Bethesda claims that Starfield is their largest RPG yet. While you can spend hundreds of hours completing quests, exploring the universe, or building outposts, there is an end to it all. Depending on your playing style, beating Starfield can take anywhere from 82 to 150+ gameplay hours. But what happens after you complete the main story?
Unlike most RPGs like Hogwarts Legacy and Elden Ring, Starfield has its own plan to conclude your journey. At the end of the game, you are given three choices: continue playing, start NG+ and reset everything, or start NG+ and skip the main story. In any case, you will receive various rewards and unlock achievements for completing the game. Therefore, this article explains the consequences of your final decision and the best way to conclude the main story.
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What Happens After the Main Story in Starfield?
Let’s say that you have finished the extensive journey through the known universe, completed all main quests, and assembled the Armillary. So, what happens after you complete all your objectives in Starfield? Once you assemble all Artifacts, you will unlock The Unity and start the One Giant Leap quest. At this point, the game gives you two options:
- Turn back and return another time.
- Head to the marked location and Grav Jump to another parallel universe.
Turn Back:
The first option is quite simple and self-explanatory. Basically, you can disassemble the Armillary and Grav Jump to any location. You can choose this option if you wish to keep your current progress and return to the current universe to resolve your unfinished business. In short, everything will remain the same; you will keep your quest progress, inventory items, Credits, and skills.
However, the game won’t unlock the NG+ mode and thus limit you from Starfield achievements until you make the Giant Leap. This option is suitable for those players who wish to complete the game 100% without losing their current progress. You can stay away from The Unity until you decide that there’s nothing left to explore or that no side quests remain incomplete. Once you have completed all your goals, you can activate the final quest, make the Grav Jump into The Unity, and start NG+ mode after finishing the credits.
Complete the Giant Leap:
After you complete the final quest and unlock The Unity, you will get a marker to a specific location. When you reach this place, you must complete One Giant Leap to Grav Jump to another parallel universe. This option shows you a cutscene, and game credits will start. Finally, the game will automatically start the NG+ mode and reset the previous universe.
However, for this section, you don’t need to complete the prologue or the tutorial section. Instead, you will start the game when you are travelling to New Atlantis. Here, you will speak with Sarah Morgan (a new version), who mentions the artifacts and enquires about your decision. Here, you can either restart the main story missions or skip them and focus on side activities.
You will retain your character level, acquired skills, and Starborn Powers. Also, you will lose all the quest’s progress, inventory items, credits, companions, outposts, and ships.
Repeat the Main Quests:
When speaking with Sarah Morgan, you can choose: “[Repeat Main Quest] I want to join Constellation. Unravel this mystery with you.” This option restarts the main story quests despite the fact that you are now a Starborn yourself. The good news is that you know how the game will unravel, allowing you to test various approaches. For instance, you can try to save all your companions in the “A High Price to Pay” quest.
Skip Main Quests:
Similarly, you can choose to skip all main story quests and focus only on the side activities. This option blocks all main quests and throws you into the open world so that you can enjoy side activities, upgrade your skills, make money, and explore a different side of the story.
For this NG+ mode, you must choose: “[Skip Main Quest] I’m not who you think. I’m Starborn. I know what the Artifacts are.“ Furthermore, this option is suitable for speedrunners as the Constellation Members will quickly point you to the locations of all 6 artifacts. Next, you must collect these artifacts and place them in your Armillary to make the Grav Jump and start NG+2. However, you will still need to recruit crew members, build ships, and complete side quests to progress this portion of the story.
The Best Option to Choose After the Main Story:
In my opinion, the best way to end Starfield is to make the Grav Jump into The Unity and skip all main quests. This way, you can unlock several NG+ modes without repeating the entire story. Moreover, you will experience various Easter Eggs during these additional playthroughs. For instance, you will find a different version of the Constellation members or find children playing around in The Lodge. In one universe, we found a grown-up Cora Coe who was angry because we failed to save her father from The Hunter.
In short, you can avoid the main story quests and visit different parallel universes to experience alternate realities. Furthermore, you can also work on developing companion romances with several members of the Constellation Faction. In any case, Starfield will always surprise you no matter how many times you repeat the New Game Plus mode. Secondly, you will receive better variants of the Starborn Guardian and Spacesuit until you reach NG+10, the highest tier.
Things to do after main quests:
The beauty of Starfield is that it really is a never-ending game. You can complete various activities even after you finish the entire main story. Furthermore, you can either focus on a different activity in each playthrough or save the game just before you make the Giant Leap. This way, you can reload the game to a previous setting and complete all activities in a single universe. Here are a few fun activities to squeeze out a couple of extra hours from the game:
- Finish Side Quests: You can complete various side quests, join all factions, and complete side activities to unlock higher-tier rewards. Moreover, some of these missions will help you explore the universe from different perspectives.
- Check out Mods: Starfield has an active modding community that releases new mods daily. You can try some of the best Starfield mods to add new content, extend the game time, or even change the game.
- Unlock all Skills: Another fun activity is to try to unlock all Starfield skills and become a Legend. Furthermore, you can complete various skill challenges to upgrade your acquired skills and powers.
- Build Outposts: Similarly, you can try to explore the thousands of planets and moons in Starfield and try to make them habitable zones. Once you find your favourite locations, you can upgrade your outposts or even design your very own settlements.
- Complete the Fleet: Another fun aspect of playing Starfield is trying to collect every ship in the game. There are countless unique ships with up to 4 variants. So, you can try to collect all these ships and even some of the best weapons in the game.
Conclusion:
Bethesda claims that Starfield is a never-ending game, and it’s true to some extent. For instance, you can spend hundreds of hours completing the main story quests only to find it all restarts in another universe. Furthermore, you can’t remain in the same universe after completing One Giant Leap. So, what happens after the main quests in Starfield? Well, this article explains the Starfield ending and how you can squeeze out even more gameplay hours after completing the game.
