Starfield gets Restricted rating in Australia for "interactive drug use"

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Starfield also has "strong impact" violence and "very mild" nudity

Starfield factions
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield has received a Restricted age rating from Australia's Classification Board, chiefly due to "interactive drug use."

The newly published rating recommends Starfield for players over 18 years old and breaks down its content into six categories: themes, violence, language, drug use, nudity, and sex - you know, all the good stuff. Apparently, Starfield is relatively mild in all areas except for violence and drug use.

According to the Australian Government, Starfield only as "moderate impact" themes and language, "very mild impact" nudity, and virtually zero sex. However, its violence is rated as being "strong impact" and its drug use nabs the top spot for being the most least kid-friendly - and the main reason for the rating.

The verbiage "interactive drug use" interests me. Does it mean we'll get to actually interact with drugs in Starfield - as in, do them? Because Starfield's world of over 100 systems and 1,000 planets already looks trippy enough without needing to throw drugs into the mix. 

Otherwise, this is all pretty standard fare. It's a bit surprising to see Australia slap such a restrictive rating on what's likely to be Xbox's single biggest release of the year, but we've yet to see what other ratings boards, like the ESRB in the US and PEGI in the UK, have to say about Starfield.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.