With Starfield scheduled for takeoff in September it’s time to start thinking about Starfield companions. Normally in a Bethesda RPG we’d expect that you could recruit members from each of the Starfield factions, though during the Starfield Direct it only mentioned that “some of the members of Constellation can join you on your journey.” We may not see companion characters from every faction necessarily, though some that we’ve been introduced to do seem like they probably hailed from another faction before joining Constellation.
From what we can tell in the big Starfield Direct presentation, it seems that Starfield’s companion characters may be unofficially tiered, in a way. Major characters with obvious faction alignments like Barrett and Sam Coe have four total skills while other crew members have only two or three. We don’t know yet if that means we’ll be upgrading companions or whether they’ll each have these innate skills throughout your playthrough. Your crew will all join you on your ship, as Bethesda showed, and can be assigned to specific outposts as well.
Here’s what we know about all the Starfiend companions and crewmates we’ve seen so far in Bethesda’s presentations.
Sarah Morgan
The voice we’ve heard in every Starfield trailer extolling the wonder of space discoveries is none other than Constellation’s Sarah Morgan. She’s an ex-soldier turned explorer, Bethesda says, now the leader of the faction.
Skills:
- Astrodynamics: 4 stars
- Lasers: 3 stars
- Leadership: 2 stars
- Botany: 1 star
Barrett
Barrett is the guy in the space suit that we’ve seen in multiple Starfield trailers so far. He seems to be a pretty experienced Constellation member. In the Starfield gameplay reveal from 2022 we saw a bit of Barrett’s involvement in the main quest, introducing himself to “the new guy” by immediately asking about the visions you saw when encountering the mysterious space artifact the plot revolves around.
Skills:
- Starship engineering: 4 stars
- Particle Beam Weapon Systems: 3 stars
- Robotics: 2 stars
- Gastronomy: 1 star
Sam Coe
Space cowboy Sam Coe sure looks like he was a Freestar Collective fella before joining Constellation and your crew. He’s definitely romanceable, as shown during the Starfield Direct, but I’m not sure he’s a man of many words. “I don’t know that I’ve ever really loved anyone except you” is probably a confession you could workshop a bit, Sammy.
Skills:
- Piloting: 4 stars
- Rifle Certification: 3 stars
- Payloads: 2 stars
- Geology: 1 star
Other crew members
Bethesda seems to have made a distinction between companions and “crew members” which may mean romanceable versus not. “Just like companions, most crew members can lend a hand in the field,” it said.
Adoring Fan
This may not be the cameo you were hoping for, but yes, the obsessive Adoring Fan from Oblivion has made it into Starfield not just as a one-off gag, but as a whole crew member. It looks like his appearance is tied to the optional “Hero Worshipped” trait that you can choose during character creation. Bethesda says he’ll give you gifts, too, so long as you can stand what is likely going to be an endless deluge of observations and commentary as you explore.
Skills:
- Weight lifting: 2 stars
- Concealment: 1 star
- Scavenging: 1 star
Vasco
Every space crew needs a robotic companion and in Starfield’s case that’s Vasco. As it goes with Bethesda and androids, Vasco seems to have some accidentally menacing combat lines like “Please avoid getting shot; you might die.” and “It is a shame exploration requires so much bloodshed.” Sorry Vasco, that’s par for the course in an open world game. We haven’t seen Vasco’s skills yet but I’d be willing to bet they’re proficient with laser weapons.
Markia Boros
We don’t know much about Marika aside from her skills shown during the Starfield Direct. Based on the footage, it appears she can be recruited from a spaceport called The Viewport.
Skills:
- Ballistics: 2 stars
- Shotgun Certification: 1 star
- Particle Beam Weapon Systems: 1 star
Heller
We’re low on info about Heller too, though during Starfield Direct it was mentioned that you can meet crew members out in the world. Heller seems like he might be stranded on a pretty desolate planet in his spacesuit, saying “I’ve gotta get off this rock!” when you come back to speak with him.
Skills:
- Outpost Engineering: 3 stars
- Geology: 1 star