Starfield is Bethesda Game Studios’ first new IP for 25 years. It looks ambitious and full of sci-fi adventures.
Bethesda’s new space-based RPG for single players is a bold venture. The studio behind Elder Scrolls and Fallout has created it. Studio boss Todd Howard said that the game will be about hope and humanity and will make players feel like Skyrim in space.
Although it is due for release in the first quarter of 2023, only a small amount of Starfield gameplay has been shown to us so far. It remains to be seen when we will get our next glimpse at it. We have begun to feel the game’s NASA-Punk visual style, and what Bethesda hopes to accomplish with it, thanks to a growing collection of teasers and behind-the scenes featurettes.
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While Bethesda is at Gamescom 20,22, it’s unlikely that they will have any new information about Starfield. The game was not present at Gamescom Opening Night Live and Bethesda confirmed that convention goers will only be able to see a replay of the Bethesda Games Showcase gameplay presentation.
There is still some time before we can play Starfield ourselves, but we have searched the galaxy for the most recent news and rumors about Starfield. Continue reading to learn everything you need to know.
Starfield: Cut to the chase
- What’s it? A single player RPG in outer space by the creators of Fallout
- When is it available? First Half of 2023 (exact dates TBC).
Starfield: Release date and platforms
Starfield launches for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series X on the first half 2023 after Bethesda announced a delay.
The Xbox Game Pass subscription page suggests that the game could release in the first half 2023.
KingFanMan, Kingscast host, suggested that it could be March 2023. He claims that Bethesda only has delayed three games previously and that, while Starfield was supposed to release all three games in the fall, Starfield did not. However, the host KingFanMan suggests that the three games would have been released in March 2023. Before we can be sure, we’ll need to wait until Bethesda releases something.
Bethesda originally announced that Starfield would be released on November 11, 2022 at E3 2021. Todd Howard spoke with the Washington Post (opens new tab) and stated that the studio was confident in the release date, but Bethesda said that the delay is necessary to ensure players receive the “best, most polished” version.
Starfield will be exclusive to Xbox consoles. The E3 2021 trailer clearly confirms this. So don’t expect a HTML5 release when Starfield is released. It won’t be available Xbox One, as Bethesda is moving on from Microsoft’s last-generation console. This could indicate the future of titles such as The Elder Scrolls or Fallout, with Microsoft now owning developer Bethesda.
Starfield: Gameplay
We got our first look at Starfield’s gameplay during 2022’s Xbox & Bethesda Showcase. We’re starting with customization and playing as a fully customizable protagonist. Bethesda offers a variety of options, including skin tones, head shapes and hair colors, as well as body details like hair color and eyes.
Backgrounds provide three skills to start with. Picking ‘Dueling” will give you 10% more melee damage. Choosing ‘Gastronomy’ allows you to create delicious food and drinks as well as research further recipes. You can also choose your traits to shape your personality. If you pick the ‘Extrovert’ trait, for instance, you will have greater endurance when traveling with friends and less when you travel alone. This trait cannot be combined with the ‘Introvert’ trait which does the opposite.
We also got our first glimpse at ship customization, which is now known to be modular. It’s possible to put together entire sections, swapping out core parts like engines and cockpits. There is no need to craft these pieces individually. These parts will likely be purchased from different vendors in different places.
Soon after the presentation, Bethesda confirmed additional information on its Tweet account (opens in new window). Starfield will not be speaking, revealing that he uses first-person perspectives for dialogue. This may be good news. Bethesda was the first to attempt a voiced protagonist in Fallout 4. This effort met with widespread criticism. This change was (mostly) well-received, which is not surprising.
Todd Howard stated that he was “really excited” about the team’s character creation efforts in a Reddit AMA. He explained that this includes choosing background, skills and other factors. We’ve also recorded all of the dialogue relevant to your choice (he, she or they).
We visited the rocky moon of Kreet during this demo as part of an initial mission. Kreet is one of Starfield’s many explorable locations. This demo demonstrated that we can play Starfild both in first-person or third-person gameplay.
This reveal gave us a chance to see how local wildwilfe and mining resources are managed, as well as combat. We discover an abandoned research facility and are forced to clean it up.
Although it is a short look, we did learn some details about gunplay. This segment offers a selection of sub-machine guns and pistols as well as shotguns. The segment concludes with a jetpack-assisted jump across a chasm to clear out any remaining foes.
In a separate Bethesda post, it discussed building outputs that you can use on discovered planets. Although we are confident that we can do our own research using previously collected materials, the publisher is not yet sharing much. These resources can be used to upgrade the gear of our characters, and, most importantly, modify weapons.
We soon learned more thanks to an IGN interview with Todd Howard. Howard says that Starfield will be 20% longer than Bethesda’s previous games like Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls V. Skyrim. He estimates that you will need between 30-40 hours to complete the main story. There are more quests so it could be 20% longer than our previous games.
Howard also stated that Starfield offers an easy path to follow for those who are only interested in the main story, despite its large-scale freedom. Howard told IGN that Starfield has more handcrafted content than Bethesda ever made.
“I should also mention that this game has seen more handcrafting content-wise than any other game. There are over 200,000 dialogue lines, so there is still a lot of handcrafting. If people want to just do what they do in our games and follow the main quests, and complete the questlines, then you will see what you would expect from us. Then there’s the other part, “Well, I’m going to wander this world, and it will provide some gameplay, some random content and those sorts of things.”
Howard revealed that there are 1000 planets within 100 star systems that can be explored during the showcase. He then explained that you cannot seamlessly travel from space to a planet. People have asked if it is possible to fly the ship directly down to the planet. Early in the project, we decided that the on-surface was one reality and space is another. We are then told that the feature is not “really just too important for the player” in order to justify the effort.
Starfield’s influence was also discussed in the same interview. Howard called it a unique approach to space combat and said that Starfield was partly responsible.
Your ship has different power systems. There is a little FTL in the FTL that allows you to put how much power into three weapon systems. Then your engines, shields and engines. Grav drive is what lets one jump and get out of certain situations.
“MechWarrior is a game I really love and that we look at for pace. It’s probably a bit slower but it has more power and systems to align things. It’s more than dogfighting. You can dock with other ships. You can even do quests that require you to do this. You can take the ship, you can talk in space, there are star stations that you can visit, and there is smuggling. All the things we want.”
He concludes by promising that we will learn more about this aspect in combat at a later time.
Starfield: Story and Setting
(Image credit to Bethesda Softworks
Starfield promises to take you on a spacefaring adventure through the vast universe 300 years in the future. After completing a few missions, our protagonist is invited to join Constellation. Constellation is the last group of space explorers. They will be meeting us in New Atlantis (the capital of the United Colonies), where we’ll be searching for artifacts throughout The Settled Systems.
In a June 2022 interview with IGN, Todd Howard revealed that New Atlantis would be Bethesda’s largest city. It has all the services that you’d expect and you can even work on your ship there. The factions touch that. It’s also home to Constellation, the faction you join. Constellation is kind of a NASA-meetsIndiana Jones-meets–The League of Extraordinary Gentleman [group].
It’s not surprising that there are rival groups with different goals, such as the Crimson Fleet. We’ll likely be constantly clashing with them. Past Bethesda videos have confirmed that there are violent Spacers and ecliptic soldiers, as well as fanatical religious zealots from House Va’Ruun.
These events take place on 1000 planets that are fully explored between 100 star systems and four major cities. We currently know three of them, including New Atlantis.
The Freestar Collective is the other major faction of The Settled Systems. They were involved in a war with the United Colonies. Both sides currently live in an unstable peace.
Freestar controls three star systems and uses the Akila City walled as its capital. This keeps out “alien prey that is a cross between an wolf or a Velociraptor.” Neon is a pleasure-city that was created by the Xenofresh Corporation. It’s a tourist destination because it has Aurora, a psychotropic drug that is unique.
