Starfield Players Point Out Missed Opportunity With Ecliptic Faction

gamerant.com:

Some Starfield fans have recently banded together to discuss how disappointed they are with the fact that the Ecliptic faction is essentially a reskinned version of Spacers instead of acting like the lore suggests it should. Their discussion also yielded some compelling ideas about how the Ecliptic could have been improved, underlining the players' sentiment that Starfield's handling of the group represents a missed opportunity for Bethesda.

Warning! Minor Ecliptic-related lore spoilers for Starfield ahead.While Starfield offers a double-digit number of joinable factions, its universe also has other groups that the player cannot enroll in, but which still have a role to play in the lore. Ecliptic is one such organization, painted as the remnants of the freelance peacekeeping forces from the Colony War preceding the events of the game. By the time Starfield's story kicks off, these mercenaries have largely devolved into a rather cynical bunch that's willing to work for anyone and do pretty much anything for credits.

That's the lore, at least. But some fans have recently voiced their grievances about how this group is represented in actual gameplay, arguing that the Ecliptic Mercenaries only differ from the likes of Spacers and Starfield's Va'ruun Zealots by their design, and are otherwise just another mob to mow down. The criticism originates from Reddit user SilverWolfIMHP76, who recently opined that Bethesda missed an opportunity to make the Ecliptic a neutral faction that only becomes hostile if the player makes it their mission to mess with them, as would make sense for a private military force.

Elaborating on that train of thought, the fan proposed that the Ecliptic Mercenaries should issue warnings when the player approaches them instead of shooting on sight. Adding the Ecliptic to the list of joinable Starfield factions would also make lore-wise sense, SilverWolfIMHP76 opined. Their proposal was propelled to the front page of the r/Starfield subreddit shortly