Which Background to choose in Starfield

If you’re just firing up Starfield then you might be wondering which Background to choose in Starfield to get a good start to the game. With around twenty to choose from and each coming with three unique starting skills you’ve got a lot of choice and that’s all before you get into the Traits system.

To help you understand the options a bit better, we’ll start by explaining how Backgrounds work, which means you’ll know how your choice will affect the rest of your mammoth play through. We’ll cover both the hidden variable, as well as the skills and what they mean when you first head out.

Next, we’ll take you through our pick of the best Backgrounds to choose based on what we’ve seen of Starfield so far. As with all of our guide content, we’ll be updating which Backgrounds to choose once the game is out on September 1st, 2023, so don’t forget to head on back to find out more.

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How do Starfield’s Backgrounds work?

As mentioned above there are two main parameters to Backgrounds in Starfield. The first of these is the back story for your character, so this will cover how you start the game and your personal history, which you’ll carry forward into your playthrough.

For the most part, this will just give you a persona to start with, giving you unique dialogue in the first instance. However, it will also open up certain missions easier later in the game, which each one being specific to that unlock.

For example, we’ve already seen that the Beast Master Background qualifies you for a specific mission later in the game where an NPC needs someone qualified to take care of some wayward creatures. Bethesda hasn’t confirmed whether or not these will be locked to each of the Backgrounds as of yet, or if you’ll be able to unlock them no matter what.

The second parameter built into each Background is the Skills that they give you when you start the game. Each one comes with three specific Skills to kick things off, so these will be the ones that you roll with as soon as you start Starfield.

The good news here is that you’ll be able to add to these during the game using Skill Points, so your choice is only relevant for your first hour or so of gaming. After that, you will have earned enough Skill Points by leveling up to be able to add a few more Skills to your character.

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How to choose your Background in Starfield?

There are a number of standpoints you can take to help you choose your Background in Starfield, which you do during character build right at the start of the game. The first of these is that you can make the assumption that you’ll be able to unlock any of the missions no matter what Background you start with.

For example, with the Beast Master Background mission mentioned above, maybe you’ll be able to take that on by unlocking certain Skills even if you don’t choose that as a Background. If that’s the case then you’re better off choosing the Background that you like the most.

If you’ve always wanted to be a chef, be the Chef, or if you’re smart then you might want to be the Professor. If you’re a big Madalorian fan then you’ve got the Bounty Hunter background and for GTA gamers there’s the Gangster option to choose.

We already know that you can add more Skills by leveling up in the game and spending Skill Points from the get go, so you don’t necessarily need to worry about the starting three unless you’re concerned about the opening missions (which we’ll cover below). With this in mind you can just choose the story that you think sounds the best for you.

However, if you’re concerned about the prospect of the Background missions being locked to each then you might want to think about the kind of mission that it will involve. We’ve already covered the Beast Master, but you can use that to infer that the Gangster will have a crime mission or the Chef will probably have to cook something.

If we’re honest, though, it’s doubtful that Bethesda will lock any of the missions away. Considering the fact that Starfield is so vast it would be unusual to make you replay the game so many times just to collect the odd one or two missions. If you factor in the 20 Backgrounds it would probably take you a couple of years of full-time activity to do them all, so it seems unlikely.

Finally, you might look at it with the standpoint that you want to make the right Skills choices right from the beginning and that the back story is secondary to your decision. If that’s the case then you’ll need to choose the combination of Skills that works best for your particular play style.

This is going to be specific to each player, but you can see some examples of the best Background to choose in Starfield below. We’ve linked these to relatively well-known play styles, so you should be able to match these up with your own pretty easily.

What is the best Background for your play-style

#1 Strealth

If you want to be the silent but deadly kind and you just can’t wait until Assassin’s Creed Mirage arrives then you start off Starfield with a beginner stealth build with the Cyber Runner Background.

#2 Bruiser

If you’re all about melee damage then the Bouncer Background is a good choice.

#3 Blades

However, if you want to kick things off with Michonne levels of blade attack power then the Ronin Background is our top choice.

#4 Mr Run and Gun

For the shooters out there looking to start things off in Starfield as the next Tommy Vercetti then the Gangster Background is the best.

We’ll update you with more details on the which Background to choose in Starfield once the game is out. You can also check out our computer games section to keep tabs on other releases. Visit the Starfield Bethsda website at https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield for more details.