Bethesda's RPG Starfield will release before the next Elder Scrolls game, so many fans expected official news on the project would come sooner rather than later. Bethesda shot down the idea, sharing that no news on Starfield will com until 2021, but a recent image leak gave fans a teaser of what the game could be like.
Within the leaked Starfield screenshots, the third-person perspective becomes immediately apparent. This is an interesting decision on the part of Bethesda, and assuming it is the only perspective available, it is also a step away from the usual formula. Bethesda games are traditionally set in first-person by default, so it is odd to see a third-person perspective shown off — even through a leak.
Though the images leaked for Starfield do show the game using an over-the-shoulder camera, third person-only mechanics are not guaranteed. With games like Skyrim and Fallout allowing players to enter third-person mode despite being designed around first-person gameplay, a similar situation may have occurred in these images. Perhaps Starfield contains the option to toggle first-person on and off, or perhaps it is even the default mode of the game, and third-person is only used in the image to showcase the ship in the background.
The ship is a good indication of the massive engine rework Todd Howard described. The character's spacesuit does not look quite as impressive, which could indicate that the Creation Engine still has outdated visuals for its characters, but it's most likely the cause of the game being an early build. Still, seeing the size of the massive ship could indicate another reason for a potential third-person perspective: traversal.
With the meter in the left corner of the image potentially indicating the amount of fuel remaining in the jetpack, movement through areas in space seems like an important feature of Starfield. Traversing the outside environments, including the ship shown in the images, could prove difficult in first-person. Perhaps this is why the third-person perspective is being used in the shot, but regardless, Bethesda must be doing something right considering how Sony reportedly wanted Starfield as a PS5 exclusive.
As has been discussed numerous times over the past week, Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda killed the competition’s hope for that exclusivity deal. While it is unclear at this time whether Starfield will be an Xbox console exclusive, it's a strong possibility. It's important to take these leaks with a massive grain of salt, though. Even if the image is of Starfield, it's possible it's just a completely outdated build, or that concepts have been scrapped.
Starfield is currently in development.