Starfield ‘One Small Step’ quest walkthrough (2024)

Starfield is a massive game filled with wonder, and it all starts with the “One Small Step” opening quest. As the name suggests, this game starts you off somewhere small before leading you into its very large world. With Starfield, there is no horse-drawn carriage or mysterious vault to emerge from. Instead, you’ll open your eyes for the first time in a dusty mine elevator on a hunk of rock in the middle of space.

In “One Small Step,” you’ll create your character and take to the stars for the very first time. In this Starfield walkthrough, we’ll take you through the objectives for “One Small Step” and help you understand the outcomes of some of your decisions before you make them.

Work your mining job

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

You’ll first gain partial control of your character on a dusty elevator delving into the depths of a space mine on a world called Vectera. You’ll immediately meet Supervisor Lin — who runs the mining operation — and her smart/dumb-ass companion, Heller. These two will be your first guides into the world of Starfield.

Follow Supervisor Lin

Once the elevator stops, follow Lin and Heller for a classic Bethesda walk-and-talk. You don’t need to interact with anything here, so just enjoy the ambiance.

Collect Mineral Deposits // Return to Supervisor Lin

Eventually, Lin will tell you to pick up a Cutter, which you can use to mine rocks. Head down the corridor toward your objective marker and shoot the laser at the glowing rocks.

Once you’ve gathered all the Beryllium, Lin will summon you back to her. Talk to her when you exit your mining cavern.

Follow Supervisor Lin // Explore the cavern

Follow Lin and Heller deeper into the cave once the big machine moves out of the way. Continue along the main path when Lin and Heller send you off on your own. Go up the ramp and into the small cavern.

Break up the deposits // Take the strange object

Walk up to the strange anomaly in the cavern — the one covered in floating, silver rocks. Use the Cutter to clear the strange material away from the embedded artifact.

Once the artifact is clear of rubble, grab it. You’ll suffer a vision of some strange celestial bodies and pass out.

Creating your character

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

When you wake up in the infirmary, you’ll find Lin and Heller standing over you, concerned. They’ll then ask you a little about yourself, prompting you to create your character.

Take your time here to really perfect your avatar, as you’ll be seeing them all the time if you play in third-person (and in your menu even if you don’t).

Backgrounds

First you’ll need to pick a background. It will determine how players initially refer to you, and it will give you three starting skills. Our guide on what background to choose can help, if you’re stumped.

Traits

Traits are completely optional trade-offs. You can choose up to three but you can also choose zero. Some of these come with cool things like your own house that comes complete with a mortgage you have to pay. Traits can be more impactful in minute-to-minute gameplay than your background, but you can remove traits you regret later in the game, so don’t stress about this too much either. Our guide on what traits to choose can help.

Surviving the space pirates

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

Once you finish creating your character, Lin will tell you that a buyer is headed to Vectera to buy the artifact you found. She wants you to talk to them.

Follow Lin // Meet with the client

Follow your boss outside and wait for Barrett to touch down and greet you. (If you want to get a leg-up on the upcoming combat encounter, you can grab a pistol out of the box just before you reach the ramp up to the landing platform.)

Once he lands, talk to Barrett about your experience with the artifact.

Hold off the pirates // Talk to Barrett

Mid-conversation with Barrett, you’ll be attacked by space pirates. You can fend them off just fine with your pistol, but know that you can also find an automatic Maelstrom rifle on the dead bodies — feel free to upgrade mid-combat.

Once the pirates are dead, Barrett will lend you the Frontier ship and direct his robot companion, Vasco, to follow you. He asks you to return to the Lodge.

Board the ship

Board your new ship and learn all about navigating the stars.

Learning to fly

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

Once you’re done poking around Barrett’s stuff, head to the co*ckpit and take off into space. Here, the game will teach you all about allocating the power systems on your ship and give you some mild combat to test your mettle.

Take off from Vectera // Learn to fly

Before you get to the real flying tutorial, the game will teach you how to take off from a planet and reach orbit. Follow the prompts.

Once in space, the game will walk you through powering up your various flight systems and moving around in orbit. Follow the prompts again.

(Optional) Power up all systems to skip tutorial

If you already know what you’re doing, you can power up all your systems (including the Grav Jump) and instantly skip the rest of the ship tutorial.

Deal with the Crimson Fleet

If you don’t skip the tutorial, you’ll be attacked by more space pirates and will need to deal with them via ship-to-ship combat. After you’ve finished your encounter, make sure to fly around and collect the loot from the space pirates’ destroyed hulls.

Hunt down the space pirates

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

Once you deal with them on Vectera and in space, you’ll need to get to the root of the space pirate problem by hunting them down on their home planet.

Travel to Kreet // Land at the Kreet Research Base

Open your map and use the star chart to travel to Kreet, the home of the local space pirate chapter.

Once you’re in orbit around Kreet, select the Kreet Research Lab either in the map menu or by using your ship’s scanner on the planet. Land and prepare yourself for some combat (thankfully you’ll have Vasco the robot for backup).

Make your way toward the research station, but feel free to take a second to check out some of the alien life and collect some resources.

Deal with the Crimson Fleet Captain // Return to the ship

Inside the building you’ll find quite a few space pirates. Take them out and follow the objective marker up to the roof. When you reach the top you’ll encounter Captain Brogan. This is where Starfield will try and teach you how to persuade NPCs to do what you want and avoid violence. You can either do that or you and Vasco can murder the captain and his goons. (If you fail to persuade the captain, the encounter ends in violence anyway.)

However you resolve the captain problem, head back to your ship (remember you can fast travel to it instantly if you’re not encumbered).

The first meeting at The Lodge

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

Now that the space pirates are out of the way, it’s time to fulfill your promise to Barrett and head to the Lodge.

Grav Jump to Jemison // Land at New Atlantis

Once you’re back on your ship, head to orbit and follow the game’s instructions on how to use the Grav Jump feature so you can reach Jemison and New Atlantis city.

When you land on New Atlantis, talk to the shipwright and talk to Vasco.

Go to the Lodge (MAST District)

Follow the objective marker to the tram. This will take you to the MAST District. After your tram arrives, follow the waypoint to the Lodge, where the mysterious organization known as Constellation operates. Use your watch to open the door.

Enter the library // Talk to Sarah // Listen to the meeting

Once your load ends, head into the library and talk to the Constellation crew.

Speak to Sarah Morgan, the woman wearing the red leather jacket, and stand around while you listen to the Constellation characters chat about their organization.

Place the Artifact // Listen to the meeting // Talk to Sarah

Walk up to the console in the middle of the room and place the artifact on the table. This will cause it and the other artifacts Constellation has already found to start spinning in the air together.

Listen to the various responses from the different Constellation members, who are all very excited about this new discovery.

Finally, talk to Sarah again and tell her about your incredible discovery. Then you can pat yourself on the back: You’ve officially finished the first mission in Starfield’s main campaign.

Now you’re ready to join Constellation proper in Starfield’s second story mission: “The Old Neighborhood.”