Bethesda fans had quite a lot of time to wonder what kind of game Starfield would be. Years passed without Bethesda providing clear details on the sci-fi game, meaning that for a long time, the sky was the limit. Now, at long last, Bethesda fans have been getting an increasingly sharp image of Starfield. It's a fairly grounded sci-fi title that leans on the looks of real-life spacefaring organizations like NASA when designing its vehicles and buildings. It seems to take place in a time where humanity is still fairly new at living among the stars. As a member of Constellation, Starfield players are poised to discover what kinds of worlds populate the galaxy.
However, it's a little unclear just what it is that Starfield players are meant to discover. Based on concept art and descriptions of the game, some Starfield fans are worried that the game is focused on trying to find sentient alien life, which would mean that players probably can't choose to be an alien themselves. Starfield's concept is solid, but it could really get more mileage out of many of its central concepts by letting fans play as aliens. Starfield could reap lots of benefits from making aliens playable, from interesting mechanical possibilities to immersive roleplay opportunities.
Gameplay Implications of Aliens in Starfield
In many of its entries in The Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda shows the benefits of letting players choose their race. Perks like a Khajiit's knack for seeing in the dark are a great way to modify and enhance whatever playstyle a player has in mind. Starfield could do the same thing with a roster of playable alien species. The game's concept art shows that there's all kinds of unique planets and environments awaiting players, and each could be the source of uniquely adapted aliens whose physical characteristics open unique opportunities. For instance, one alien's ability to breathe toxic fumes could let them travel through certain areas without specialized equipment, while another alien's aquatic background could make them a powerful swimmer.
Playable aliens would also introduce interesting cultural elements that translate into gameplay elements. For instance, No Man's Sky introduced a system for learning alien language that Starfield could take notes from. While humanity will probably just speak the player's preferred language, there could also be non-human NPCs that don't speak any human languages. In other words, whatever languages the player character knows and learns would give them exclusive access to certain characters. Languages chosen at character creation and learned over the course of the game would be a good way to give players access to new quests and storylines over time, rewarding them for engaging with alien cultures.
Between languages and physical perks, playable aliens in Starfield would boil down to one valuable concept: options. If players could chose to be one of a variety of aliens in Starfield, it'd open up lots of options on how to play through the game. Alien languages to choose from would shape the order in which players go through the game's missions, while unique alien perks could change the way that players overcome each obstacle in Starfield. High replay value is a really valuable quality in a video game, and Elder Scrolls games tend to have pretty high replay value, thanks in part to the many unique racial options that players have. Playable aliens would bolster Starfield's replay value in the same way.
Starfield's World Deserves Playable Aliens
Playable aliens wouldn't just impact the player's side of Starfield. They would also go a long way in shaping the game's plot and roleplay. Starfield only takes place 300 years in the future, so humanity is probably still adapting to life in outer space culturally. Although that's an interesting concept on its own, establishing the fact that there's sentient aliens among humanity would add a very valuable new layer to that conflict. If Starfield has playable aliens, it'd enable two great opportunities: players could be humans who are newly getting used to other life existing in the universe, or they could be aliens slowly getting familiar with the new spacefaring civilization from Earth.
Sentient alien groups would also go a long way for the sake of lore. Bethesda has thoroughly established that Starfield has planets with diverse biospheres, including alien flora and fauna that players will encounter as they explore. It's great to know that the game isn't all about humans, but it'd also be hard to believe that none of Starfield's planets host sentient life even though they're habitable. In other words, if Starfield welcomes players into a vast slice of the galaxy stuffed to the brim with habitable planets, it only seems natural that there'll be intelligent aliens out there somewhere, and that some of them have developed relationships with humanity in the last 300 years. Between the timeframe and life already established in Starfield's universe, it only seems reasonable that playable aliens would be on the table.
Starfield's Aliens Could Shape the Genre
There's one last crucial reason that Starfield should let fans play as aliens. Lots of sci-fi video games focus on human protagonists already. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order sticks with the human Cal Kestis in spite of Star Wars' many recognizable aliens, while The Outer Worlds focuses on humanity and humanity alone. It's a shame that so many games about outer space don't let players live out the fantasy of being from outer space. Starfield could break that mold by making aliens available to player characters during customization. If a studio as big as Bethesda makes an RPG where players can be all kinds of interesting aliens, then it's extremely likely that some other developers will follow its lead, starting a great new trend.
Bethesda talks about Starfield pretty regularly ever since declaring the game's release date at E3 2021. Both the release date and the further teasers suggest that Bethesda is very confident about the current state of Starfield, as well as how it'll perform once it releases. Bethesda wants to drum up as much support for Starfield as possible so that the new IP can have an explosive start. However, while Starfield can easily win over tons of fans with everything from its planets to its characters, it'll be hard to make up for such a potentially pivotal feature as playable aliens should Bethesda stick to humans as the sole playable race.
Starfield releases for PC and Xbox Series X/S on November 11, 2022.