How to wait in Starfield

Starfield allows players to traverse the stars and forge their own path as they do—customizing everything from the ship they travel in to the color of their character’s eyes. This is typical of Bethesda and isn’t surprising after games like Fallout and every Elder Scrolls: the studio is known for its massive open worlds and freedom of choice.

Funnily enough, another thing the studio is known for is including the ability to wait in games. Sleeping to recover health or gain bonuses is fairly common in RPGs, but very few allow you to simply hang out and pass time the way Bethesda games do.

Waiting in Starfield

There are several reasons a player might want to wait in Starfield. Perhaps the most common would be as a requirement for a quest—many times, the player will be told to meet someone later in the night or even the next day. Of course, you can let this time pass naturally, but waiting makes the time pass instantaneously. Waiting can also reduce bugs and improve performance, as it is almost like clicking refresh on a webpage. Finally, some people might just want to adventure at night or during the day.

To wait in Starfield, you must find any chair and sit down by interacting with it. As soon as you do so, a menu will appear asking how long you would like to wait while providing a full breakdown of the current local and universal time. The necessity to be seated or lying down means that you can’t wait just anywhere like you can in Skyrim, but it shouldn’t be difficult at all to find somewhere that you can (your ship, for example).

Waiting does not grant the Well Rested condition like sleeping does, nor does it contribute to recovery from injuries or infections. If you’re after either of these, you’ll have to find a bed. If you simply want to pass the time, find a chair and pop a squat.