The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most debilitating events of the 21st century. It put almost all industries to a halt. Starfield is no exception - the remote work affected productivity to the point that some content had to be scrapped, like featuring Fallout 3’s Washington D.C. on this version of Earth.
Given how this new virus nearly shut everything down on the planet three years ago, we wouldn’t be surprised if Bethesda included some hint or reference to COVID-19 in Starfield. This might be what this Redditor uncovered, after all.
This Redditor, Azuras-Becky, was exploring the planet Feynman III when they encountered floating beings that looked like globes with spikes growing throughout their bodies. A cursory look suggests this is a gigantic version of the Coronavirus with spike proteins.
The thread exploded with hilarious comments, with one user responding “Wuhan” when another asked which planet they found this floating fauna. Others also said that this might be COVID-2330 and not COVID-19.
Of course, this is not COVID-19, which was microscopic like all bacteria and viruses are.
Nothing in Bethesda’s statements suggests otherwise, so we could assume that, yes, Todd Howard and his merry men have let the world know that they have not forgotten about the organism that made the Earth stand still.
Despite the game’s admittedly plummeting scores and player count in Steam, plenty of surprising content related to Starfield is still coming up on sites like Reddit and X.
Just this week, a Japanese fan decided to recreate the consumable item Shepherd’s Pie just in time for their 25th wedding anniversary. Although they changed the filling to ground beef, the creation retains the look of the in-game food.