Before you really get a chance to absorb the world and lore of Starfield, you are asked to build your character. While you probably expect to adjust your character’s appearance, setting their Background and Traits is a little more unique. Your Background determines who your character was prior to the game starting, and what skills you start with, while Traits offer some form of bonus at the cost of something else. Some of these traits revolve around the game’s religions, including the Enlightened and Universal, but choosing to be part of one locks you out of the other. With no knowledge about either one when asked to pick, which one should you choose?
Enlightened vs. Universal
Aside from the role-playing implications of what your character believes in Starfield, the real tradeoff between these Traits is what outfit you are given that is exclusive to that religion.
If you choose to be raised Enlightened, you will get the Settler Poncho Outfit that has 15 physical defense, 5 energy defense, 15 electromagnetic defense, 10 thermal defense, 15 corrosive defense, 0 airborne damage defense, 0 radiation damage defense, weighs 1.2, and gives you +10 HP.
Going with the Universal group, you get the Neocity Urbanwear. The stats on that are: 5 physical defense, 20 energy defense, 10 electromagnetic defense, 0 corrosive defense, 15 airborne damage defense, 0 radiation defense, weighs 1.3, and gives you +5% O2 recovery.
Each church also rewards you with a chest of consumables, such as a few Med Packs and food, but nothing worth swaying your decision more than the outfits.
If you didn’t pick either of these Traits at the start, you’re not out of luck. You can’t change Traits in the same way as your appearance after starting, but you can simply go to either religion’s base and speak to the respective leader.
