Highlights
- Starfield players have discovered a potential Dead Space Easter egg in the game, with a sculpture in New Atlantis resembling the Marker monoliths from Dead Space.
- The Marker-shaped fountain is prominently placed at the top of the city’s Spaceport, making it impossible for players to miss as they land in the United Colonies.
- In addition to the Dead Space reference, players believe that Starfield’s character creator and a medical machine in the game may also contain Easter eggs referencing The Expanse and Blade Runner 2049.
Some Starfield players believe that they have spotted a Dead Space Easter egg in Bethesda’s latest game. While the much-anticipated RPG is scheduled to release on September 6, many fans have been playing Starfield in early access since September 1 by buying one of its higher-tier editions.
As is the case with many studios specializing in creating vast open worlds, Bethesda’s developers don’t shy away from dropping references to their inspirations and favorite media throughout their games. Both Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 were hence filled to the brim with such Easter eggs, as were the company’s other contemporary RPGs that preceded them.
And though Starfield very much continues that trend, the space-faring RPG might also be Bethesda’s first-ever game to include a Dead Space Easter egg. Namely, some players have recently gone online to discuss how one of the sculptures in New Atlantis bears a striking resemblance to the Marker monoliths from Dead Space. While the Starfield landmark is entirely made of metal instead of organic materials, its double-helix shape looks nearly identical to the extraterrestrial obelisks from EA’s critically acclaimed survival horror franchise, which led some fans to conclude that this likeness is not a coincidence.
And though New Atlantis is full of secluded areas, this potential Dead Space Easter egg isn’t placed in any such out-of-the-way location. It instead completes the top of a majestic fountain separating the city’s Spaceport from its shuttle service that pretty much every player will walk by as soon as they land in the crown jewel of the United Colonies. The unique structure can be seen at the top of the port’s ramp, right past the UC Security offices wherein Starfield players can initiate a variety of citywide quests.
The Marker-shaped fountain isn’t the only in-game detail that the fandom is currently suspecting of being an obscure callback to another media franchise, as some players also believe that Starfield’s character creator is hiding an Easter egg for The Expanse. The scene immediately preceding the character creation screen also opens on a close-up view of a medical machine that looks vaguely similar to the device used for administering the baseline test to Ryan Gosling’s K in Blade Runner 2049.
Bethesda’s latest RPG also isn’t lacking in direct callbacks to the studio’s past games. For example, Starfield references one iconic line from The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim on at least two occasions. Many more such Easter eggs are likely to surface online in the coming days once the game leaves early access and thus reaches a much wider audience.
Starfield launches September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
