethesda breaks silence as Starfield fans hope for an update: "We have a lot of exciting things planned for the game this year"
A screenshot from Exodus' debut trailer
Mass Effect veterans have another Normandy-type "major hub" in their new space RPG Exodus, but this time it's an entire city
The Big in 2025 image for Avowed, showing a montage of fighting and exploring with the RPG, including first-person combat with a skeleton, and Kai slashing enemies
Avowed is an RPG that's both the culmination of everything Obsidian has done before, and also an evolution of it: "There's really not a whole lot of our regions that's off limits to the players"
A range of alien species in No Man's Sky
10 Games like No Man's Sky that are out of this world
Big In 2025: Exodus
Former BioWare devs' new RPG Exodus will potentially age your loved ones while you're away: "Decisions a player makes will compound over a significant period"
Latest in RPG
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Reclaiming their crown, pacifist Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 player beats the whole RPG as "Merciful Henry": 1,741 strikes blocked, 472 knockouts, and zero kills
Top-down screenshot of Monsterpatch, showing a grid-based town with Pokemon-like creatures, GBC graphics and vegetations sprinkled about.
This cozy RPG promises a Pokemon and Stardew Valley mashup with "limitless customization," 208 monsters, and more, so no wonder its Kickstarter was funded in just 16 minutes
Dragon Age: The Veilguard art showing the RPG's companions grouped together
Dragon Age: The Veilguard director is leading an unannounced game for Wizards of the Coast, which recently hinted at more Baldur's Gate
A large, muscly bloke eating noodles at a bar while two people point pistols at him from behind in Cyberpunk 2077.
The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer enters into partnership with Pokemon Go owner to create a new game "set within one of CD Projekt's IPs"
The Witcher 4 screenshot with Ciri using sword and sorcery to fight an ancient monster
The Witcher 4 and Naughty Dog's Intergalactic are reportedly skipping 2026 and won't be ready until at least the year after
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"
More about rpg
Pillars of Eternity

10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Top-down screenshot of Monsterpatch, showing a grid-based town with Pokemon-like creatures, GBC graphics and vegetations sprinkled about.

This cozy RPG promises a Pokemon and Stardew Valley mashup with "limitless customization," 208 monsters, and more, so no wonder its Kickstarter was funded in just 16 minutes
Andor season 2

Andor showrunner hopes that the Disney Plus show's success helps convince Lucasfilm to sign off on either a Star Wars horror movie or sitcom

See more latest
Most Popular
Andor season 2
Andor showrunner hopes that the Disney Plus show's success helps convince Lucasfilm to sign off on either a Star Wars horror movie or sitcom
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers with the rest of the gang during the superhero movie, The Avengers.
The OG Fox X-Men are back, with Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and more joining the cast of Avengers: Doomsday alongside a whole new Avengers team to take on Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
The Handmaid's Tale season 6 first look: Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne
The Handmaid's Tale will go back to basics with a "classic" series finale that's been years in the making
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
Black Mirror season 7
Charlie Brooker promises Black Mirror season 7 is "a bit more OG", having previously said that he didn't want the series to be known as "the 'tech is bad' show" anymore
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"