Starfield has garnered massive interest from gamers everywhere; the up-and-coming title from Bethesda Game Studios is due to hit Xbox consoles and PC’s in 2023. Starfield will be Bethesda’s first new intellectual property game concept in many years, the game company has in the past been responsible for the release of industry-defining games like the Doom series and The Elder Scrolls, their new game Starfield looks set to be just as influential as the best of their previous releases.
Starfield is set to be a single-player role-playing game set in the future of outer space. The studio’s boss, Todd Howard has recently described the game as “like Skyrim in space”. With a number of trailers now released there are a few more clues as to what we can expect from the game visually and in its offering of gameplay.
With a release date yet to be defined more accurately than 2023, it will be a while before anyone gets their hands on the game although the hype around Starfield has been huge for years now, with the game promising a list of exciting features that would rival a list of the best gambling sites in the UK.
What We Know So Far – Gameplay
Bethesda’s 2022 showcase for the Xbox revealed that the player’s character will be extensively customizable with the player being able to alter skin tone and body types, but also head shapes, hair, and eye colors.
An initial choice given will be selecting a starting skill. For example, Gastronomy will give you skills to create exciting food and drinks and Dueling will reward the player with 10% extra melee damage. Personality traits can also be selected, for example, the Extrovert increases your endurance when traveling in a company and reduces it when alone. The Introvert personality has the opposite effect.
The starship was revealed as a modular craft that is extensively customizable. Individual sections can be swapped out, and things like engines, etc. will be available from individually located vendors within the game. This is a format that has gained momentum in recent years with other games following a loot box-style approach to special items and features within the game; these features can only be unlocked by purchasing or winning a loot box. Whether Bethesda’s Starfield will be following this trend remains to be seen.
The presentation led to Bethesda later tweeting that Starfield will use a first-person perspective for dialogue and unlike the protagonist in Fallout 4, our character won’t have a physical voice. This again looks to be a good thing as the voice feature in Fallout 4 was not as well received by gamers as it could have been.
Starfield will feature many different explorable planets and locations where combat awaits, the game will however feature a golden path style gameplay towards its conclusion in the quickest time. But for those after a more exploratory style of gameplay plenty awaits them with content and missions that are not strictly necessary to complete the game. Bethesda is aiming for a longer game than their previous titles, with hopes to be 20% longer than Skyrim or Fallout 4.
During the recent showcase, Tom Howard gave some clues to the size of the playing field available within the game, confirming that there will be 1000 planets available for exploration and gameplay, these planets will be spread across 100 star systems. It is unclear how a player will transition between his starship location and the surface of a world.
What We Know So Far – The Backstory
Starfield will be set 300 years later and offer huge gameplay possibilities across its sizeable universe. It looks likely the player will need to complete a few initial training-style missions to gain the skills needed before being invited to join the “Constellation” of space explorers. While speaking to the American gaming site IGN in June, Todd Howard explained that so far the largest city to emerge will be called New Atlantis and will be the home of Constellations headquarters. It is believed that New Atlantis will be one of four cities to feature in the game.
The Constellations will unsurprisingly face rivals; one such group is known to be called Crimson Fleet. With Constellation set to battle against them, along with others like Spacers, mercenaries, and House of Va’ruun.
During gameplay, the player will be provided with companions, the first of these will be called Vasco. An expeditionary robot that Constellation has refurbished for utilitarian tasks. Though the robot will have defensive capabilities it is not the machine’s primary role. Helpful in scenarios where equipment or where goods need transporting across rough terrain. Vasco’s full capabilities are yet to be known.
Todd Howard has also revealed that like Fallout 4, Starfield will feature step-out moments. In Fallout 4 this means the character stepping out into a world devastated by nuclear war, though Howard did not go into details over what these step-out moments might equate to.
We have known since late 2021 that Starfield will be set in what’s to be known as “the Settled Systems” and will take place 300 years from now. The Settled Systems are to be within a small corner of the Milky Way, within 50 Light years of our own planet. It will be set during a ceasefire amidst a colony war between Starfield’s two largest groups, the Freestar Collective
Release Date?
Starfield’s release has been delayed until the first half of 2023, but recent rumors have given hope to its release as early as March.
With the SciFi games market somewhat lacking in current RPGs, anticipation for Starfield is high and Bethesda will be keen to capitalize on that but also will want a fully polished product to be well received by gamers and critics alike, so it is unlikely to be released before it is fully ready and tested. We will have to be patient and wait until a release date is forthcoming from the studio.
