Can You Do a Pacifist Run in Starfield?

There are a lot of games that will let you do a pacifist run in which you don’t kill other humans or sentient creatures. Normally, builds for these sorts of run revolve around making characters that are either skilled at persuasion and other social checks or able to get around obstacles using lockpicking and other skills of that nature. Due to the many skills available in Bethesda Game Studios’ newest title, you may be wondering if you can do a pacifist run in Starfield. I’ve got an answer for you, and I’m sorry in advance.

Why You Can’t Do a Pacifist Run in Starfield

When I initially started playing Starfield, I decided to see if a pacifist run was possible, and I failed pretty much immediately. Before even getting The Frontier, the game’s first ship, I was attacked by the Crimson Fleet. I initially didn’t pick up a gun, hoping my miner allies would take down the pirates. After about 10 minutes, I got bored of waiting and started helping them. From there, I had to kill several more members of the Crimson Fleet, though I was able to negotiate with their leader to avoid conflict with him. It’s pretty clear from my experience that a pacifist run in Starfield is impossible, at least in its current form. I’m sure some intense gamer will figure it out, but it’s definitely not the way the game is meant to be played.

According to Emil Pagliarulo in a Q&A on Discord that was later posted to the ResetEra forums, the lead designer on Starfield, there were initially talks about including a “non-lethal” option on in the game. They soon realized such a playthrough “wasn’t totally feasible.” Although Pagliarulo stopped short of confirming a pacifist playthrough was impossible, he not killing anyone in Starfield would be very difficult.

If you’re looking for more information on what you can and can’t do in Starfield, check out our articles on why you should finish main quests first in the Bethesda game, and how you can steal NPC ships.