Based on recent trailers and teasers, Starfield appears to be a game focused on exploration. The Settled Systems is a huge expanse of space with plenty of factions — both friendly and hostile — residing within it. Moreover, the player character is a member of Constellation, an organization devoted to solving the mysteries of the solar system. As such, players will likely explore the uncharted reaches of the Settled Systems in hopes of uncovering its secrets.
This all sets the expectation that Starfield’s open world will be huge, with plenty of interesting landmarks and locations to discover. In doing this, the game can take notes from Bethesda’s open-world formula.
Open World Bethesda Games
Titles like Skyrim and Fallout 3 are well-loved in the gaming scene for the sheer size and detail that goes into their open world. There are plenty of interesting things for the player to find, even outside of the route of the main storyline. So, when the player stumbles across a set piece with environmental storytelling or a lesser-known side quest, it feels like a reward for their exploration.
For instance, in Fallout 3, there’s a quest titled “Agatha’s Song.” To trigger this Fallout 3 side quest, the player needs to travel to Agatha’s home, west of the Scrapyard, and speak to the elderly violinist. There aren’t any other quests that prompt the player to head to Agatha’s house, so getting there requires the Lone Wanderer to explore the Capital Wasteland. What's more, the player has to be curious enough to look inside a small shack next to a radio tower in the middle of nowhere.
Aside from the enjoyable exploration, players can also expect random encounters as they traverse the game world. In Skyrim, the Last Dragonborn can sometimes come across a group of “Imperial Soldiers” who then demand a toll. In reality, the soldiers are nothing more than bandits with stolen armor, and the player can find the real soldiers lying dead close by. On a more pleasant day, the player can also run into the traveling bard, Talsgar the Wanderer, or perhaps even the terrifying yet harmless specter of Skyrim’s Headless Horseman.
These interesting locations and random encounters improve the game’s setting. They add to an already immersive game environment, characterized by either post-apocalyptic ruin or fantastical landscapes. These are things Starfield can and should take inspiration from, especially if it’s going to be a game primarily focused on exploration.
Starfield’s Potential Open World
The community still knows very little about Starfield’s game world. However, many expect multiple explorable planets, each with its own distinct landscapes, natural environments, and local species. Some of the more populated planets would likely have their primary cities, similar to what was showcased in the Starfield Location Insights video series.
These main hubs would then be surrounded by a sizable landmass that can be explored but with borders, similar to those in Skyrim and Fallout 4. Such spaces likely won’t be as big as the maps of former Bethesda titles, but they’ll still be sizable areas, packed with enough landmarks to keep them interesting. That said, the potential for fully explorable planets has been tossed around in forums, but this seems unlikely given that it would take too much time and work, even with procedural generation.
Granted, building the overall map is only one stage of creating an open world. Populating it with hidden stories, compelling characters, and intriguing quests is when an open world starts to become more akin to the Bethesda formula. As mentioned above, Starfield can reward the player for exploration with the right mix of environmental storytelling, organic side-questing, and a healthy amount of random encounters. These factors make the overall setting feel like it’s truly lived in.
Past Bethesda Drawbacks to Avoid
Granted, there are some cons in old Bethesda titles that Starfield should try to avoid. Most notably are how repetitive the games’ indoor environments tend to be. While Elder Scrolls titles and Fallout titles are lauded for their vibrant outdoor environments, their interiors pale in comparison. Skyrim, in particular, is notorious for having structurally similar dungeons and homesteads. The reused assets make many of the interiors feels the same.
The Fallout titles are guilty of having buildings of similar architecture as well, but Fallout 4 somewhat improves on this by providing more structurally complex dungeons. They’re a mix of both sturdier pre-war architecture and ramshackle post-war fortifications. Thus, while assets are being reused, it’s done in such a way that still creates more unique environments.
Overall, this is something Starfield should improve upon even further. In fact, Starfield needs to up the design and creativity of its interior spaces. Because the player is going to be exploring different planets, then each planet’s distinct culture and colors should be reflected in both the exterior and interior areas. It wouldn’t make for an immersive experience if every explorable planet boasted unique landscapes, but all their indoor areas looked the same, after all.
Aside from this, some fans in the Bethesda community think that the titles’ large expanses of the open world tend to be “hit or miss” — that is, some locations are very much worth exploring, but others are just generic dungeons or ruins. In short, fans want quality over quantity. This problem solves itself, assuming that Starfield won’t be releasing with fully explorable planets but, instead, smaller, clearly delineated maps. This allows Bethesda to populate a map more thoroughly, with less generic locations and more unique ones.
Starfield is an excellent avenue to showcase what Bethesda can do with the open-world genre. The developer’s formula for it certainly holds up, but it still remains to be seen whether Starfield will deliver on its ambitious promises. And while the upcoming title can draw from the successes of past games, it must also learn from the mistakes. If it can manage this, Starfield will likely be the best example of the Bethesda open-world formula.
Starfield will release in the first half of 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.