Bethesda has finally lifted off the curtains from its most ambitious sci-fi role-playing game (RPG), Starfield, at the Summer Games fest. The event showcased all the fun a gaming fan can look forward to in the upcoming days. The highlight of the show was Bethesda’s most anticipated Starfield. It will be a new gaming universe developed in 25 years by the Bethesda Game Studios.
The game’s release date is in 2023, but the trailer has made the fans go wild, and they want their hand on it ASAP. During the Xbox and Bethesda event, Microsoft demonstrated expected Xbox-exclusive flagships like Starfield, Redfall and Forza Motorsport. With Bethesda’s teams now on board, Xbox has a growing number of in-house studios, and more brands than ever before have taken to the virtual stage.
The Starfield Gameplay Trailer
Director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, Todd Howard himself, gives the extended tour of Starfield in the newest gameplay trailer.
In the beautiful opening Lunar scene, a character can be seen exploring the environment, including inspecting local species, mining for materials, and invading a hostile facility.
The gameplay trailer then shows an abandoned research facility where pirates are hiding. Here, we see the XP advancement mechanism in action and the Starfield weaponry. However, the story is centre around the expedition group “Constellation”, who are the last space explorers. These explorers met at the New Atlantis and went on a quest to find the artefacts in the vast Starfield universe. In the Starfield universe, you won’t be alone, as there are numerous groups with whom you can band up to recover the artefacts, solve the mysteries, and fight the pirates.
The gameplay trailer depicted a tale, a fantastic panorama, and a focus on choice-based storytelling. Then there was the character builder, which let players customise their looks, classes, and talents.
Features which can keep Starfield apart
Character customisation is a big deal at Bethesda, with Howard noting that the character creator is the studio’s “most versatile ever,” enabling users to change skin tones, facial structure, hair, and more.
At Bethesda, character customisation is a significant trademark. According to Howard, Bethesda equips Starfield with the “most versatile” character creator. It allows users to adjust skin tones, facial structure, hair, and more. Initially, you can create your character with three attributes and different skill sets.
You may set up your own resource-gathering outposts around the planets, and you can recruit folks to keep them operating. You may also design your spaceships, pick your crew, and totally modify the ship’s appearance and layout. Since there are many ship manufacturers and components made available, it appears that customising a spaceship with multiple armament systems or shielding will be fun.
From a first- or third-person perspective, players will be able to fly and fight in their ships. Flying around in Starfield looks particularly amazing, implying that many of the game’s battles would take place on more than just planets.
There’s also a robust weapon-building system that allows users to tailor their weapons to their preferred playstyle.
What’s in the shell?
Game designer Todd Howard characterises the RPG as “Skyrim in space,” will be available in first- and third-person perspectives, with a concentration on the first.
One can find the resemblance of No Man’s Sky from the outset in the Starfield, starting with the game’s immense scale. Players can visit over 100 star systems with over 1,000 planets on the spur of the moment. The extent of the open-world expands owing to the ability to explore diverse places on each distinct planet. Gathering resources looks to be an important part of the game as well.
Bethesda games like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchise clearly influenced the plot and combat. Starfield appeared to take cues also from other space-themed titles, such as Eve Online, Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen.
Can Starfield live up to the expectations?
The 15-minute-long gameplay trailer demonstrated what players would be able to do in the Starfield universe. As Howard stated in his presentation, it will be a lot of fun, “a massive role-playing game in which you can be anybody you want and go wherever you want… however, this time, you’ll be venturing into space.”
While the game’s plot remains vague, based on what little could be derived from the teaser, the exploration of the Settled Systems and discovering “what’s out there?” will undoubtedly be the game’s motto.
The game appears to be delivering on its promises, though we’ll have to wait longer to find out for sure. At the very least, Starfield seems to be nearly too fantastic, with a wide range of ambitious gameplay concepts and features demonstrated during the presentation.
Starfield is releasing in 2023 on Xbox Series S|X and PC. Xbox Game Pass subscribers will be able to play it on both platforms on the day of release.