Starfield: What's on the horizon
Galactic
This is Bethesda's first new universe in over 25 years, so the expectations are set extremely high. Bethesda has been hard on the hype train in recent months, shelling out plenty of editorial articles, dev diaries, and more to get people excited for one of 2022's biggest RPG titles.
I've gone ahead and detailed the major points you'll need to know.
Release:
- It will release on November 11th, 2022. After the mass delays of games throughout 2020-21, it sounds like Bethesda has put their foot down hard on their release date. They were pretty cautious with details initially, especially considering the game was first teased back in 2018.
- It's for PC and Xbox only. If it's any consolation, Playstation owners have plenty of exciting exclusives coming out next year, most notably the sequels for Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War.
Roleplaying:
- According to Todd Howard, Starfield is going to be "more hardcore" in how it approaches roleplaying. Howard detailed it further by saying:
- "It's got some really great character systems—choosing your background, things like that. We’re going back to some things that we used to do in games long ago that we felt have really let players express the character they want to be."
- While this quote isn't that detailed, Howard seems to be promising a much more robust character leveling system. I'm speculating here, but I'm hoping leveling is informed by character action and choice the way Skyrim is. We'll have to see how that pans out.
- They're flexing dialogue, hard. Like, more than double the dialogue length of Skryim. We're talking 150,000 lines of dialogue here! While I don't think more dialogue automatically means a better game, this suggests that Starfield's wordbuilding is very thorough.
Storyline/Gameplay:
- The game is going to be "more grounded" and realistic than Skyrim, as it is based in our world and solar system. It is set in the 2300s, with designs that mimic designs from our world to feel realistic. Exploration and curiosity are the cornerstones for this game, so expect a vast array of planets and cities to visit. Players can also toggle between 1st view and 3rd view gameplay.
- There will be aliens. Unfortunately, we don't know much more beyond that, but there will be alien races and critters alike to interact with.
- There are many factions and groups that players can join/interact with. The main group is Constellation, the last group of human space explorers. Other factions include The United Colonies and The Freestar Collective. Zealots, pirates, and other spacers can be met on your journey throughout the stars. And don't worry-- Starfield's main mission can be set aside without impunity.
- Unconfirmed, but interesting: There's a possibility for space combat. (The real question here is whether or not it'll be as fun as the original Battlefront 2's space battles. Dubious but intrigued, I am.)
You can watch the official teaser trailer here, as well as explore plenty of dev diaries, on their YouTube channel.
