Starfield, the upcoming spacefaring RPG of epic proportions from Bethesda, marks the first new universe in 25 years from the developer. Set in 2330, in a pocket of the Milky Way, there’s a brand new expansive area of the galaxy on offer to explore. During your time exploring you will meet a variety of Starfield factions, that could be your friends, or your enemies.
With reportedly a vast Starfield map size, there will be a lot of secrets to discover and factions too. Picking from the variety of Starfield traits, Starfield weapons, and befriending the variety of Starfield characters will undoubtedly have an effect on whether or not these factions turn against you or bring you into their ranks.
Starfield factions
The confirmed Starfield factions are:
- Constellation
- United Colonies
- Freestar Collective
- Crimson Fleet
- XenoFresh Corporation
- Ryujin Industries
- Ecliptic Mercenaries
- Spacers
- House Va’ruun
It’s no surprise that factions are back and the developer has revealed a fair bit about them so far, some of which can be seen briefly in the Starfield gameplay trailer. You can find a deep dive into these factions below.
Constellation
Constellation is where your journey begins as you join this group of intrepid explorers committed to uncovering the mysteries of the galaxy.
Akin to space exploration organizations such as NASA or SpaceX, Constellation is one of at least nine different Starfield factions that you’ll come across in the game. There’s a lot to explore and seemingly a lot of rare artifacts to find and becoming a new recruit to this organization is where it all starts.
United Colonies
One of the two largest factions in the Settled Systems is the United Colonies. 20 years before Starfield, they were embroiled in a bloody Colony War with another faction, Freestar Collective. United Colonies is widely regarded as the most powerful and established in both military and politics in Starfield.
While Bethesda speaks of peace now, there’s a warning that the United Colonies still makes for a dangerous place as they reside in New Atlantis. According to the developer, the United Colonies represents “the future of space republics, idealized”.
Freestar Collective
Once at war with the United Colonies, Freestar Collective is the second of the largest factions in Starfield. Living in the walled capital city of Akila, this faction is a loose confederation of settlers of the three-star systems that live distanced from the rest.
Starfield design director, Emil Pagaliarulo, says the people of this city “believe in the sanctity of personal freedom and individuality” and Freestar Collective is said to represent the “space western fantasy”.
Crimson Fleet
Lead quest designer, Will Shen describes Crimson Fleet as “the de facto choice for anyone looking to do an evil playthrough of Starfield” and this statement becomes more obvious when you realize that members of the Crimson Fleet faction are pirate raiders.
There’s talk from Bethesda around the idea of being part of multiple factions meaning you can play bad with the Crimson Fleet, but still work to be good by spying and returning information to other factions.
XenoFresh Corporation
The XenoFresh Corporation resides in the third major city of Starfield, Neon. Described as a pleasure city, the aquatic world of Neon was once used for fishing but quickly turned its attention to drug selling when it was realized that the fish could produce a psychoactive chemical called Aurora. This left the faction with a lot more time to party fuelled by easy money.
Ryujin Industries
You’ll need a ticket to ride with this faction, or at least a job offer. This mega-corp is rumored to be joinable only through a hire. Shen calls this faction “one of the best starts,” but it seemingly won’t be as easy as just turning up and joining. Not much is known about Ryujin Industries other than it represents the corporate life of Starfield.
Ecliptic Mercenaries
As far as the next three factions are concerned, there’s not a lot to report back on just yet. Ecliptic Mercenaries join Spacers, House Va’ruun, and Crimson Fleet as the human factions of the game and are reportedly a group of bounty hunters on dangerous missions for their clients.
Spacers
Mentioned only briefly in a teaser clip from Bethesda, not much is known about the Spacers apart from the fact they’re incredibly violent.
House Va’ruun
Equally, all we know about House Va’ruun so far is what design director Pagaliarulo has told us and that’s that they’re a faction of “fanatical religious zealots”.
So there you have it, everything we know so far about the Starfield factions. We expect to learn more in the coming weeks and months as we get more glimpses into this world Bethesda Games Studios is crafting ahead of the Starfield release date in September.
