What is Quantum Essence in Starfield?

By Jesse Lennox September 7, 2023

Taking place over 100 years in the future, there will be a lot of things you come across you’re unfamiliar with in Starfield. Also, since this is a Bethesda title, just about everything that isn’t nailed down can be picked up whether it’s useful to you or not. There’s one special item you won’t start encountering until you reach a specific point in the story, and after that only get it very rarely. Quantum Essence sounds very mysterious, and the game hides away what it actually does. Here’s everything you need to know about this special material in Starfield.

Note: We will be spoiling minor parts of Starfield ahead. No specific story details will be mentioned, but some mid-game mechanics will be discussed.

Recommended Videos

What is Quantum Essence?

A chart of symbols showing starfield powers. — Bethesda Softworks

Quantum Essence is a special resource only dropped by the Starborn enemies that show up between a quarter and halfway through the game. They show up most often, but not always, after you visit a temple and collect a Power. After defeating one, you may notice the notification that you’ve collected a Quantum Essence without needing to loot it off the ground yourself.

The only place you can see how many Quantum Essence you have, or what they do, is in the corner of your Powers screen. Here, you can use a Quantum Essence to temporarily increase how quickly your Power recharges. This meter slowly fills on its own over time, but if you want to sling Powers one after another, you will need to eat up some of these resources.

Topics

Apple

Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…

Gaming

Is It Takes Two cross-platform?

Cody and May in It Takes Two.

With a name like It Takes Two, you expect to be playing this game with a co-op partner. In fact, this game takes things a step further and requires you to have a friend either next to you or online to play at all, in contrast to other games like Genshin Impact. Developer Hazelight did make the barrier to entry a bit smoother by offering a free buddy pass you can give to a friend so they don't have to purchase their own copy to play with you, but what if you and your friend play on different consoles? It Takes Two is available on just about everything, so surely a game that puts so much emphasis on teamwork and cooperation would be a cross-platform game, right? Let's work together to find the answer.

And if you're curious if other big multiplayer games like Stardew Valley or Minecraft are cross-platform, we can help you out there, too!
Is It Takes Two cross-platform?

Gaming

The best Syndicate rewards in Star Wars Outlaws

One character points a gun at others while gambling in a bar in the trailer for Star Wars Outlaws.

You will learn very quickly in Star Wars Outlaws that it isn't the Empire that runs things -- it's the syndicates. These crime families each fight for power over the various planets you will explore and all see you as a potential pawn in their schemes. Kay has a lot of useful skills and abilities they want to take advantage of, but it isn't a one-way street. If you can raise your reputation with a syndicate all the way to the max, you can earn yourself some valuable and exclusive rewards you won't find in any container you lockpick. Doing that many jobs for a syndicate takes time, but also tends to incur the wrath of other syndicates at the same time, making it very challenging to keep everyone happy. These syndicates have the best rewards that you should work your way through the ranks to get.
How reputation works

Each of the four major syndicates in Star Wars Outlaws has their own reputation meter you need to manage. These have five major segments: Terrible, Bad, Poor, Good, and Excellent. You raise that meter by doing jobs for a syndicate and lower it by either doing jobs that hurt that syndicate or by fighting or trespassing on their turf.

Gaming

All transformations in Black Myth: Wukong, ranked

A creature with a flaming spear in Black Myth: Wukong.

One of the major mechanics that sets Black Myth: Wukong apart from other soulslikes or action RPGs is its transformation system. Heavily inspired by the source material, in which Sun Wukong is a master shape-shifter, the Destined One in this game is also able to take on many forms. Unlike that story, though, you only have a few transformations to pick from, but they are incredibly powerful. Not only do they give you new moves and abilities in a fight, but they also have their own health bar. That means a tactical transformation during a boss fight can be your golden ticket to success. Still, not all of your transformations are created equal. Based on our experience, we've ranked all possible transformations from worst to best.

Azure Dust