How to pick up, hold, drag, and use physics in Starfield

One of the most interesting things about Starfield is that almost everything you see can be interacted with. This mechanic gives the game a little more immersion. It’s cool approaching an object picking it up and seeing the details that Bethesda painstakingly put into it.

Overall it makes the world feel more alive and helps you get into Starfield better. In the fashion of being a Bethesda Softworks game, you can interact with the objects in more than one way. The issue is that the game doesn’t show you what else to do other than putting in your inventory. Since this topic has left the community confused based on this Reddit post, this guide will show how to pick up, hold, drag, and use physics on items in Starfield. 

Starfield: How to pick up, hold, drag, and use physics 

This mechanic is nothing new in a Bethesda game, but as mentioned it’s poorly communicated. When you look at an object, the first instinct would be to grab it and put it in your inventory. This causes the item to take up space which in turn limits you to hold on to important things like Digipicks. Below, we’ll go over how to use physics in Starfield so you easily interact with most objects in the game.

How to interact with objects

Before going any further, this mechanic is doable on both the PC and Xbox, the only difference is the input you’re using.

• To hold items on PC, simply navigate to the object then press and hold E. For Xbox on the controller, do the same thing, however, when looking at an object press and hold A. To set the object back down, tap E or A on the respective input you’re using.
• Dragging objects is just as easy. As you press the E on a keyboard or A on the controller, start moving around by using WASD or the left analog stick. But don’t forget to tap E or A to let the object go.
• You can rotate an object after you’ve picked it up by using the left or right mouse button, or the left or right bumper on the Xbox controller.

Screenshot via PC Invasion

Why you should know this mechanic

Picking up items and looking at them is worthwhile because you will be encumbered quite a bit, even more so in the early game. While you can sell off the junk you’ve collected for Credits, moving around slowly is always a bad idea. This can happen when you accumulate too much stuff, and from my experience, a lot of it can be pointed to picking up random objects on accident. This mechanic allows you to pick and choose what things you want to take with you to either sell or trade. So you don’t have to compromise space as much.