Bethesda hired the creator of a Skyrim clutter mod to design Starfield's "lighting and clutter"

Bethesda hired noted Skyrim clutter mod creator Emmi "Elianora" Junkkari to help design Starfield's delightfully cluttered environments.

The news came from Elianora themselves, who confirmed that they feigned surprise at each new teaser and press release because they're secretly been working on the game at Bethesda all this time.

"I have been deceiving you. I have been lying. I have been faking. I've kept secrets and pretended, "Elianora teased in a recent Facebook update.

"I was merely pretending whatever I said I hadn't a clue what Starfield would be like and what Bethesda could be up to. I faked my surprise at ladders, the space flight, the awesome level of details of the environments and acted like I was in total unexpected awe of all the cool clutter… actually, I placed some of that clutter myself."

The post goes on to confirm that on the back of the fan-favourite mods that add detail and life to Skyrim's world by adding in all kinds of hyper-realistic lived-in clutter, Bethesda hired Elianora "as a lighting and clutter artist" to work on Starfield.

"It was 100 per cent amazing and an experience of a lifetime," they added. "Enjoy our game. Now let's go out there and explore."

Elianora's post ends with a photo of their arm and a fresh Starfield tattoo.

Starfield includes a heartfelt tribute to – and from – a fan who died before the game was released.

Six months ago, Alex Hay posted on the Starfield subreddit that despite "following this project for years", he probably wouldn't live long enough to play Starfield following a lung cancer diagnosis at just 36 years of age.

Sadly, Hay died shortly thereafter March 2023, and to honour him, Bethesda included a note from Alex for all explorers to find.