Ahh, Bethesda physics, you never let me down. Starfield's no exception—and its physics engine is genuinely impressive, able to handle thousands of potatoes stuffed into a room (with some understandable framerate tanks and whining from your rig). PC Gamer's Lauren Morton even had some fun herself, shoving all sorts into that same locker.
We've seen Rube Goldberg machines and milk rain in New Atlantis, but most of these experiments are due to things just… falling down. Gravity's beautiful, but it's predictable. You put milk cartons in the sky and they'll plummet, certain as cheese wheels and taxes. Earlier this week though, player Joshohoho saw an opportunity to create Starfield's largest industrial-grade salad tosser.
The Mega Salad Tosser. from r/Starfield
Behold. The wonders of the universe exist not in any star, solar system, or wonder of natural life—but in the humble lettuce and tomato, and rolling around in a big metal bin. It's honestly kinda soothing to watch, borderline mindful. No matter how scary space might be, I'll always have the big salad tosser in my heart.
- Sweet liberty, the Illuminate are moving an entire wormhole across Helldivers 2's galaxy map to slam dunk it into Super Earth like a basketball
- Bethesda intended Starfield to be more violent, including 'meat caps' for beheaded astronauts, but the gore was toned down for technical reasons and because it 'didn't fit thematically'
One comment from Joshohoho stuck out to me, though. "Have you seen my other salads?" Ah, so this person's a hobbyist. I can respect that. Time to see what else they've been working with. Oh. Oh no. Their salads-based physics tests just keep going. Here they terrorise some innocent bystanders by using the gravity well power to crush them into a ball of greens like The Huddle from Inside.
Xenofresh employees look tired from eating, working and smelling like seafood... So I made them a salad. from r/Starfield
They use that same power to suck Andreja into what I can only describe as a salad-themed torture chamber, like a wrathful god punishing its acolytes for the smallest sleight. Andreja survives the experience, kept alive for more rounds in the salad box. I have no dressing and I must scream.
Andreja became the salad. from r/Starfield
A month back from that we see Joshohoho—whose name I am now starting to associate with fiendish laughter—discovering their fixation. A swarm of salad unfolds out from a single line in Zero G, like some tear in reality through which a lovecraftian salad god spills forth.
Zero Gravity Salad from r/Starfield
It even looks like Joshohoho has stopped being able to differentiate between salad and NPCs. "Enough of my salad videos. Here are some UC Marines getting tenderised", they declare, posting a video of around 20 brave soldiers who'll never see their families just… flopping around the salad tosser, getting momentarily suspended in zero gravity, then collapsing back into the turbine to do it all again.
Enough of my salad videos. Here are some UC Marines getting tenderized. from r/Starfield
I'm not sure what prompted these man-made horrors beyond our comprehension. Perhaps a love of vitamins, an appreciation for fibre, or a tragic accident involving spinach. While Joshohoho obviously used console commands for most of these, the turbine itself—and its zero gravity cycle—can actually be found in-game. It's located in the Deimos Armored Transport, an abandoned spaceship near Grissom in Alpha Alpha Centauri.
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
