In the world of sci-fi games, the true gems are those that challenge our comfort zones and redefine our expectations, venturing into uncharted territories of imagination. One of the climactic story missions in Bethesda Softworks’ highly anticipated RPG, Starfield, titled “Entangled,” does just that. This mission boldly explores one of the game’s most audacious premises, creating an exhilarating set piece filled with unexpected twists and turns.
Spoiler Alert: The following contains spoilers for Starfield.
Amid its emphasis on exploration and hard sci-fi elements, Starfield delves deeply into multiverse theory. It not only features primary antagonists from parallel dimensions but also bestows superhuman abilities upon the player character, rooted in their connection to this expansive multiverse.
The mission begins as a routine assignment to retrieve an alien artifact from the planet Freya-3. However, things take a harrowing turn when you intercept a distress signal from a research laboratory on the planet’s surface. Upon arrival, you discover that this isn’t a distress call from your universe’s research center but from a parallel version of the lab—one overrun by ravenous Cataxi aliens.
This is where Starfield thrusts you into the consequences of its reality-bending central plot. Like a scene from the best horror games, you are involuntarily plunged into alternate dimensions, battling relentless waves of aliens while oscillating between realities. Eventually, a scientist manages to stabilize this phenomenon, enabling you to traverse between the two universes. Doctor Patel, the lab’s chief, assigns you a straightforward mission: seal the dimensional rift.
Your journey leads you into the lab’s basement, where you must deactivate the device responsible for initiating this interdimensional chaos while securing the alien artifact that fuels it. Shifting between realities becomes essential for solving puzzles, circumventing cave-ins, and unlocking doors as you navigate through this mind-bending labyrinth. One reality pits you against sterile security robots, while the other hurls waves of Cataxi aliens, creating tense, Doom Eternal-like battles in confined spaces.
While “Entangled” shares similarities with an iconic mission from FPS history, it brings its distinctive flavor to the table. Respawn’s Titanfall 2 made waves with its inventive traversal mechanics and grand-scale gameplay. The beloved single-player mission “Effect and Cause” took this innovation a step further by introducing on-demand time-travel mechanics.
Much like “Entangled,” “Effect and Cause” unfolds in a mysterious laboratory setting. After obtaining a portable time-travel device, you gain the ability to jump between the pristine past and the war-torn present within the same facility.
While both missions explore space-time anomalies tied to alien artifacts, there’s a notable difference. “Effect and Cause” grants you the freedom to time travel at will, allowing for tactical advantages and clever maneuvers. Despite this distinction, both games leverage the possibilities of sci-fi to not only challenge the boundaries of reality but also to push the limits of level design.
Both “Entangled” and “Effect and Cause” superimpose two distinct levels, offering unique platforming and puzzle-solving opportunities that arise from their shared design concept. They introduce different enemy types to keep the missions engaging and fast-paced. “Entangled” alternates between monstrous aliens and sleek automated defense robots, while Titanfall 2 has you face enemy soldiers in the past and deadly local creatures in the present.
By constantly transitioning between two contrasting level-states, both missions create an immersive sense of disorientation, delivering an experience greater than the sum of its parts.
However, “Entangled” introduces an additional layer by compelling players to confront a challenging moral dilemma. As the mission’s name suggests, it unfolds across two entangled quantum realities. By completing the mission, you inadvertently collapse the waveform, sealing the fate of one of the two universes.
The first reality you encounter appears relatively safe, with a mostly operational science lab where a technician named Rafael sacrificed himself to save his colleagues. In the other reality, Rafael is the sole survivor of a catastrophe he couldn’t prevent, surrounded by alien hordes. Doctor Patel makes it clear that only one of these realities can be preserved. This pivotal moment resembles the ethical quandaries found in the best RPGs, forcing you to weigh the lives and choices of these two parallel worlds.
Is it justifiable to preserve the life of the second Rafael at the cost of the first’s sacrifice? Are the multiple lives at risk in the “safe” lab worth more than Rafael’s life? This messy ethical dilemma prompts deep introspection and second thoughts.
In this regard, Starfield takes the concept of world-hopping from Titanfall 2’s “Effect and Cause” and ingeniously reimagines it within the framework of a choice-driven RPG. While many of Starfield’s major decisions may seem underwhelming in their impact on the galaxy at large, “Entangled” lingers by compelling players to make a small-scale choice that’s as emotionally resonant as it is difficult.
Despite some criticism of Starfield’s writing, notably described as “soulless” and “patchy,” “Entangled” exemplifies that Bethesda’s RPG has hidden depths for those seeking mind-bending sci-fi conundrums. It’s a matter of uncovering these gems within the vast universe of possibilities that Starfield offers.
