Summary
- The Crimson Fleet/SysDef quest chain in Starfield is one of the most captivating paths players can take, reminiscent of undercover crime dramas like Fast and the Furious.
- Starfield offers a unique open-world RPG game design, with aspects that showcase Bethesda's best and others that have faced criticism.
- The quest chain allows players to choose where their loyalties lie, offering peak player agency and presenting moral choices that can deeply impact their character's narrative and alliances.
Of the many paths players can take which deviate from the main storyline of Starfield, the Crimson Fleet/SysDef quest chain might rank among the most enthralling. Plunging players into deep cover to dismantle a criminal network of pirates from within, the twists and turns along the way harken to the greatest cliches of modern undercover crime dramas like Fast and the Furious. Starfield has its fair share of hard choices players must face throughout its narrative, navigating their character's moral alignment and chosen allegiance, and never is that more deftly displayed than choosing whether to side with your SysDef handler and the forces of justice, or the rag-tag plunder-obsessed pirates of the Crimson Fleet.
Bethesda's first new IP in 25 years, Starfield has been under the microscope since its release as longtime fans of the studio come to terms with the evolution of its RPG formula. Some aspects of Starfield's design represent the very best of what the studio has been known for, while others have faced criticism for an arguably substandard implementation. The complete package is being heralded as a triumph by some, and a middling outing by others, but the bottom line is that Starfield offers a flavor of open-world RPG game design that players can get almost nowhere else.
Being Able to Choose Where Loyalties Lie is Peak Player Agency
The quest chain for SysDef/Crimson Fleet has an inspired trigger, beginning the first time a player is arrested for their crimes. Brought before Commander Ikande, they are given the choice to pay in earnest for their malfeasance or work off their fines through clandestine police work. Though the initial motivations differ, the player's infiltration of the Crimson Fleet mirrors Brian O'Conner's undercover work in bringing Dom Toretto's street-racing syndicate to justice. It also bears shades of relation to a whole host of other undercover police films, such as Point Break, The Departed, and LA Confidential.
What starts as a simple observe and report assignment soon devolves into an amoral quagmire, where players are faced with a series of tasks to prove their loyalty to the Crimson Fleet while walking a tightrope to avoid committing additional crimes in the process. Further tangling the whole affair is a cast of devious yet affable pirates that players may find themselves relating to more than their surreptitious SysDef employer. The entire ordeal reaches a crescendo with a choice for the player, whether to coordinate a raid on the Crimson Fleet flagship and eradicate the pirate scourge, or take the Brian O'Conner route and double-cross the law in favor of newfound family.
A Game as Big as Starfield Gives Players Big Choices to Make
The quest chain represents the superlative of several Bethesda hallmarks, starting with how it is triggered. Being propositioned upon arrest gives the quest chain a sense of stakes before it even truly gets going, which is far more immersive than wandering into a building and chatting with a random NPC.
Its progression is paced beautifully, as the Crimson Fleet dons a facade of run-of-the-mill evildoers, gradually peeled back to reveal the group's collective humanity, while still largely remaining unsympathetic. The choice at the end is one that feels natural and earned, facing the player with an ultimatum that could either wedge in neatly with their chosen moral alignment, or shift it altogether if they had bonded with one of the quest chain's supporting cast.
As the dust settles on Starfield's release and fans pick their favorite moments of the game, the SysDef/Crimson Fleet quest line is sure to be near the top of the list. The undercover agent trope is, by design, rife with tension and gray-scaled ethics, well-worn in its utilization as a storytelling device in film and television. In video games, it is fairly underrepresented, making Starfield perhaps the finest example of the trope since Sleeping Dogs, and ranking among the best faction quest chains Bethesda has delivered in quite some time.
Starfield is available now for PC and Xbox Series X/S.