There’s been no mention of whether the universes of Fallout and upcoming RPG Starfield share any connection. It’s not impossible, although it is unlikely – there doesn’t appear to be any mention in the Fallout games of humans mastering long-distance space travel before the bombs fell on their universe in 2077. And let’s face it, you probably aren’t going to have the means to colonise other solar systems if your own planet has been ravaged by a nuclear apocalypse.
However, we may have spotted something during Starfield’s gameplay reveal at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase that links the space game to the latest instalment in the Fallout franchise, Fallout 76. It’s a bit of a tenuous link this one, so bear with us…
During the showcase, we got a sneak peek at some of the Starfield traits you could give your character. Some of these mention various religions in the Starfield universe, including one that sees you worship something called the Great Serpent.
However, it’s not some potential giant snake god that we’re interested in right now. The descriptions for the Raised Universal and Raised Enlightened traits mention two rival religious groups, one being the Sanctum Universum, and the other being – drumroll – the Enlightened.
Fallout 76 also has a religious group called the Enlightened, a splinter group from the Cult of Mothman that, as you can probably deduce, obsesses over a massive, person-sized moth creature. Members of the Enlightened worship the purple-eyed Wise Mothman, as was explored in the Night of the Mothman DLC that was released in late 2021.
So, could this moth-mad collective really appear in Starfield? Well, if you were to put money on it, you’d probably bet on this being a mere coincidence of names. However, Fallout 76’s Enlightened do seem to be quite clued up on all things astronomy. Various dialogue entries make reference to the alignment of planets and stars as part of the Wise Mothman’s equinox, and how this equinox gives the creature powers beyond its normal capabilities.
In the roughly 230-year gap between Fallout 76 and Starfield, could the Enlightened have made it to space? Probably not, we know we’re clutching at straws here. It would be funny though to not only have a tie-in to the Fallout universe, but for that tie-in to be a group formed around their collective obsession for a giant moth.
While we don’t know much about the space game’s religions at this point, we do know a bit more the Starfield factions. Hopefully we’ll get some more morsels of information on the Enlightened, the Sanctum Universum, the followers of the Great Serpent, and any other religions ahead of the Starfield release date.