While a game will pit you on a route to complete a specific overarching objective as your main quest line, it can also add a ton of extra optional missions around the game’s many maps. This can help to extend a player’s time in the game and give them a longer-lasting and more enriched experience.
Starfield has many side quests, and while some of these are purely narrative and add some more depth to the game’s lore, side quests can push romance possibilities, unlock new features, and a lot of the time can be a very rewarding undertaking as you make your way from planet to planet — better increase your cargo to keep all those rewards.
Updated by Peter Hunt Szpytek on October 9, 2023: This list has been updated to include a video version (featured below.)
10 Groundpounder
This quest has you respond to a distress call that you will pick up on your way to planet Altair II located in the Altair System. There will be some Spacers attacking a small outpost. This mission is just straightforward fun. It has lots of enemies to engage in many different combat encounters that will have you cycling through a variety of weapons and strategies.
Since you are going to constantly be in combat, make sure to bring a lot of ammo. And once you have completed everything, you will be rewarded with a new gun known as the Peacekeeper.
9 Space Frog From Outer Space
Mars is another planet in the Sol System. On this planet, you will find Cydonia, and in this city will be the Luxe Condominiums. Speak with the little girl named Renee Shelby. She will give you several pictures of space frogs to put up. All you need to do next is follow the quest markers and place these posters up once at a time.
This will give you an adorable space frog poster that you can put up in any of your outposts. It’s a very wholesome and adorable little side quest, and the image of a space frog will leave a lasting memory after you are finished playing Starfield.
8 Tourists Go Home
Head on over to the moon of Titan orbiting the planet Saturn, which is also located in the Sol System. On Titan, you’ll find the establishment called New Homestead. Here you will discover a tourist-centric museum, and in this museum, a very annoyed doctor.
You can help this doctor by scaring the tourists while wearing a monster costume. This costume is based on a tardigrade, more commonly known as a water bear. By completing this request three times, the costume will be yours to keep.
7 The Audition
Did you know that you can join up with the gang known as the Strikers found in Ebbside? Ebbside can be found in the city of Neon, which is located on the planet Volii Alpha, nestled inside the Volii System. Once you are in Ebbside, navigate the corners until you hear some nightclub music playing.
You will find this music comes from a doorway with Madame Sauvage’s Place written above it. Once inside the establishment, speak with Andrea to begin a series of attacks against members of a rival gang. You will be rewarded with some credits and the really stylish-looking Striker Maskwear.
6 Juno’s Gambit
Juno’s Gambit is a really great side quest and lets users explore the moral impact of whether AI should be considered just as human as we are, or if it is okay to terminate their existence without giving it a second thought.
This side quest is so low on this list because you can only start it with a random, chance encounter. You will just need to keep exploring the game until you happen upon an Eclipse ship attacking another ship. The best outcome is achieved by already being a member of Ryujin Industries as it gives you unique dialogue options which lead to rewarding you with the most credits.
5 Operation Starseed
Charybdis is not a system you will want to go to early on in the game. In fact, the recommended level for this system is 65. Once you are in this system, look for the planet called Charybdis III and head on over to it. On Charybdis III will be a colony known as the Crucible, and it has one of the more outlandish concepts featured in the game.
This colony is filled with clones of well-known historical figures, each of which has their own ideals and beliefs of how things should be done. Following this quest to its completion has one of these clones becoming a part of your crew.
You can start this side quest while you are near Porrima II in the Porrima System. When you get close enough, you will receive a broadcast about a ship in Porrima II’s orbit. Hailing this ship is pointless, so feel free to go right ahead and board it. Onboard, you’ll find a crew that is made up of the descendants of a two-century-old colonization mission that departed from Earth in the early days of long-distance space travel.
This mission has a lot of pleasant characters and philosophical quandaries to consider, requiring you to act as a mediator between the ship’s inhabitants and the wealthy elites of Paradiso. If you choose to help the Hotel Paradiso Resort, you will be rewarded with a lifetime pass to it, but only if you are okay with forcing the crew of the colonization ship to abide by the laws of the already established Paradiso society.
3 Mantis
This is a fan-favorite side quest and one you will discover earlier rather than later in your playthrough. You will not need to travel to a specific place to start this quest. Instead, it will come to you by picking up a note from a defeated spacer enemy called, “Secret Outpost!.”
Reading this will redirect you to Denebola I-b. It is recommended you be at least level 22 before attempting this mission in order to successfully defeat all the enemies. Completing Mantis will reward you with a new legendary ship and a new legendary spacesuit.
2 In Memoriam
A feature that has been available in many RPGs is the ability to romance characters with the game, and Starfield is no exception. This quest will be part of the quests you do while attempting to romance Sarah Morgan, whom you will meet through progressing the story.
This quest will have you navigating many dialog options to learn more about Sarah, including her past. She will then accompany you as a companion to Cassiopeia. By the end of the journey, she will have developed feelings for you. Your main reward for this will be having successfully romanced Sarah, but you will also get over 10K credits.
1 Overdesigned
The quest of Overdesigned is one of several that can net you a whole new ship, just like in Mantis. You will take part in a Research and Development team for Walter Stroud — a key figure in Stroud-Eklund. Walter Stroud is a prominent NPC you will meet while in Neon, and can be found in the Stroud-Eklund Corporate HQ.
This quest has you doing plenty of research and putting together a budget plan for a new kind of ship. The one you settle on determines the reward you get. The better of the two options is the Kepler R ship, which is the closest thing you will get to a flying tank, and it also has a truly massive cargo capacity.