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is the culmination of Bethesda Game Studios' ten-year decision to create a bold new sci-fi universe rather than resting on their Elder Scrolls and Fallout laurels forever. In active production for eight of those ten years, and with many stories fr🉐om Director Todd Howard o𓄧ver difficult decision-making in the search for an adventurous vibe, if there's one thing Bethesda has nailed, it's space travel.
Initiating grav jumps from your cockpit, flying around in orbit of so many planets, engaging in dogℱfights, it's all marvelous - but what𝓰 about landing? Starfield seems to depend on players accessing a separate menu to do so, but is there a way to take the reins on your own?
Updated on September 11, 2023: We've updated this article to include the video version, where you can see our attempts at landing on and flying between planets in Starfield, and whether or not it's actually possible.
Can You Land Without The Planet Map In Starfield?
When you grav jump into orbꦿit around a planet or moon, there's plenty to target. Maybe there are friendly spacecraft. Perhaps there are enemy ships looking to blow you to smithereens. There might be floating cargo, shipyards, science stations, you name it - all that good science fiction fare. And you can fly within range of every ship and station to dock with them directly.
It feels immersive in the sort of way 🍌one always Bethesda can nail. But you'll likely notice before long that it seems like there's a bit of a disconnect between all these wonderfully hands-on piloting and the descent to landing zones on the surfaces of the worlds you seek to explore.
Given the thousands of kilometers' worth of distance between your ship and the surface, and considering how slowly your ship traverses these kilometers, the only way for us to have known for certain before Starfield𝔉's official launch date was to give it a꧙ try.
Our Attempt To Land Manually On Mars
Mars is a nice early spot to check, and the ~3080 kilometers that separate your arrival in orbit from the city of Cydonia below seemed more doable than some other distances. So, we routed as much power to the Frontier's engines as possible, boosted often, and it took us over three real-world hours to reach... almost the surface of Mars.
To be sure, there were some gorgeous views along the way. It's clear Bethesda's put their NASA-gifted Martian cartography to, pardon the pun, stellar use. Sadly, you cannot come closer than 9,980 meters to Mars' surface, and thus, no closer to any other planet or moon. Your engines will register as continuing, but the game will not register further travel past 9,995; this can be driven upward by a not-so-impres🎃sive 15 further meters to 9,980 while boosting.
Alas, then, and we won't blame you if you skipped straight to the end of the article: you can't land manually in Starfield. We do get it. The logistics involved would be tremendous, and the team at Bethesda has likely done the best they could in this specific aspect whils♏t amazing us in all other aspects of space travel.
One thing's for sure. If ever it becomes programmably feasible, some intr🎃epid modder will find a way, and that will be one heck of a popular mod.
