Starfield's latest must-have mod brings human life back to Earth's barren wastes
Tired of finding nothing but sandy, deserted ruins during your trips home?
Pretty much everyone who’s played Starfield has returned to Earth, either to pursue a mission or just out of curiosity, and a new mod aims to ensure that those touching down on humanity’s home planet won’t be left disappointed.
While it does boast a number of interesting locations and landmarks to visit, most of which offer glimpses at the world that existed before people took to the stars and founded the Settled Systems, Starfield’s Earth is generally a pretty barren wasteland. Luckily for those who want a bit more excitement next time they jump back to where it all began, modder wSkeever has decided to spice things up a bit.
Their mod, which is called ‘Human Activity on Earth - Man-made Points of Interest’, accomplishes this by removing Earth from the list of planets designated as not having a human presence. This means the game will be able to populate it with human-themed points of interest, such as abandoned outposts and spots where ships, including pirate vessels, will land, giving you some dynamic stuff to check out.
“On almost every inhospitable barren rock in the Settled Systems, you can't walk a few kilometers without stumbling upon abandoned human structures infested with pirates, spacers, ecliptic and the like,” wSkeever reasons in the mod’s description, “but somehow Earth is completely devoid of signs of human activity outside of a dozen ruins.”
They add that they’ve found obvious no in-game justifications, either practical or philosophical, why our ex-digs shouldn’t be at least as busy as some of the other planets and moons throughout the cosmos which boast environmental hazards and/or a lack of harvestable resources.
This makes decent sense to me, based on my time playing the game thus far. After all, if you’re a smuggler with some contraband you desperately need to stash until the heat dies down and you can get it to Cydonia, building a tiny outpost on Earth seems like the obvious plan.
Naturally, the mod might not be for you if you’re a fan of the lonely and slightly tragic atmosphere Bethesda gave the game’s default version of the planet, but it’s available as an option if you fancy a little bit of a change.
If you’re keen to read more about Starfield, be sure to check out our coverage of its latest patches and must-have mods, as well as how much its Crimson Fleet has in common with real world buccaneers.