Rishabh Borde
The quintessential Open World Role Playing Game connoisseur Bethesda Game Studios has had a rather underwhelming last couple of years. Their last major project, ‘Fallout 76’ failed to impress critics and gamers alike, with significantly lower sales than 2015’s ‘Fallout 4’. ‘Fallout 76’ was mired in a variety of launch issues, bugs and controversies, and ended up eroding a lot of the goodwill Bethesda had accumulated with crowd favorite titles such as ‘The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’ and ‘Fallout 3’.
In light of the numerous recent controversies surrounding Bethesda, it is easy to forget that they also possess one of the most experienced and talented game development teams in the industry, one that is evidently capable of producing some of the best RPGs ever made. This is why I’m still quite excited for Bethesda Game Studios’ upcoming Science Fiction space traversing Open World game titled ‘Starfield’. Read on to find out everything we know about Bethesda’s first original Role Playing Game in 25 years.
Starfield: Plot and Gameplay
At this moment in time, we do not have a lot of substantial information about ‘Starfield’ to go on, but we do have a few tidbits here and there that allow us to guesstimate and extrapolate. Bethesda head honcho Todd Howard has claimed that ‘Starfield’ will have “Bethesda DNA”, but will also feature all new systems. Of course, after the ‘Fallout 76’ debacle I’m not so sure that Howard’s word can be taken as gospel anymore.
I expect ‘Starfield’ is an Open World action Role Playing Game that borrows quite a bit from two of Bethesda’s greatest franchises – The Elder Scrolls and Fallout; only this time instead of a city or nation the entire galaxy is your oyster. There is likely to be a heavy emphasis on exploration, with tons of side quests to complete, fascinating NPCs (Non Playable Characters) to meet and legendary artifacts to collect.
We can also expect a Skyrim and Fallout-esque progression system, with a point based system for key attributes and specific skill trees that unlock special abilities. To unlock these abilities, you will need XP points, which are received by completing quests, killing enemies and any number of other open world activities that Bethesda includes in their games. Of course, all these skills and unlocks are likely to be Sci-Fi themed in ‘Starfield’.
From the game’s rather short reveal trailer it looks like Bethesda is going for a hard science fiction setting, with a much more realistic take on the future of space flight and exploration compared to recent contemporaries such as ‘No Man’s Sky’ and ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’. Spaceflight in ‘Starfield’ will be a dangerous endeavor and not an effortless feat of bravado. Todd Howard even revealed that he toured Elon Musk’s SpaceX in order to bring a tangible sense of authenticity to ‘Starfield’. Fantastical Sci-Fi settings in video games are already a dime a dozen, so this might be a refreshing change of pace from Bethesda.
Given that ‘Starfield’ is a space exploration game, it could very well feature fully maneuverable space ships with the player having complete freedom to explore the galaxy. Different ship types and extensive ship customization options are surely going to be on every fan’s wishlist.
‘Starfield’ will also be the first game to be developed in Bethesda’s revamped and upgraded Creation Engine, which hopefully means less bugs, physics and better character animations. This is truly Bethesda’s opportunity to evolve and innovate on their increasingly repetitive formula. Ever since the Mass Effect franchise fizzled out with 2017’s ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’, the expansive galactic adventure niche has opened up yet again in the market. The stage has been set for ‘Starfield’ to blow us all away, but Bethesda could just opt for the safe route and make ‘Starfield’ Fallout in space, although admittedly even that doesn’t sound all that horrendous.
Starfield: The Competition
Of course, ‘Starfield’ will face tough competition for the top spot, most notably in the form of a likely sequel to Obsidian Entertainment’s recently released ‘The Outer Worlds’. ‘The Outer Worlds’ features a similar premise to ‘Starfield’, and has received rave reviews thus far. ‘The Outer Worlds 2’ will surely be more ambitious than its predecessor and could give ‘Starfield’ a run for its money.
Depending on when ‘Starfield’ comes out, it may also find itself squaring off against Cloud Imperium Games’ $250 million behemoth ‘Star Citizen’, a jack of all trades game that seeks to combine galactic exploration, space trading, spaceship combat and First Person Multiplayer combat into one colossal experience.
Starfield Developers: Who Are The People Behind It?
‘Starfield’ is being developed by famed American video game developer Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda. Due to the sheer scale of the project, four Bethesda studios in Washington, Montreal, Dallas and Austin are reportedly helping on ‘Starfield’.
Starfield Release Date: When And Where Can I Play It?
Bethesda filed the trademark for ‘Starfield’ in 2013 and active development began right after finishing ‘Fallout 4’ in 2015, however, the game has been discussed internally for a decade now. Currently, we do not have an official release date for ‘Starfield’, and Todd Howard has encouraged patience on part of the fans for now. He also revealed that ‘Starfield’ is being principally developed for the next generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles, but he did not rule out possible PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Of course, the game will also arrive on PC.
After putting out all the fires started by ‘Fallout 76’, Bethesda’s main priority now is ‘Starfield’ but the game is still realistically 2-3 years from a full release. That means, ‘Starfield’ can only release sometime in December 2021 or later.
Starfield Trailer
You can watch the reveal trailer for ‘Starfield’ right here:
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