Bethesda's Starfield has been the subject of rumors for some time now, though relatively little is actually known about the game. Recently an insider suggested that Starfield would be released this year, but even that remains unsubstantiated until fans hear something directly from the company. Luckily for them, someone appears to have found something a little more substantial to feed the rumor mill.
It may not be as exciting as a concrete release date, but streamer and gaming sleuth Skullzi has shared a handful of new Starfield screenshots, apparently from an early 2018 build of the game. These range from third-person shots like some of the other Starfield images that have been leaked, to first-person perspectives and even what appears to be a collection of assets and fonts, including some company logos and warning signs.
On top of that, Skullzi had a small amount of extra information to share with his followers too. In addition to the screenshots and the suggestion that Bethesda would be making a big announcement at this year's E3, he later claimed that the game would involve factions, including two called The Black Fleet and the Space Nation Alliance, the latter of which would be "very important in the Starfield universe." If that wasn't enough, Skullzi also inferred that the game would likely involve space-walking, owing to the presence of a gravity meter on the HUD and high/low-gravity entrances and exits on Starfield's spaceships.
Though the screenshots themselves might not seem like much of an earth-shattering revelation, with what appears to be a fairly straightforward space station setting from a three-year-old build of the game, the question of why they were leaked now, and why Skullzi was given permission by his sources to share certain details about Starfield he'd learned previously, is an intriguing one. It certainly lends credence to his hunch that Bethesda will be making a big announcement about Starfield at E3 next month: Skullzi wondered if it might be "an inside push from Bethesda before the main marketing campaign begins," possibly following an initial release announcement in June.
If all that is the case, it gives fans a lot to look out for next month. Starfield has been living rent-free in the heads of Bethesda aficionados for a while now, and it'll have to do a lot to live up to the hype and promise of being a brand new IP from the creators of The Elder Scrolls and the later Fallout games. Should the developers be able to pull it off, it ought to make this year's E3 one to remember.
Starfield is in development.