This new Starfield mod lets you instantly take down foes by stealthily punching them in the bum

There’s a new Starfield mod that adds a brand new skill to the game based around silently taking your foes down - in either lethal or non-lethal fashion - using your bare hands or a handy ripshank. That said, the main thing that I like about it is the potential to instantly murder someone by punching them in the posterior.

While it seems like we’re at the point where it seems like Starfield’s Creation Kit probably needs to arrive before people can really start trying to unleash its full modding potential, some devoted folks are still working on or planning interesting mods for it in the interim. One of these looks pretty perfect for those who either love a bit of Hitman or just like finding new ways to goof around in zero-gravity.

It’s called ‘Shades Stealth Takedowns (Knock-out or Lethal)’ and comes from modder Shadedness, who clearly likes the idea of pretending to be a ninja in space. Their latest work is designed to let you “sneak up on your enemies and perform one-shot takedowns for a non-lethal knockout or instant-kill.”

They‘ve even added a new physical skill to the game dubbed "Takedowns", which you can upgrade. By doing so, you’ll first unlock the ability to perform takedowns by sneaking up on a target undetected and power attacking or pressing a new dedicated button when you‘re prompted to, then gain some nice boons every time you do so.

It all looks quite impressive and a nice way to flesh out the game’s existing stealth mechanics and notoriously mediocre unarmed combat. I just can’t get over the fact the very first takedown they execute to demonstrate it in this quite nice showcase video is just them absolutely slamming their fist into a poor spacer’s posterior for an insta-kill that’s followed by a wonderful zero-grav corpse fall.

I mean, forget about the fact they also immediately strip the guy down to his boxers in order to show off another mod they’ve just released - ‘Shade’s Immersive Looting’ - and the fact they go on to execute some nice takedowns that don’t involve a cheeky chop to the cheeks, I just can’t stop thinking about the noise that first butt-punch elicited from its victim.

Putting that aside for a second, you might find the mod in its current form a little bit too overpowered for your liking if you’re good at staying totally unseen, but it definitely seems worth bearing in mind as a possible load order addition. Especially if Shadedness manages to deliver on their stated future plans to integrate things like grenade takedowns, boost pack tampering, and the ability to quietly induce an Aurora overdose into it.

Speaking of Starfield, make sure you check out what's in the latest update for it to enter Steam Beta, especially if you've got a big, expensive PC and like to wring everything you've got out of it graphically via AMD or Intel tech.