How to holster your weapon in Starfield

Don't take your guns to town.

Displays the player character standing outside a research outpost in Starfield.
Screenshot by Dot Esports.

After years of anticipation, players can finally enjoy Bethesda’s first new universe in 25 years with Starfield, but the game’s approach to its beginning sections can leave some players wondering how to perform basic actions, like holstering weapons.

Recommended Videos

If you’re not familiar with Bethesda games, you may find yourself unsure about how perform even this simple action, which takes a leaf from some of their other games. I myself have played every Bethesda game religiously, and it even took me a second to figure out Starfield’s controls.

Holstering your weapon in Starfield

To holster your weapon in Starfield, you can simply hold R on a keyboard, or hold X if you’re on controller. This can take a bit to figure out, as usually in Bethesda games you simply can tap R to holster a weapon. This is what I myself tried doing before beginning experimentation.

The same rule is generally true of many things in Starfield—much of the time, you must hold a button/key for a moment. It takes a tiny bit of getting used to, but after about 15 minutes it should become second nature, and you’ll be closing your menu with the best of them. Look how far you’ve come!

Walking through a garden in New Atlantis with a weapon drawn.
Don’t take your guns to town, son. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

In Starfield, holstering your weapon will slightly increase your walking, running, and sprinting speed, so there actually is a reason to do so. Plus, if you’re like me, you love the RP and realism you can get from Bethesda games—who wants to be walking around town talking to companions with their weapon drawn?

Author
Image of Pierce Bunch
Pierce Bunch
Freelance writer and jack-of-all-games.