Is Starfield open world? 'Boundary Reached' message explained

Starfield is finally here, meaning players can hop in a ship and explore multiple star systems of planets, stars, and space stations - but is Starfield open world?

The game is unparalleled in scope, even more so than Skyrim and Fallout, but is it possible to just wander space and planets without any hitches?

If you're already playing and have encountered Starfield's 'Boundary Reached' message, you'll know it's not as open as it may seem. Here's everything you need to know about Starfield's open world, and what that 'Boundary Reached' message means.

• Have a look at everything we know so far about Starfield, including when we can expect to play this space epic. 

Is Starfield an open-world game? 

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Yes, Starfield is an open world. In fact, not only is it an open world, but it’s also Bethesda’s biggest game yet - by quite a distance.

It's not seamless, though, and you'll find loading screens pop up when you move from planet to planet, go into internal structures, and return to your ship. That's all pretty par for the course with a huge project such as this, but it's not quite as impressive as No Man's Sky's option to get in your ship, leave a planet's orbit, and fly through space all in one uninterrupted gameplay sequence.

• Find out if Starfield will have mod support if you're planning to build or download community content.

Starfield 'Boundary Reached' message explained: Map restrictions & options explained

If you get out of your ship on Starfield while on a planet, walking for some distance with bring up the following in-game message:

'Boundary Reached' - Open the map to explore another region, or return to your ship.

If you've encountered the message, you'll know that Starfield will suggest you fast-travel to your ship, open the Planet Map to explore further, or cancel out and just stick in the same spot thanks to an invisible wall.

Given that the game is offering entire planets, this is likely a technical limitation to prevent the need to render everything in a galaxy, as well as a quality-of-life feature to stop you getting stuck a million miles from your ship.

That arguably breaks some of the promises made pre-launch, with players previously being told they could walk an entire planet, but given the number of planets in the game, it feels like a good middle ground.

How many planets are in Starfield?

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There are a whopping number of planets in Starfield, with over 1,000 planets featuring across 100 different star systems. Don’t let that intimidate you - although the game is still set to be huge, Todd Howard, Starfield’s Director, stated in an interview: "only 10% of the planets will have life on them".

That is all you need to know about Starfield's open world so far. For everything else Starfield related be sure to check out our guides to Starfield's jail, and whether there's any multiplayer.