Background Checks Walkthrough - Starfield Guide - IGN (2024)

Starfield's Ryujin Industries missions are about to get serious: in Background Checks, you'll have to break into your own workplace to obtain intel on your coworkers. Welcome to Neon City's brutal corporate world...

There are roughly two ways to complete the Starfield Backgrounds Checks mission: use stealth, or be prepared to shoot a lot of guards. Whichever way you pick, here's how to complete Background Checks.

The Background Checks mission starts after completing the previous Ryujin Industries mission: Top Secrets.

Your first task is to speak with Dalton Fiennes. If you continue this mission directly after completing Top Secrets (starting from Masako Imada’s office), go left and walk down the stairs, then keep left to find Dalton. In case you’ve left the Ryujin Industries building; go up to the Executive Floor, walk to the second floor, and keep right to find Dalton.

Have a conversation with Dalton (no key choices here) and he’ll give you a Novablast Disruptor weapon along with 500 Heavy Particle Fuse cartridges. If you’re planning on using this weapon for future combat, keep in mind that it’s a stun weapon – it’ll knock out your enemies, but it doesn’t deplete their health.

Head to Madame Sauvage’s Place in Ebbside. After leaving the Ryujin Industries building, walk past The Mining League shop and take the door on your right. Madame Sauvage’s Place will be right in front of you.

Once inside, you'll find Nyx at one of the tables on the left. Unfortunately, he’s unwilling to give up his information for free; you can try to persuade him, bribe him with 2,500 credits, or do him a “favor” - gain some intel on a Ryujin worker while you're there. Beware that if you successfully persuade him, he’ll only give you a discount – you still need to pay 1,000 credits unless you agree to the favor.

Regardless of your decision, you need to find a way into Ryujin Tower next. After leaving Madame Sauvage’s Place, turn left and walk upstairs until you can go no further.

See the red button as shown in the picture below? Press it to activate the nearby crane.

Next, jump on the steel beams and follow the path through the container. You may want to empty the storage crates inside while you’re at it.

A bit further down the path, there’s a door leading to Ryujin Industries HQ on your right side. Go through it, then open the vent, and you’ll find yourself in the room shown below.

As the door on the other side is out of order, you’ll have to climb through the nearby vent instead (see the red arrow in the picture below). Follow the path and drop down at the end, which will bring you to a heavily guarded part of the office.

It’s usually best to sneak past the guards instead of taking them out with the Novablast Disruptor, as this may alarm their nearby colleagues. If you keep crouching and walk slowly, thereby sticking to the wall on your right, you can sneak past the first guard undetected.

Tip: unequip your spacesuit to improve your sneaking ability! You may also want to leave your companion behind for this mission, as they have a tendency to alert guards.

In the next room, you can activate the drone demo (see picture below) to distract the guards in the next area. If you don’t do this, they will catch you no matter how sneaky you are – the only thing that can save you then, is a successful persuasion attempt.

When you reach the staircase, go to the highest floor. Once again, the office in front of you is guarded – it’s impossible to sneak through this office undetected, so you can either take down the guards with your stun gun or use a hidden path.

If you’re going for stealth, you’ll find the hidden door near the staircase - directly after climbing the stairs, look to your right (see picture below).

Blasting your way through Ryujin Industries is faster and arguably easier, but beware that Dalton won't be impressed by your methods if you choose to do so. That said, it won't change the storyline.

Climb through the hatch in the ceiling, turn right, and go down through the first hatch on your left. This will take you to the cafeteria. Drop down to continue.

Follow the path ahead, but beware that a guard will come your way. As they don’t seem to leave this hallway, use the Novablast Disruptor to stun them. The door to Camden Cho’s office is on your right (see red arrow below), so if you agreed to Nyx’s request, hack the door by solving a Digipick puzzle and interact with his computer.

Afterwards, continue the path ahead. After going through the door, open the vent on your left and follow the path until you’re able to drop down again.

There are guards in the next room, so either stun them or sneak past. If you stick to the wall on the right, it will lead you to the next vent, as shown in the picture below.

Beware that there’s a door panel right in front of you after you drop down; you can hack this (solve a Digipick puzzle) to switch off the lights in the next area, making it easier to sneak past security.

Keep following the path through the vent until you can go no further, then leave through the hatch above your head. You need to walk over to the medical corner shown in the picture below, but beware of the guards on the left as well as the security robot walking up and down the hallway on the right. You can wait until they turn their back to you or, if it’s a guard, use the stun gun.

When you arrive at the medical station, go upstairs and continue through the vent shown in the picture below.

This will lead you to a large open room, where you must sneak across the steel beams just below the ceiling. This, once again, will lead you to the next air vent.

Before you leave the vent, you can hack the door panel on your right (see picture below). This will switch off the lights in the next area.

Drop down, then walk up the staircase. The only guard in this area is staring straight at Ularu’s office, so you’ll have to stun him with the Novablast Disruptor.

Interact with Ularu’s computer, then click “Rover” to complete the hack. You can leave Ularu’s office through the hatch in her ceiling (see picture below).

If you walk straight ahead and leave Ryujin Industries through the vent, you’ll be back in Neon, right in front of two storage crates filled with loot.

Go downstairs, the same way you arrived. After walking down the staircase, however, walk past Madame Sauvage’s Place to the right. When you see the water, turn right again and take the stairs on your right hand, a bit further down the road. This will take you to Nyx’s apartment.

After a short conversation, wait while Nyx gets to work. When he’s done, speak to him again, then return to Ryujin Industries – you can take the front door this time.

Dalton is waiting for you on the Executive Floor, hand him the data and wait for him to review it. Your final conversation with Dalton will complete the Background Checks mission and reward you with 9,000 credits and Hippolyta (a consumable to improve your persuasion success rate). You can continue with the next Ryujin Industries mission; Guilty Parties.