Starfield romances and relationships explained

Starfield romances
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield romance options let you form relationships with some of your Constellation companions, but you'll need to do a lot of flirting first. While you'll encounter a massive and varied cast of characters on your adventures, you're confined to getting into romantic relationships with four specific NPCs in Starfield, including Sarah Morgan and Sam Coe. This bunch are eligible to be crew members and companions too, but if you want to take your relationship to the next level and get married, you'll need to flirt and act in a way that appeals to your desired partner. Below, I've laid out all the Starfield romances, how you can progress them to marriage, and the benefits received by doing so.

Who can you romance in Starfield?

There are four main companions you can romance, all of whom are members of the Constellation Starfield faction and you'll work with each of them a fair amount during the Starfield Constellation questline:

  • Sarah Morgan
  • Sam Coe
  • Barrett
  • Andreja

All the details on where you meet them and how to get on their good side are below.

Sarah Morgan Starfield romance

Starfield romance with Sarah Morgan

(Image credit: Bethesda)

You meet Sarah Morgan early in the story during the One Small Step mission, when you take the first Artifact to the Constellation Lodge. She then offers to accompany you on The Old Neighborhood mission, so you'll immediately have the opportunity to start building your relationship. As Chair of Constellation, Sarah has a keen appreciation for science and enjoys rules and regulations so respects the United Colonies. Stick to the rules as much as possible and don't do anything too outlandish to stay in her good books.

Sam Coe Starfield romance

Starfield romance with Sam Coe

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Sam Coe arrives at the Constellation Lodge when you complete The Old Neighborhood mission, alongside his daughter Cora Coe. At this point you can speak to him and initiate The Empty Nest mission, which will take you into Freestar Collective space. As this space cowboy grew up with the Freestar Collective and is a former member of the peacekeeping Freestar Rangers, he's a big fan of seeing justice delivered and despises the competing United Colonies, so make sure your responses favor FC over UC to keep him happy.

Barrett Starfield romance

Starfield romance with Barrett

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Although Barrett is technically the first Constellation member you meet, you won't be able to start building a relationship with him until after you complete The Old Neighborhood mission with Sarah. You can then undertake the Back to Vectera mission, which will eventually lead you to rescuing Barrett from some surprisingly polite pirates on Bessel III. Obviously Barrett is a bit of a rogue and just wants to head off on exploration missions to make new discoveries, so if you can assist him with that while not supporting either government too strongly then you'll earn his admiration.

Andreja Starfield romance

Starfield romance with Andreja

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Andreja is another companion you won't be able to meet until you complete The Old Neighborhood mission, after which you can initiate the Into The Unknown mission. Although this starts with visiting Vladimir Sall on The Eye space station, it soon progresses to finding an Artifact on Tau Ceti II, where you'll discover Andreja fighting off fanatics in an Abandoned Mine and team up with her. 

Andreja's past is mysterious and she seems to be struggling to understand her place within Constellation, so she appreciates any reassurances of her worth and also doesn't mind seeing you get your hands dirty in situations that other companions may find distasteful. She's big on honesty and her religious devotion to House Va'ruun is unwavering, so don't disparage the giant space serpent in her presence.

How to progress Starfield romances

Starfield romances asking Sarah personal questions

(Image credit: Bethesda)

To progress a Starfield romance with one of the companions listed above, you need to consider their values as well as their likes/dislikes and then tailor any dialogue choice or actions you take accordingly when they're around. You should also set them as your main Starfield companion to take them on missions with you, then regularly talk to them and follow the "Do you mind if I ask you some personal questions?" dialogue option, exhausting all choices to learn more about them and responding positively where possible.

You'll see notifications in the top right corner of the screen confirming your companion liked or loved something you just said or did, so you'll know you're on the right track, though take note if they disliked or hated it and adjust your approach accordingly to avoid any further displeasure. Note that Starfield romances are complex, so you don't have to be constantly appeasing your companion and as long as you do more of the things they like than those they don't then your relationship will gradually develop over time.

Starfield romances Paramour aid

(Image credit: Bethesda)

As you explore, keep an eye out for an aid item called Paramour, as this will cause your Companion Affinity to increase faster for 10 minutes. Try to use this when you're about to complete some activities alongside your romance partner, to help speed up the relationship building process. 

Starfield romances flirting with Sarah

(Image credit: Bethesda)

As you continue talking to your companion while progressing through missions, you'll start to see dialogue options appear with a [Flirt] prefix attached – you should follow those choices wherever possible, if you want to develop your relationship with them. Keep it up and they'll become increasingly chatty with you, eventually approaching you and asking for help with a unique mission. Complete that with them while maintaining the [Flirt] options, until you're given a dialogue choice between a [Friendship] or [Romance] option – you know which one you need to pick! This will eventually lead to a [Commitment] dialogue choice becoming available, which will trigger a new mission to complete your wedding to the companion.

Once married, your companion will bring you an increased number of gifts while out on missions together, and you'll share a bed with them when you sleep, increasing your Well Rested XP boost from 10% to 15% for the next 24 minutes. Your dialogue options with them will also change to reflect that they're your spouse and they'll always be happy to see you, but don't expect any raunchy cutscenes of intimacy with them.

If you decide you've made a huge mistake, it's possible to express this to your spouse with dialogue choices leading to an [End Commitment] option – this will break off your relationship, and you'll lose that companion as an active follower while they take some time to themselves. You're then free to pursue a romance with one of the other companions, but I recommend you just focus on one relationship if you don't want to create a sour atmosphere amongst your team.

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Iain Wilson
Guides Editor

Iain originally joined Future in 2012 to write guides for CVG, PSM3, and Xbox World, before moving on to join GamesRadar in 2013 as Guides Editor. His words have also appeared in OPM, OXM, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, and SFX. He is better known to many as ‘Mr Trophy’, due to his slightly unhealthy obsession with amassing intangible PlayStation silverware, and he now has over 500 Platinum pots weighing down the shelves of his virtual award cabinet. He does not care for Xbox Achievements.