We may never know just how much Starfield has evolved since Bethesda’s reveal in 2018, but eagle-eyed fans are using Starfield concept art and images from this original announcement to show that the developer originally had other plans for The Lodge – Constellation’s home base on Jemison. In fact, if you pay attention to the details, there’s evidence to suggest that the Starfield The Lodge location was never meant to be in New Atlantis in the first place.
As of right now, Bethesda’s Starfield is one of the best RPG games you can play on Xbox right now. It’s easily one of the best Xbox Game Pass games available at the moment, in any case. Just because it’s a great game now, though, doesn’t mean it was always like that. We don’t know too much about how Starfield actually evolved during development, of which Bethesda reportedly spent over seven years on, but concept art can offer us a brief window into the ideas, vision, and plans of the project – at least at a specific moment in time.
Pulling together a couple pieces of this concept art, and using a little bit of logic along the way, Redditor ‘The_wulfy‘ is proposing a theory that Bethesda’s original plans for The Lodge – Constellation’s base of operations – saw it actually an explorable area in the center of The Eye – a Constellation powered Star Station you can visit in-game. This isn’t a new thoery, but it’s not one we see talked about too often now the game itself is out in the wilderness. If you can believe it, it really does look like Constellation almost operated out of a space base – which, let’s be honest, is very fitting for a group of cosmic explorers.
As you can see below, in this initial image of The Eye from Bethesda’s Starfield reveal in 2018, the center of the space-based observation station has an orange hue – something somewhat reminiscent of the wood-panelled walls of The Lodge. We know that, from looking at this image in isolation, it could just as easily be some copper-colored metal plating or the glow of an orange light, but there’s more.
As pointed out by the aforementioned eagle-eyed Redditor, this concept art of The Lodge used in media explaining what Constellation actually is seems to reinforce the theory that the center of The Eye is actually where The Lodge was originally located – and that’s why it looks a little orange at a distance.
Looking at this image of The Lodge below, you can clearly see the room itself is circular. Not only this, but there’s also an undescended ladder leading to a circular walkway and supporting structures that all resemble the architecture and design of Starfield’s spaceships and space stations. If this iteration of The Lodge was a planet-based building, you have to imagine it would be designed with planet-based building architecture – not what you see in space-based structures.
It’s also worth pointing out that The Eye itself in-game does actually have a circular room in the center – like the concept art. While not big enough for The Lodge and all it’s associated rooms, which could be why the plan was scrapped, something similar would fit into things – and there’s more than enough docking ports to accomodate the Starfield characters you might find wandering around.
There’s also a quest in Starfield that will ultimately ask you to choose between The Lodge and The Eye – something that would be quite impossible if the two were in the same place. While, of course, a mission like this could be changed, it’s another semi-important plot point that could be why Bethesda reconsidered this plan.
Still, this is an interesting insight into what could have been. We know fans feel that Starfield missed the mark with this unique reward, and there’s a reason why this is the least popular Starfield faction, but we feel like keeping The Eye and The Lodge largely separate was ultimately a good idea. Although, we would like to see The Eye utilized a little more in future Starfield DLC – it feels a little empty at the moment, given its importance.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools like a New Atlantis map for exploration.