Bethesda's upcoming RPG Starfield has been shrouded in secrecy. Besides its title and precarious position as Bethesda's first new IP in over 25 years, very little has been confirmed about the game.
Although Bethesda has kept its cards close to its chest, there have been several reliable leaks since Starfield's announcement at E3 2018. Here's every leak and rumor about Starfield so far that appear to reveal in-game mechanics, insight into the development process, and possibly even a release window for the space-set RPG.
The First Three Images
Few things have been confirmed about Starfield for certain. It is known that Starfield will be a purely single-player experience, and that it is currently the main focus at Bethesda Game Studios.
The first major Starfield leak was a series of images released onto Reddit by a throwaway account named Electrical-Ad-8659. The first image was of what appeared to be Starfield's player character standing before a ship or building. The second image showed a side-on view of a spaceship, and the third image showed what appeared to be the UI's compass.
These initial leaks caused a flurry of speculation. Many fans were quick to note that the building and ship shown in the screenshots looked as if they used some of the same modular settlement-building mechanics first introduced in Fallout 4. This led many to speculate that the game would allow players to build their own bases and ships in a similar way.
The jetpack on the character's back in the first image seems to show that players will be able to fly around in-game. This will be likely be affected by the gravity meter, which can be seen on the compass. This makes it seem likely that Bethesda's physics engine will have undergone a significant upgrade for the game. The Oxygen and CO2 meters on the compass seem to imply that survival mechanics will be integrated into Starfield's retail release, though how exactly they will work remains unknown.
The Fourth Image
This leak was followed by a fourth image, supposedly released by the same person behind the first three leaked images. This image led many Bethesda fans to double-down on the speculation surrounding settlement building mechanics, as it seemed to show a building which could easily be broken down into moveable modules. The UI on the bottom right also showed a classic Bethesda health and stamina bar setup, as well as an indication of the player's weapons and ammo.
The authenticity of these leaks was seemingly confirmed by a logo seen on a Bethesda employee's shirt during Todd Howard's Brighton Digital 2020 presentation. The logo on managing director Ashley Cheng's shirt matched the small logo seen on the right shoulder of the astronaut in the first round of Reddit leaks.
The Fifth Image And Brighton Digital
A supposed screenshot was released by Twitter user and Youtuber Skullzi. While the screenshot is very visually impressive, it could easily be a fake with the compass edited in based on previous leaked images. One Reddit user claimed that the image was taken from free-to-play game Myrdalssandur, Iceland, a VR experience which lets players explore the country's south coast.
More information about Starfield was released by Todd Howard during Brighton Digital 2020. Howard mentioned that both Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 would make extensive use of procedural generation. Procedural generation is a technique where landscapes are automatically generated by a computer, and then detailed by developers. Procedural generation does not mean that every player will experience a different landscape, and the technique was used in other Bethesda games like Oblivion to help create the countryside.
Howard claimed that the technology had changed significantly since those days, however. Procedural generation will supposedly allow both Starfield and TES6's cities to be far larger than any seen in a Bethesda RPG before. Procedural generation will likely be key to helping Bethesda build large landscapes across multiple planets.
This has led to a lot of speculation about the overall size of Starfield's in-game galaxy, though the fact that random generation is not involved makes it likely to be bigger than games like Skyrim, but smaller than games with huge continually generating worlds like Daggerfall, Minecraft, and No Man's Sky. Despite that, many fans are also hoping for No Man's Sky-style flight mechanics, with very little having been revealed about spaceflight and travel so far.
Release Window And Xbox Exclusivity
In early April 2021 rumors began circulating that Starfield could still be slated for a 2021 release, despite so many games being delayed over the past year. Youtuber MrMattyPlays reported that a contact at Bethesda told him that the studio still planned to release Starfield by the end of 2021. As evidence he provided an image from Bethesda's official website showing the game's 2021 copyright reservation. Though this is not definitive proof of the game's release window, many Bethesda games in the past have been released in the same year as their copyright reservation.
Adding to recent rumors, industry insider Rand al Thor spoke on the Xbox Two podcast, where he claimed that "very reliable people" had told him that Starfield is going to be an Xbox exclusive. This rumor has been circulating ever since Xbox announced its acquisition of Zenimax Media Inc, Bethesda's parent company. Bethesda also recently confirmed that some future Bethesda titles would be Xbox exclusives.
Although the leaked images appeared to show an earlier stage of the game, Rand al Thor also claimed that Starfield is in a playable condition and was currently in "bug squashing mode." Rumors that Starfield would release in 2021 have been seen before, most notably from Natedrake on the ResEtera forums.
If Starfield is going to release in 2021 that makes a full reveal at E3 2021 this June seem likely. Seeing Starfield in detail will finally confirm or debunk many Starfield rumors that have been circulating among Bethesda and RPG fans. Some have speculated that the upcoming game will have alien races and a third-person perspective, while other fans are cultivating their very own Starfield wish-lists. Many more will be looking forward to E3 now, where more details about the space-set RPG will likely be revealed.
Starfield is in development.