Starfield was first announced at E3 2018, and after years, it is now set to release this November. Despite this, nothing concrete is really known about Starfield outside a few developer commentaries. It is expected that news will pick up over the summer, and Bethesda probably won’t show its hand until it's ready. After all, it’s the first new Bethesda IP in several years, so fans are clearly invested.
There have been a few screenshots and other details leaked about Starfield, in that time. Even the most solid ones, though, are somewhat questionable. The latest, at least, comes way of Resetera user Hevy008 who is verified as a former Bethesda employee (character artist) by the site’s admins. It should still be taken with a grain of salt, but it could be a pretty good look into the state and development of Starfield.
Responding to the questions of another user, Hevy008 praises Bethesda Game Studios as a cool solid place to work, says Todd Howard is a charismatic guy, and proceeds to provide a few fine details for Starfield. The user criticizes its flight mechanics and describes its engine as a “piece of crap,” but the rest is largely positive.
According to Hevy008, there has been weekly playtesting of Starfield every Thursday since the beginning of the year, and they say the shooting feels alright. They criticize the flight mechanics, presumably of Starfield’s spaceships, as not fun to them. Graphics and lighting-wise, they say Starfield has improved a lot and says it’s a good-looking game, if not on Horizon Forbidden West’s level.
Perhaps one of the biggest questions asked of the user is whether or not Starfield will make its release date. Given the little information out there, as well as the fact that its release date was announced last year, it’s an understandable concern. Heavy008 says they will certainly try since it’s a “sexy date” and will like cut content if it has to. That’s not really a concern, it seems, as Heavy008 says Starfield has an abundance of content that is “probably too much.” It appears that the main goals right now are bug fixing and “finding the fun.” All of this tracks and lines up, especially since Bethesda has reiterated a few times that it is confident in the Starfield and its plans for it.
Of course, there is the possibility that some of this is not entirely accurate, but this information does seem to come from someone who worked at Bethesda for a long time. At least until Bethesda decides to reveal more Starfield news itself, it’ll have to do.
Starfield releases November 11 for PC and Xbox Series X.