At long last, Bethesda has finally released an in-depth look at their upcoming game, Starfield. Mystery has surrounded this game since it was first announced in 2018, though this hasn't stopped from speculating on what the game might be. Finally, however, at the Xbox & Bethesda press conference, Todd Howard debuted the first gameplay reveal trailer for the long-anticipated sci-fi action RPG.
In Starfield's trailer, gamers were treated to many new and exciting features with the promise of much more to come. Between the beautiful graphics, snappy and fluid combat, environment design, and more, there were plenty of awesome moments in Starfield's gameplay reveal trailer.
8 Beautiful Visuals
Bethesda has been getting better and better at making sure their games are visually impressive. The studio might not be reaching RDR2 levels of gorgeous but Starfield so far looks to be a significant jump in graphical achievement for the company.
Everything from the skyboxes to the surface textures looks beautiful. The way the huge mountains cut through the volumetric fog effects, the sense of scale that's achieved with more advanced distant LOD technology and more detailed models, even just how much better settlements and NPCs look in comparison to previous Bethesda titles, all of this goes into making Starfield their best looking title to date by a wide margin.
7 Return of RPG Elements
Starfield looks to be making a much-anticipated return to Bethesda's RPG roots with its more in-depth leveling system, character creation tools, and much more. In essence, the developers have taken some of the best elements from past games and rolled them into one experience. Skyrim's skill system has made a return alongside Fallout New Vegas' style traits. In addition to these, Bethesda is introducing customizable backgrounds that offer unique advantages and disadvantages in various situations.
Interestingly, the developers confirmed that all dialogue is shown in first person and that the player character will not be voiced. This is very unlike Fallout 4's Sole Survivor who, controversially, was fully voiced. For long-time role players, the return to a voiceless protagonist is sure to be a welcome change.
6 Wonderful Art Style
Historically, Bethesda has had an excellent eye when it comes to artistic presentation. Morrowind was notable for its uniquely alien world design, Fallout 3 was beautiful in its crushing desolation, and now comes Starfield with its combination of Sci-Fi utilitarianism and Fantasy.
The majesty of each planet is complimented by the gritty realism of the settlements and NPCs. It's a remarkably balanced look that few games have been able to pull off. Nothing looks out of place or inappropriate for the setting. All the weapons and outfits shown thus far balance their form and function very well. All of this to say, even if the game is bad, at least it'll be fun to look at.
5 Smooth FPS Combat
First-person shooter combat has come a long way in Bethesda games. Fallout 3 represents the developer's initial foray into the genre and by now it's clear what they could've done better. Bethesda knew this and set out to radically improve first-person shooting combat in Fallout 4, which they did. In Starfield, combat looks to be even further refined than before.
Weapons are snappier and more easily swapped out with the addition of a Doom-esque weapon wheel. New movement tricks like the jetpack and slide mechanic add more options for navigating combat encounters. Plus they just make things more fun sometimes. Starfield is shaping up to have some of the best combat in a Bethesda title yet.
4 Piloting and Space Combat
One thing that few people were expecting was the ability to not only fly their spaceship but engage in space battles with other ships. Vehicles, in general, are new for Bethesda, with horses being what they have the most experience with. Enemy ships can warp into the player's vicinity and start attacking similarly to how Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga handles space events.
As far as controls go, ship piloting seems like it has a certain weight to it but not to the point where it looks too unresponsive, which bodes well for the combat. Likewise, enemies seem to have a similar weighty movement about them. Time will tell if Bethesda has gotten the balancing between everything right, but so far it looks like ship piloting and combat is going to be smooth and intuitive.
3 Improved Crafting and Settlements
While Fallout 4's crafting and settlement system was somewhat controversial, many noted that had it not been forced on the player the way it was, far fewer people would've had an issue with it. In essence, the issue was more the execution than the concept. With Starfield, Bethesda is bringing back settlement and crafting systems from Fallout 4, but with a few improvements.
Not only is base/ship building expanded to include hiring NPCs and encompass a much larger area, but the player can also completely customize their personal ship as well. Whether any of this is required for the story is still up in the air, but it seems Bethesda is taking some pretty significant steps towards making it a more robust system.
2 Massive and Diverse Open World
While most of the gameplay that was teased took place on a moon called Kreet, the trailer teased all sorts of interesting and diverse worlds. Some planets are tropical or arid, while others will be more forested or mountainous. There are "Goldilocks zone" planets populated with civilization and ones that are resource-heavy but utterly devoid of indigenous life.
According to Todd Howard, there will be ten systems and a thousand planets to find, which is absolutely insane if that statement is at all accurate. Discovering and exploring every one of these systems and planets may very well take years.
1 In-Depth Character Creation
Starfield is putting Bethesda's character creator on steroids. Fallout 4's creator was already impressive, but Bethesda seems to be upgrading it even more by expanding on body & head shaping, customizable movement animations, backgrounds, traits, and more.
What's more, the player will be able to change their physical appearance at various points in their playthrough if they chose, just like in previous games. How the player creates their character is set to have a larger impact on the game than many of Bethesda's previous titles.
Starfield is set to release in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X|S.