Starfield players are using physics to steal, in classic Bethesda fashion

A few things are inevitable in life. Death and taxes, of course. And then there’s Bethesda games having weird, physics-y ways of getting around its systems, as Starfield players are currently doing to steal their way across the galaxy.

On social media, various Starfield players are popping up with examples of using the physics of Starfield to steal some good loot out from under guards and NPCs. Usually, when you pick up an item in Starfield that you’re not supposed to (noted by the red icon in the corner of its pop-up description), guards will be alerted. And, in my experience, they respond pretty quickly and violently.

While some games have let you get away with picking up the object and relocating it somewhere where no one can see, that doesn’t always work in Starfield. Picking up an object counts as stealing, so if someone sees you do it, it triggers the alarm. The method for getting around this, it seems, is to simply move objects with another object.

Ah, you think you're slick Todd? Making it so dragging an item you don't own counts as stealing it, so I can't pull a Silver Rush and throw them all into a room out of sight to steal?

You FOOL. pic.twitter.com/ueWYwpBTcK

— GoogleyGareth (@Googleygareth) September 6, 2023

As GoogleyGareth shows, dragging an object around to move other objects will let you relocate Starfield loot for an easy steal. You can do this by either grabbing something that doesn’t count as stealing, quietly nabbing an object away from prying eyes and bringing it over, or dropping an object from your inventory.

Starfield players are already getting pretty creative with this, too. A clip from a Japanese streamer using both a pushing object and a container to gather up massive amounts of credits from a card table, in front of the players, has made the rounds too.

JP Players have also innovated pic.twitter.com/3xMRmn1wWM

— Flare3500 Vtuber (@Flare3500) September 6, 2023

It does seem to all work, but I can’t leave it at just clips. I had to test this for myself, of course.

A layperson’s guide to fun with physics and theft in Starfield

I went out to Neon, popped over to Madame Sauvage’s, and thought I’d try my hand at this trick to see if it truly worked. First, I needed to learn how to pick up items; the game does not explicitly tell you, but hold E over items on PC to lift them. It works on anything you can put in your inventory, as well as environmental objects. Be careful though, as again, picking up items can be seen as stealing, and some otherwise innocuous things like garbage cans or buckets also count as theft.

Screenshot by DestructoidI recommend either bringing your own receptacle and/or pushing your object of choice, or finding something you won’t get in trouble for stealing. I grabbed a nearby succulent. Apparently, Madame Sauvage doesn’t want her buckets disappearing but does not care about customers walking out with plants.

Nearby, I located some liquid-filled bottles with the telltale red marker, and started pushing them around with my succulent. Despite creating quite a ruckus — and even re-enacting those bottle-breaking TikToks at one point — no one really seemed to care I was sending precious property ricocheting around the bar.

I pushed it all the way to the bathroom and into a stall, where I could then safely lift my newly acquired property. Even through several re-tests and literally sweeping the bar off in front of everyone using my succulent-in-crime, no one cared. It works! And genuinely, I hope it keeps working. This is too much fun to not leave in. Just like the infamous bucket-on-the-head trick in The Elder Scrolls, I hope bucket-pushing becomes a new go-to for stealing items in Starfield.