NG+ And You: How "Starfield" Got It Exactly Right

Spoilers to follow, obviously.

I've been seeing a lot of people out there on the Internet complaining about Starfield's NG+ — some say that the rewards are bad. Some say that we should be able to respec our characters at the beginning of the new universe. Some say Bethesda should've made it easier to earn points in new skills. And the most egregiously-common statement of all: people are saying you should rush the main storyline on your first playthrough, engaging with as little of the content as possible, to "save" that stuff for subsequent playthroughs so you don't get bored.

All of this is super, super wrong.

For starters, New Game + is not actually a New Game + — it's a continuation of that specific character, that specific story. You created a person, built them up, gave them a backstory, gave them a whole life, friends, relationships. And then you're given the option to leave that all behind, to become a Starborn, even though you're not entirely sure what that will mean. All you know for sure is that you'll be leaving your universe behind, and everything in it.

The only way that choice matters is if you've been playing the story straight: engaging with the world as though it was your home. Trying to make it better by saving lives, building outposts, joining the Freestar Rangers, helping your companions unburden themselves of traumas. Collecting neat gear, getting your ship exactly right. Maybe you got married on the beach and spent as long as you could there, solving every silly little side quest you could together on your honeymoon.

And then, there you stand, on the precipice of a new universe. Ahead of you is the greatest exploration of your life, but behind you is everything else. This is what makes that choice matter. Can you leave your tricked-out ship behind? The galaxy you just saved? Your spouse?

But more important than that, if you really did just speedrun the main story, gathering the powers and artifacts and making a beeline for the Unity — what kind of person is that to become Starborn? What will that person become on a second journey? A third?

Well, we know the answer to that question: it's The Hunter.

The Hunter stopped caring about individual people many cycles ago. A common first stop for him in any universe is to swing by Constellation and kill everyone for their artifacts. It doesn't matter to him that these people are just as real as the people in the universe he came from. He's meta-gaming this now, collecting powers, killing anyone who stands in his way. People aren't people to him any more, they're obstacles to his power.

You can, on some playthroughs, encounter an alternate version of yourself who has slaughtered everyone in Constellation just like the Hunter does, and when you call him out on it he insists that he's passed through many universes where people would say he was the nicest guy they ever met: but he wanted to see how things would happen differently this time if he behaved differently. Like dropping a quicksave. Like doing a "bad guy" playthrough, just to see what happens.

That's why Starfield spends so much time posing questions to you about what you believe, whether you've got a purpose in your life, what makes you good or bad. Because when you join with the Unity, you're going to find the answer: you're going to see how much of yourself you lose through repetition.

The first time I died after entering the Unity, I was shocked to discover that when I die I no longer drop like a corpse, I explode in a flash of light like the Starborn you fight. I felt like I was... less human.

And when I decided to go to the doctor to remove my "Terra Firma" perk, I woke up from the operation thinking that I'd lost one little connection to my former self. You can't replace the perks with any new ones, you're just slowly smoothing off the edges that made you unique.

I'm keeping the "Wanted" and "Neon Street Rat" perks for as long as I can. I don't want my character to forget where he came from.

And romance. Is it more romantic to romance your spouse over and over again, because you'll love them in every universe where you meet them? Or is it better to say that your spouse was unique in all the multiverse, that you'll never replace them no matter how similar the next one is? If you switch on NG+ from Sarah to Andreja, is that a betrayal of Sarah Prime, or an acknowledgement that you'll never be able to get back what you had?

For me, my goal is clear: every universe I enter, I am a member of Constellation and I won't forget that. I'm here to explore, and to help humanity explore. I'm here to open up the Unity for anyone who wants to, and to stop the Hunter and the Emissary from engaging in their cycle of slaughter. As my character becomes more powerful, and spreads himself further and further into the fabric of the multiverse, he's not going to forget who he is, or where he came from.

Yes, learning new skills becomes progressively harder as leveling up gets slower. But that's the price you've got to pay to avoid becoming set in your ways, to avoid becoming like The Hunter. To be worthy of the Unity.

Because the Unity clearly doesn't exist to make us cruel and petty gods. Why would a temple full of music, a temple that asks you to play tag with swirls of light, why would something like that exist to make you a monster? When we find out why the Unity exists — and I do believe that we will, eventually — I think we'll find out that the Unity was invented to create the best of all possible universes. To propagate the multiverse with the best version of yourself you can be.

But hey, maybe that's just me.