Starfield fans discover delightful nod to Skyrim's most infamous line

Starfield contains an Easter egg that harks back to the most infamous line in all of Skyrim.

Starfield doesn't officially launch until September 6, but many fans are already setting off on Bethesda's mammoth space adventure via Early Access. And despite only having their hands on the game for mere hours, players have already spotted a delightful nod to Skyrim's notorious quote-turned-meme, "I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee."

Over on the Starfield subreddit, player Kinevi1 posted an image of one of the game's colonists. "I used to be an explorer too," the NPC says, "but then I- No, never mind. It's a long story." If we had to guess, we'd say that this poor chap also had his adventuring days cut short by an unfortunate knee-related injury.

Easter Eggs confirmed. from r/Starfield

Naturally, players were thrilled by the throwback. "This just put a huge smile on my face!" one user wrote in the comments. "Amazing," replied another. Others, like Starfield fan Terijian, felt sure that Bethesda couldn't resist including the beloved line in some form. "There was a zero percent chance that wouldn't be referenced in this game," they said.

The arrow to the knee quote isn't the only reference to the previous Bethesda games either, as, like it or not, Starfield will have its own version of Oblivion's Adoring Fan. As the Starfield Direct showcase revealed, he's sporting a more futuristic look these days but is still as infuriatingly chatty as he's always been.

Of course, Starfield players are only just scratching the surface, and as we delve deeper into this gargantuan adventure, there's a good chance that we could see plenty more references to Bethesda's back catalogue.

Check out our Starfield launch live coverage for all the news as it happens.

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.