What happened to Earth in Starfield?

Starfield takes place in humanity’s far-flung future, where we have colonized planets across the stars. If you visit Earth, or rather the ruined remains of our beloved planet, you will see that Earth has been rendered into an uninhabitable desert.

By the time you assume your role in Starfield‘s story, New Atlantis and Akila City are largely the bastions of human civilization. Still, my first expedition in Starfield was to the blue planet just to see the remnants for myself. The true fate of Earth is not revealed until much later in Constellation’s main storyline, so be prepared for massive spoilers ahead.

Why is Earth destroyed in Starfield?

Early on in Starfield’s main story, during ‘The Old Neighborhood’ quest, Constellation leader Sarah Morgan will give you a brief synopsis of Earth’s ruin. The companion say that Earth lost its atmosphere and flew out into space, quickly becoming uninhabitable for the original population.

The people of Earth had only 50 years to evacuate the planet and find a new life in the stars. This mass evacuation is exactly how the United Colonies rose to power and became the major faction it is at the beginning of Starfield, though it is far from the only faction.

Much later in the main story, during the ‘Unearthed’ quest, you will visit an old NASA facility used during the evacuations. Here, you will discover that the inventor of the Grav Drive, the technology that powers our cross-galaxy travels, built the Grav Jump with the knowledge that it was destroying our planet’s atmosphere.

Can you visit Earth in Starfield?

Despite the fact that Earth is an uninhabitable ball of dust and rock, you can still visit our starting planet in Starfield. There won’t be much to do here since Earth can no longer support any life, but you can walk around its ruins for the sake of nostaliga.

You can always create an Outpost on the old planet. I found this to be a quaint spot to build my Armillary later on in the main storyline solely for sentimental purposes. Though there is not much to do, the view of the orbit can’t be beat.