While traversing Starfield‘s massive galaxy, people can interact with a variety of characters, forming relationships with them as they react to specific dialogue choices or actions taken in front of them. Much like Skyrim‘s followers and Fallout 4‘s companions, some of Starfield‘s NPCs can become crew members and companions and assist on missions and journeys. Some of these major NPCs are even romanceable, but this isn’t an option for every character in the game.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Starfield]
One particularly memorable character is known only as The Hunter. Although The Hunter will eventually reveal himself during the “High Price to Pay” main mission, he can also appear as a random encounter beforehand while free-roaming in the game, sometimes as early as the first visit to New Atlantis, descending from the sky with his jetpack in front of the player in an intimidating, all-black spacesuit. With one of the cooler introductions — which can also vary depending on actions taken — it’s no surprise that many want to incorporate The Hunter into their crew.
The Hunter Can’t Be Recruited
Unfortunately, despite being one of the coolest-looking characters in Starfield, The Hunter finds talking and forming alliances to be tiresome and, therefore, can not be romanced or recruited to join the crew, nor can he become a companion in Starfield. Player experience does seem to vary with regard to interacting with The Hunter, but most can find him in Jemison’s Viewport bar and talk to him to learn more about his background prior to his expanded storyline later in the game’s main campaign.
Who Is The Hunter?
The Hunter is a member of the Starborn faction, a group of ascended individuals who have surpassed their humanity by reaching and passing through The Unity, enabling them to cross entire universes. During the story, the protagonist will interact with The Hunter and fellow Starborn, The Emissary, who both have contrasting viewpoints and intentions when surrounding the mysterious Artifacts that the Constellation is researching, with both initially wanting the Artifacts for themselves.
Whereas The Emissary believes only worthy people like the Starborn should be allowed to possess the Artifacts, The Hunter believes that concepts like right and wrong don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, and only those who were skilled enough should have access to such powerful objects instead. This means he is willing to go to extreme lengths and kill anyone who gets in his path to obtain the Artifacts himself, including the player.
Ultimately, upon engaging in combat with — and being bested by — the player multiple times, The Hunter will deem them skilled enough and will step aside, curiously waiting to see what events unfold with the player and the Artifact going forward. Despite this rocky start to their interactions, it’s a shame that The Hunter can’t be recruited following this resolution, even if it is in keeping with his core character. Fortunately, there are still more than 20 companions who can be recruited, each with their own special skillsets to assist with particular playstyles when exploring Starfield‘s Settled Systems.
