The next Skyrim in Space? Well, that’s what our buddy Todd Howard called it and I’m talking about Starfield, the next Bethesda game studios mega game coming out on November 11th of 2022. I’m breaking down the various videos and articles on Starfield and giving you some of my opinions on what it could look like and more importantly is this a game you should be paying attention to?
What Is Starfield?
First announced three years ago, and in development since 2017, Starfield is an open world RPG set in the sci-fi genre of space. The world is said to be featured in a more realistic environment, unlike other titles like Fallout or Skyrim, set in the year 2330 not super far in the future with far out tech. We can expect something similar to technology we can recognize today but far enough into the future where it’s realistic to expect space travel. And this more realistic environment is what has me super excited. It’s what I loved about the fallout series that I could legitimately say to myself, this could really happen. The world could seriously turn out like this.
If it were to happen, and I had that big step out moment, what would I do? I wouldn’t consider myself your typical role player, but the Fallout series was close enough to reality that it made the connection allowing me to get full immersed in an RPG. Exploring, collecting, build and getting excited about the unknown. The same could happen here with Starfield just the sci-fi version of it and I cannot wait to see what they create.
Setting
Starfield starts roughly 30 years after a war between two factions, the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective known as The Colony Wars, with the two sides now at an uneasy peace. The setting is in a 50 light year radius from Earth where humanity has settled. Starfield is Bethesda’s Game Studio’s first new IP in 25 years. According to Todd Howard, they wanted to do something like this all the way back in the Morrowind days but because of tech issues they couldn’t ever bring to life the massive world which required better technology. What’s allowing them to do this is new technology. In fact, Starfield will be running on their new creation Engine 2. They’ve spent years developing the new game engine and seems like what held them back from this Starfield in the past wasn’t the idea, it was the technology and finally consoles and pcs have caught up to a point to allow this gigantic story telling to even be possible.
Exploration
The developers constantly reiterate that exploration is at the heart of the game. You’ll know that to be true if you’ve ever played any other Bethesda game. Fallout 4 is one of the only games I’ve ever played where I enabled survival mode, the highest difficulty and disabled fast travel. It’s when I did this that I could appreciate the level of detail and world building that you would never catch jetting from one point to the next. Every inch of environment had a story to tell, an aluminum can collect or a clue and led into another quest that would keep you playing constantly until 4 AM. Starfield could be exactly that which rich new environment and if they nail the Bethesda vibe while creating a whole new world of lore, details, and fun storytelling. Todd Howard even described it as Skyrim and Space. While Ashley Cheng, Bethesda Managing Director described Starfield as the Han Solo simulator. Get in a ship, explore the galaxy, do fun stuff.”
And it’s the explore the galaxy part that has me very excited in the same way Mass Effect Andromeda did. No, the game wasn’t a hit by any means, but they did something similar. They allowed you to travel to another galaxy instead of ours but ask yourself what would you do? How would you colonize the galaxy? What aliens would you meet? What critical decisions would you make? The stories you could create and replay to see how they changed is what I loved about Andromeda even if it wasn’t well received. But starfield story telling is going to be next level
Todd Howard shared on a Japanese gameshow that Starfield has more than double the lines of dialog that Skyrim had at launch. Skyrim 60,000 with Fallout 4 having 111,000 and Starfield 150,000. That is an insane amount of dialog, especially to go along with the heavy exploration I suspect there we be a massive amount of quest, companions, and things we may have even not thought about yet.
Story Telling
And one thing Bethesda does as good as any studio is a tell a morally grey story. Just like real life, sometimes there’s no definitive right or wrong just choices. Imagine that in space? I’m sure they’ll be some pick and chose scenario which has you gutted, do I save this colony or this settlement? Sometimes you just have to go with your gut and with this many lines of dialog story and exploration I’ll be endless. Not to mention the replay ability. Speaking of re-playability, in a recent IGN Article Todd Howard did confirm they “plan on” having full mod support. This could add even more depths and years of longevity to it as Skyrim is still cranking out triple A mods to this date.
Release and Platform
Starfield is set to Release date November 11, 2022 available for PC and Xbox and part of game pass day one. That in and of itself is somewhat controversial as both Pete Hines SVP or global marketing and Xbox’s games marketing Aaron Greenberg both said Starfield will be an xbox exclusive. This makes some since consider Microsoft acquired both Zenimax Online Studios and Bethesda for 7.5 billion in early 2021. And that they would want the new flagship game to be an exclusive to attract customers. Not defending them here as some would argue these games are generational and should be available to all gamers and I can see your point. Either way that’s the details on the release and what you can expect as Bethesda does stick to their launch dates even if rough start.
What Can We Expect from the Gameplay?
We don’t have a lot of details, but we can get some glimpses of what might be coming based on the trailers shared. The first from the trailer that’s obvious and that’s a gun laying on a table, next tell well a sandwich of course. This was probably going to be on obvious choice on combat seeing as it’s set in a realistic environment. And it’s safe to assume this will be a first-person type of game like the previous IPs. Now the question is this, will starfield’s combat system resemble Fallout 4 with a similar system to VATS with automatically aiming? I personally liked the system over a pure shooter like Halo because it felt more RPG, more dungeons and dragons with RNG dice rolls vs a straight shooter.
Bad Guys?
We get some glimpses of the bad guys mercs, pirates, spacers and religious zealots. Who knows if we have any aliens but it seems not as they maybe sticking to a big reveal or the more realistic them as described? Will have to wait and see. Also, we get a glimpse of the two major factions. I’m guessing this will be something you’ll either have to align with or become the major threat that you have to deal with on settled worlds. Speaking of that, how in the world will the travel work? We see some glimpses in the trailer with a pilot but will traveling to planet to planet be just fast travel or will traversing these large areas be apart of the game? What has me excited is a still art image from the trailer. It shows the inside habitat you might stay in. This gives me the fallout4 settlement vibes and I’m hoping it’s something similar which is what I’ve sunken countless hours into.
Image exploring the area to find bits of metal and material to fortify your settlement with. Just like in fallout 4 but with more technology, building turrets, maybe expanding on the base, allowing for more explorers to colonize and grow your space town. Then these exploders open up more dialog and quest options and even getting attacked sporadically and having folks defend the area with their lives.
Robots
It seems like robots will be core to the game as well as we got some information from a Washington post article. You can even see the robot during the trailer walking around. Again I go to Bethesda does because creativity, imagine building up these robots similar to what you did in Fallout 4. Maybe these are you types of companions that open up dialog stories and abilities as they progress. Leading into the excited gamer loop of exploring, collecting, tinkering and seeing what happens, can you tell I’m excited?
OUTRO
Well gang that’s just some bits to get you excited and share my enthusiasm for this up coming game. I will be playing and covering this game on the channel as I started my Bethesda journey back in the Morrowind days and one of my favorite developers with sci-fi being my favorite genre I cannot wait to see what they create.
