Few developers have built up such a prodigious reputation for Western RPGs as Bethesda Game Studios. From the legendary Fallout series to the iconic Elder Scrolls franchise, it’s safe to say they’re a hugely respected brand within the wider gaming community.
With the studio’s first ever new IP in over 25 years on the precipice of launch this Sept. 6, we’ve combed through all the latest interviews and footage to bring you all the ways Starfield looks to have built upon the Fallout and Skyrim formula we so ardently adore. So, come join us as we FTL into the endless ocean of space to take a deep dive into one of Microsoft’s most important games in years. Engage!
Way Bigger In Scale, Even More Things to Do, Bigger Cast of Characters
Let’s get the obvious things out of the way first: Yep, Starfield is gonna be huge. Not from just a commercial perspective, but from a scale, breadth and dimension perspective. I mean, we often talk about game “worlds”, but Bethesda’s ambitious RPG will feature not one, two, or even twenty planets. Nope, we’re talking about over 1,000 worlds. Let that sink in for a second.
Of those 1,000 worlds, 10 percent will sustain life and multiple biomes, whereas the rest will be more resource heavy for you to mine and excavate. While planets will be procedurally generated, much akin to Hello Games’ space-faring survival title No Man’s Sky, the game’s director, Todd Howard, has gone on record to promise that there’s more handcrafted content in Starfield than Fallout 4 and Skyrim combined.
In addition, a Bethesda game just wouldn’t be complete without plenty of branching storylines and tomes of fate-determining dialogue, and in that regard it sounds like the team have outdone themselves. Yes, Howard promises that over 250,000 words of dialogue has been written for the title’s narrative, making it bigger than anything the team have ever done. Not to sound like a broken record, but that’s once again larger than both Fallout 4 and Skyrim collectively. Pretty mind-blowing, right?
Furthermore, while many avid fans may remember the intricately detailed streets of Fallout: New Vegas’s Diamond City or Skyrim’s Whiterun, well, prepare to be wowed once again. That’s right, one of the cities that will feature in Starfield — the capital city of the Alpha Centauri system titled New Atlantis — is the “biggest city” Bethesda has ever made, not just in terms of size, but in relation to the amount of custom art, crowds, and quests as well.
Most Polished & Visually Ambitious Game Yet
Starfield has been built using Bethesda’s Creation Engine 2, a heavily modified and updated form of the studio’s bespoke, in-house engine used to create Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. For many, this will likely be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it’s great as Bethesda will be working with development tools they know like the back of their hand. On the other, it’ll likely possess some rough-around-the-edges jank, that the developer’s engine is often associated with.
Interestingly, Microsoft has come out to put fans’ concerns to rest, as the company emphasized recently that, in its current state, Starfield has “the fewest bugs in Bethesda history“, meaning it sounds like the game’s in a really polished and playable shape, which bodes very well. Of course, with such an epic galaxy-spanning title, it’s probably worth mentioning that no amount of Quality Assurance testing will cover every single aspect of the game 100 percent. Realistically, it’s just too large in scope for a totally bug free experience so the proof will inevitably be in the pudding when millions of players begin engaging with the game at launch.
Meanwhile, the elephant in the room and a large portion of the pre-launch rhetoric has revolved around the slightly deflating confirmation that the game will run at 30-frames-per-second, arguably half the industry norm that one can expect on the ninth generation of consoles. In its defense, however, it’s fair to say that Starfield is incredibly ambitious, and as a consequence, the decision to lock the frame-rate at 30fps was a creative one made internally by the studio.
Fundamentally, this important decision was made in order to fulfill the creative vision the team had in mind, meaning that 30fps was a necessity to facilitate the team’s ambition. If Bethesda had increased the technical experience of Starfield, it would’ve likely hamstrung the team’s ambitions and potentially undermined the vision of the game, and nobody wants that, right?
A final interesting tidbit that Howard confirmed in a recent interview is the fact that Bethesda has been receiving some additional support from fellow Microsoft partner and DOOM developer, Id Software, who helped out with some of Starfield’s graphical tech behind the scenes. What the North Texas-based company specifically helped out on is a bit of a mystery, but one potential area could be related to the all-new animation system Bethesda has apparently been working on.
Your Ship Is Your Home Away From Home
In an epic space RPG where you’re traveling from one planet to the other, nailing that feeling of sitting behind the cockpit of your very own spaceship is absolutely critical. And at first blush, it does appear that Bethesda has got it right with Starfield.
Not only is your spaceship fully customisable from an aesthetic perspective, but it’ll also be fully upgradeable as well. In fact, players will need to upgrade their ship’s engines in order to make it to the furthest reaches of the in-game universe.
Across the multitude of galaxies you’ll be exploring, there are plenty of space ports where ship technicians dwell. These handy folk can upgrade your ship’s weaponry, engines, grav drive, shields, and more, but it’s important to note that it’ll cost you a pretty penny to do so, which makes sense in the context of the game.
What’s noteworthy is the fact these upgrades don’t just change your ship’s stats alone, but they’ll also affect what you can do inside your ship to boot. For instance, you can change the ship’s internal layout by how you design it, meaning if you’re after more spaciousness for your companions or you’re looking to elevate your onboard feng shui, you can create more rooms and walkways as you see fit.
And speaking of companions, yes, you can even have your own allies travelling on your spaceship with you. What makes it even more tantalizing is the fact that each companion comes toting their own unique skills for your ship. Plus, you can even hire extra help at space ports if you’re looking to expand your crew. Ultimately, you’ll have free rein to create whatever spaceship you want in Starfield.
Most Advanced Character Creator Yet
Character creators in Bethesda RPGs are well-known to be pretty flexible and multifaceted, and Starfield’s is no exception. In fact, the game’s character creator system is so robust, the developer used it to create all the NPCs you can see in the game.
Specifically, there are 40 pre-set characters, which you can then sculpt even further to make your own. As a matter of fact, you can even tweak how your character’s teeth look. Seriously, we ain’t even kidding. Yes, all you budding dentists out there can rest assured that your pearly whites are gonna be gleaming and looking perfect. Thanks, Todd!
In conjunction with creating your character’s appearance, you’ll also get a chance to select one of several backgrounds to give you some additional backstory to help you role-play in this sci-fi universe. In essence, you start off with three basic starting skills and these will come in handy in lots of different scenarios. For instance, when you’re chatting with a hostile NPC, a blue dialogue option may become available bypassing combat altogether if you pick, say, the Persuasion starting skill. And that’s just the tip of the space iceberg.
Weapon Customisation Options Are Through the Roof & Jetpacks Make Everything Better
Weapon mods aren’t exactly a new thing in open-world games, but they will play a big part in customising your weaponry in Starfield. Essentially, you’ll be able to personalize your guns with a variety of scopes, suppressors, bigger magazines, and a host of grips, barrels, and other knick-knacks that’ll make your weapon stats get bigger and better.
Moreover, there’ll also be a bunch of different ammo types in the game. From explosive ammo to flame and electro rounds, there’ll bound to be the perfect rifle for you so that you can lay waste to the legion of extraterrestrial beasties trying to put you six feet under. Plus, as is par for the course in Bethesda games, you’ll also be able to wield a plethora of different melee weapons to whack your foes with, caveman-style.
Similarly, energy weapons will also make an appearance. What’s refreshing is the fact that ballistic-based weaponry will actually push you backwards when you shoot them in some locales — depending on the planet’s gravity — whereas energy weapons will allow you to circumvent this physics-based detail.
It doesn’t just end there, though. A new type of armament will make its debut in Starfield. These are called MAG weapons, which are — *checks notes* — high-powered electromagnetic induction ballistic arrays that will absolutely decimate any foe that looks at you the wrong way, thanks to their multiple barrels, with each one boasting its own dedicated targeting laser. Meanwhile, ol’ faithfuls like duking it out with fisticuffs as well as Fat Man-esque rocket launchers will also make a return.
Lastly, while there won’t be any traditional land vehicles in Starfield at launch, all players will have access to their own personal jetpack, which can be upgraded and customized as well. This adds a welcome amount of kinetic freedom to the moment-to-moment combat, and helps to differentiate itself from its Fallout and Skyrim brethren. I mean, let’s be straight: if you’re ever struggling to make your game better, just add a jetpack into the mix. Seriously, it’s just basic math.
Plenty of Easter Eggs and Random Encounters to Discover
Easter eggs and dynamic random encounters are undoubtedly one of the most unique and rewarding aspects that fans adore about Bethesda RPGs. From stumbling upon a unicorn in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to coming across a guy running away screaming “HELP! IT’S GOING TO KILL ME!” only to discover a wee chicken chasing after him in Fallout 76, uncovering these small, handcrafted events can really make the overall experience feel like a living, breathing world.
While the specifics of Starfield’s random encounters and easter eggs largely remains shrouded in mystery, it’s worth noting that Howard has gone on record and confirmed that the team have worked really hard at concocting “a good number” of these chance in-game meetings. In other words, much like previous outings, you can anticipate quite a few easter eggs that you’ll likely stumble upon when you least expect it.
The Skills, Perks, and Leveling Systems Have Received an Overhaul
Personally, whenever I hear the word ‘Perks’, my mind instantly goes to the Fallout series. While the post-apocalyptic shooter didn’t invent the concept, it’s fair to say that it helped popularize the mechanic in modern RPGs. For the unaware, Perks allow players to tailor their character however they want by outfitting them with powerful and unique passive abilities.
In Starfield, the Perk system has received a huge overhaul. Instead of Perks and Skills, which dominated Bethesda’s preceding Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 titles, the system has been combined and streamlined. Now, players can look forward to solely unlocking Skills. These Skills can be leveled up by completing increasingly tougher challenges associated with each specific Skill to unlock each of their respective Ranks. In essence, increasing each of the four Ranks of each Skill will boost its overall efficacy considerably. Ranking up the Security Skill, for instance, will allow players to lockpick higher level locks.
Outside of the Security Skill, you’ll be able to unlock the Targeting Control Systems Skill, which allows players to hone in on enemy ships’ specific systems and destroy them. Elsewhere, the Xenosociology Skill allows you to mind control aliens and recruit them to your cause. Meanwhile, the Boost Pack Training Skill gives players the opportunity to jump super high and float in mid-air while taking on hostiles. And finally, the Neurostrikes Skill means you can deliver powerful punches that absolutely decimate opponents in a single hit.
Sure, some may be a little blue seeing the ‘Perks’ buzzword go the way of the dodo in Starfield, but be safe in the knowledge that they are in the mix, but just under a different namesake. Phew!
Starfield launches on Xbox Series X|S and PC on Sept. 6, 2023. In the meantime, give us a gut-check of your excitement levels? Are you as pumped as us? Or will you be giving it a wide berth? Sound off in the usual place down below before you go.
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