Some cut dialogue has revealed a Starfield feature that could have made companion interactions even greater in the field, and hopefully, it's one Bethesda could look to reintegrate in the future. As with past Bethesda titles such as The Elder Scrolls or Fallout games, players can recruit nearly 30 potential companions to join them on their adventures, each with their own skills and abilities that make them an asset in different situations.

Currently, companions can be recruited and either brought into the field with the player to assist more directly with their adventures, or they can be assigned to starships or outposts to grant them additional perks, such as providing more storage or resources. Four of these companions, Sarah Morgan, Andreja, Barrett, and Sam Coe can even be romanced to provide further perks, such as "Emotional Security," which boosts XP gains by 15% for 24 real minutes and can be an asset for those who are quickly looking to level up.

Starfield Originally Included More Companion Commands

Players Could Have Had More Control Over Their Companions' Actions During Missions

Currently, companions can follow players into battle, but players don't have much say over what they do during missions like they did in past Bethesda titles such as Skyrim or Fallout 4. This can be particularly frustrating if they've chosen a Stealth build for their characters, for example, as a companion can easily get spotted by walking out into the open, resulting in a gunfight regardless of how the player intended to play, and some players would even opt to leave their companions behind in such situations and go it alone.

As found by Redditor JarusinTheStars, this wasn't always going to be the case, as cut dialogue lines indicated that players were going to be able to give various orders to companions. The main example shown was one that instructed them to move to a specific location, which could have been useful for moving them out of the way, or to check out a particular area and set up an additional point of attack before taking on a larger group of enemies.

Companions Still Would Have Been Able To Refuse Commands

Either For Moral Or Logistical Reasons

As noted by JarusinTheStars, only two of the four main companions, Sarah and Barrett had such lines, indicating that this was before Elias Toufexis and Cissy Jones began voicing Sam and Andreja, respectively. As reported by Forbes, Toufexis and Jones were originally going to voice the player character, but became the two companions after Bethesda opted to have the protagonist be mute with only text options for dialogue.

The lines of dialogue shown indicate that companions may not have always listened to players' commands and could have refused them on the grounds of either moral or logistical reasons. While telling the player that they can't move to a certain location because it's inaccessible may be frustrating, it makes a lot of sense. A companion may also refuse an action depending on their own personal views, and while this may become extremely tiresome depending on who players bring along on a mission with them, it's in keeping with Starfield's morality system, especially with Sarah, who will only approve of more lawful good actions, meaning players certainly shouldn't have her accompanying them if they plan on engaging in some more nefarious activities across the Settled Systems.

How To Command Companions In Starfield

The Cut Dialogue Can Still Be Heard When Using One Of The Game's Console Commands

Several mods have tried to integrate such a mechanic back into Starfield since its launch in September 2023, aligning them more with what was present in past Bethesda games. JarusinTheStars does point out that the recorded dialogue is still present in the base game, and that PC players can still hear these in the game by accessing the game's command console and using "setcommandstate 1" on them. From here, the controls seem to work the same as Starfield's Manipulate skill, which can be used to influence NPCs' actions throughout the game. Using "setcommandstate 0" cancels this mode.

To access the command console, press the Tilde (~) or Grave (‘) key while in-game or when using the menu system. From here, players can also use cheats , but it's worth noting that these may impact achievements.

It's unknown why Bethesda opted to cut the mechanic, considering how something so similar seemed to be present elsewhere in the game with normal NPCs. Hopefully the studio looks to implement something similar in the future, either in a future patch, or to accompany Starfield's next major expansion, Shattered Space, when it launches this Fall as it would certainly make having a companion on missions far better if players had a bit more control over the situation and have their strategy go a bit more to plan without a companion deciding to just wander into a line of sight.