For most games, early insight comes from teaser trailers and commentary from the developers in press releases and interviews. It's not every day that those developers provide fans with several concept art pieces that it's using to make the game, but that's exactly what Bethesda is doing for Starfield. Over the course of 2021, Bethesda has released a steady stream of images that showcase all kinds of details about the game in lieu of showing actual gameplay for Starfield. Thanks to this concept art, fans have a lot of ideas about the broad concepts that Starfield is built on, like the types of biomes and cities that players can explore.
It should be noted, however, that not every piece of concept art for Starfield represents something as big as a planet or even a spaceship. On the contrary, some of the art focuses on the little things. For instance, a couple pieces of Starfield art simply show the kind of food that characters might eat in the game. Whether or not that specific food is something the player character can obtain and eat, that type of art is invaluable to Starfield. Bethesda is clearly thinking about every single detail of the game's world, which will help the game itself succeed.
The Value in Starfield's Little Things
Concept art pages showing off some of the food that Bethesda envisions for the world of Starfield say a lot about the new setting. On one side, there's a tray filled with abstract foods, resembling everything from leafy greens, to sliced fruit, to a strange worm-like substance. Alongside that tray, there's sealed packets that look like rations of water, meat, and worms. This variety of food shows both how humanity sustains itself in outer space, and how human culture has changed in the future, potentially due to humans incorporating alien flora and fauna into an everyday diet.
Food probably isn't the crux of Starfield's plot, but this concept art of food says a lot about Bethesda's approach to Starfield. It isn't leaving any stone unturned. Bethesda wants to answer the most fundamental, basic, and even banal questions about the world of Starfield. While it's clearly constructing a lot of fantastical planets for Starfield's universe, it's also zooming in on the world to contemplate and make decisions about everyday life in space for humanity. If Bethesda follows through on this approach, then the result will be a very consistent, realistic setting, designed with thought and care.
The reason that this attention to detail matters so much lies in something that makes Starfield inherently remarkable. This is the first new IP out of Bethesda Game Studios in several years, meaning Bethesda needs to build a compelling, engaging setting completely from scratch.
It's critical that Bethesda gets that right, because a boring or unrealistic world could cause Starfield to flounder, ending a new potential franchise before it even begins. It'd be a shame to see Bethesda return to the comfort of Fallout and The Elder Scrolls wholesale after Starfield, but Bethesda's well-rounded concept art suggests it's doing everything it can to make Starfield succeed in all departments.
Starfield's Setting Could Really Shine
If Starfield's concept is anything to go off of, then the world that Bethesda is crafting could be the most compelling part of the game. Fallout's vast post-apocalyptic wastelands and The Elder Scrolls' diverse fantasy lands are both compelling to explore, but Bethesda's new IP has the benefit of experience gained while crafting those two worlds.
If all of the studio's storytelling experience thus far culminates in the creation of Starfield's world, then its cities, planets, and civilizations could be what truly establishes Starfield as a jewel in Bethesda's crown of franchises.
Starfield releases on November 11, 2022 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.