Starfield Head Todd Howard Says Encumbrance Is a Personal Choice

Aside from removing some beneficial glitches, one of the biggest gripes currently about Starfield is the idea of encumbrance. It means the player is carrying more than they should in their ships’ cargo holds their character’s suits, and their outposts.

So what does Bethesda’s CEO Todd Howard, who also directed the game, say about this concern from the players?

Insomniac Games’ Ted Price recently featured Howard in an episode of Gamemakers’ Notebook, where they spoke about the scale of games like Starfield.

Price asked Howard about what he thinks are the strengths that Bethesda has developed while creating Starfield.

Howard replied that one of these strengths is being able to give players a certain freedom in exploring the Starfield universe, and in the actions that they could take in the game.

The Starfield director then added they noticed how players, not only in Starfield but also in the company’s older games, tend to hoard things the moment they begin playing the game.

“They immediately get encumbered,” Howard said. “No, you don't need the trays and the pencils. But we like that you can pick them up.”

In other words, Howard seems to imply that while you have the freedom to become encumbered, it’s your own fault if you’re getting bo gged down by it.

Credit: Reddit

One of the most notable instances of hoarding in Starfield was when a player stuffed his ship’s cockpit full of 20,000 potatoes. The player, however, explained that he was trying to test how good the game’s physics is at making the potatoes’ movements as realistic as possible.

Of all of Bethesda’s games, Starfield has the most efficient physics, as a test by YouTuber Dennios would reveal. The YouTuber hoarded thousands of items in Oblivion, Skyrim, and Starfield to see who performs well when rendering all that many objects as they roll down a mountainside.