So, you’ve finally got loaded up into Starfield, but you’re not quite ready to take off on your first big adventure? That’s totally fair, now would be a good time and focus on the finer things in life, like helping out the little guys around the galaxy.
As you make your way through some of the first locations in the game, you’ll find just how easy it is to stumble your way across a bunch of different quests right off the bat. If you’re having some trouble deciding where to start, here are 10 of the best side quests to do first in Starfield to get you started.
Give Donna a Pick-Me-Up
Even though it’s not a side mission per se, Donna is too sweet to pass up giving a hand to. As you make your way through the spaceport in New Atlantis, you’ll find plenty of different shops and restaurants to spend your time and credits in. If you’re looking for a quick cup of space-coffee, you can stop into Terrabrew and get a cup. However, you’re not the only person in New Atlantis who could use one.
If you make your way to the MAST district, you can find the friendliest face on the planet in the janitor, Donna Rain. You can talk to her about her perspective on the state of affairs in the city, but you can also offer to get her a cup of coffee after discussing how tired she looks. All you’ve got to do is head to Terrabrew, grab her a Terra Cappuccino and then bring it back to her. You can mop this activity up early on and ease your way into things.
Distilling Confidence – Bring Nyssa Her Ingredients
As you make your way through the security checkpoint for the Spaceport on New Atlantis, you can overhear a UC security guard talking about a woman at the bar who needs to stop asking them to find something for her. You can take that lead all the way up the street to the Viewport, where you can find Nyssa, the bartender who’s in a bit of a pickle.
If you talk to her, she’ll let you know that she was expecting a shipment for an ingredient to use in a drink she’s experimenting with. Unfortunately, it got confiscated and she needs some help in getting it back. Luckily, it’s early enough in the game where you can help out without much trouble, and you can get practice in some persuasion tactics. If you get it back to her, she’ll gladly reward you and give you a sample of her new concoction.
A Tree Grows in New Atlantis – Help Kelton Channel His Inner Lorax
As you wander the MAST district, you might find a couple of guards talking about some scientist who’s off talking to a tree, who might need a helping hand. If you decide to seek him out, you’ll find the scientist Kelton who could use a research assistant to help him gather some data. Should you choose to help him, he’ll have you find a bunch of his sensors scattered around New Atlantis.
You’ll have to jump through a couple extra hoops for one of them, but after you get it you can bring them back to Kelton. Once you get them back to him, you’ll have to wait until he’s ready with the data, but you can talk to him again after a few in-game hours. This side mission actually branches off a few more times after the initial help you give Kelton, making it great for learning just how back-and-forth the game’s quests can be.
A Parting Gift – Help Zawadi Talk to Her Pen Pal Haddie
If you find yourself making your way through the Residential District of New Atlantis, you might come across Zawadi, who is a lovely older woman who just wants to share her peace with passersby like yourself. If you talk to her and treat her nicely, she’ll ask you to do her a “quick” favor.
She has a pen pal that she likes to keep in touch with, and she wrote a letter for a woman named Haddie who lives in Cydonia. Whenever you get there, you’ve just got to go to the Residential District and you’ll find her buzzing about with the other citizens. Give Haddie the letter, and she’ll find it necessary to go see Zawadi at once. Perhaps the circumstances aren’t ideal, but you managed to reconnect some old friends, at least.
Start-Up Stopped – Help Jane Get Her Ship Back
As you make your way through Cydonia’s residential district on Mars, you can find yourself walking into a small shop called Jane’s Goods. Jane runs the place, but needs help getting back her ship that went missing. She doesn’t know why the pilot is taking so long, so she asks if you can lend her a hand.
To find her ship, you’ve just got to go to the space around Triton and hail the Berry Mule, to which you’ll find it’s been taken over by Ecliptic mercenaries. As is your choice, you can fight your way through them, or you can talk your way out and save the ship and the pilot Erick, or just Erick. Either way, helping small businesses is a great way to get your interstellar feet wet.
Red Tape Blues – Help Trevor Subvert Corporate Authority
Just as you get through the security gate of Cydonia, you can overhear a man named Trevor turning a couple of prospective miners down for some work. However, if you talk to him, that’s exactly what he’ll have for you, just not exactly on the books. He needs some help fudging his quota, and he could use your help to do so.
It turns out, he needs equipment to be allocated to him and his crew, so you’ll need to not only mine a little extra ore for Trevor, but you’ll also have to make your way up to the administrative office to give yourself a job as the person who approves the requests. It seems shady, but trust me, nobody’s doing their job enough to even notice that you’ve done anything wrong. Help out Trevor here, and you’ll end up with a shockingly deep rabbit hole filled with bureaucracy and lies, but you can really help out in the end.
Special Delivery – Give Logan the Best Birthday Ever
Say you just so happen to find yourself wandering around the Marine’s quarters in Cydonia for some reason, you’ll be met with a rather chipper Marine named Chris. You can talk to him and find out how much he likes his job, but if you dive a little deeper he’ll let you in on some family history, in that his family on New Atlantis worries heavily for his safety given his being away.
Luckily, he’ll tell you that his sister Logan has a birthday coming up, so he wants you to bring her a birthday present and a letter so that she can rest assured of his health. It’ll require a quick jump back over to the Alpha Centauri system, but Logan will appreciate the effort and the knowledge of her brother’s safety.
Media Sponge – Bring Mitch a Rare Book
Collectors and nerds were luckily able to survive the exodus from Earth, and so you can find Mitch roaming through the dusty halls of Cydonia looking for a friend. After a somewhat awkward conversation, you can offer to help him acquire the first volume of Dragonstar Force from a distant trader, adding to his collection.
To help him out, you’ve just got to make your way over to Akila City and buy the book from a trader. There won’t be any persuasion involved, nor will there be any subterfuge or fighting, unless you want there to be. You can just walk in, buy the book and bring it back to Mitch for your reward, no hassle required.
Space Frog From Outer Space – Post Pictures For Renee
There’s nothing better to contrast the bleak lawlessness of space than the innocence of children, and no child is more innocent than Renee Shelby on Cydonia. She’s bored, but all she wants is for people not to be sad all the time. Her idea for changing this is as simple as posting up a couple of drawings around the city’s hub to bring a little light into people’s lives underground.
All you’ve got to do to help is just run around Cydonia and post six pictures on various walls, and once you see what she drew, you’ll wish the world for Renee. Trust me, if you’re looking to spread joy and positivity around Mars, helping Renee will be the best choice you could possibly make.
Heart of Mars – Go Out & Practice Your Mining
If you’ve never had much experience with the construction worker/miner type, you might not know just the kind of jokes they play on each other and how they go down. Talking to Laylah in Cydonia will open the door for her to tell you about the Heart of Mars, which is this rumored treasure that many miners pursue only to meet a grizzly fate. Sound like a job for an explorer such as yourself?
Well, if you go to the “cursed” cave where Laylah says the Heart of Mars resides, you won’t find much in the way of resistance, but you’ll find a long walk and a slightly larger-than-normal chunk of ore which looks enough like a treasure to bring back and report to Laylah. Do so, and she’ll actually be shocked to see you found anything because it was supposed to be a practical joke. Still, you get to keep and sell the lump of ore that you did manage to find.
There you have it, 10 of the best side missions for you to do first in Starfield. They’re all pretty simple and serve to get you into the swing of things, but they’re good ones for just showing you around a few locations. If you’re looking for some guides as to how to complete these and some other quests, be sure to keep checking back here.
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