Starfield is an upcoming sci-fi game that will see players exploring the far reaches of the galaxy on a mission to discover the truth behind "life's greatest mystery." Like all sci-fi, its universe fits somewhere on the scale of soft to hard sci-fi, with soft sci-fi using science as what is essentially a genre-specific stand-in for magic, while hard sci-fi tries to emulate real-world science, even if it's just certain theories, as closely as possible.
There have already been some major hints as to where on the scale Starfield fits. It's clear it's erring on the side of hard sci-fi in comparison to Bethesda's other major sci-fi series, Fallout. However, the situation isn't straightftoward. Starfield also appears to have some more soft sci-fi elements necessasitated by its role as an RPG, as well as some hard sci-fi aspects likely to have specific implications for the gameplay in Bethesda's first new IP in over two decades.
Starfield's Hard Sci-Fi
Starfield appears to be generally leaning towards hard sci-fi. The entire idea of NASA-Punk as the basis for the game's aesthetics is one rooted in the look of real-world space exploration equipment. The player character focused on in the marketing materials so far has always been seen wearing a realistic-looking spacesuit, one which puts function far over form.
Bethesda employees even visisted SpaceX while developing the game, looking for visual references to make Starfield's universe seem like a believable future. In contrast, other recent space-set RPGs like Obsidian's The Outer Worlds have leaned on softer sci-fi tropes, making space a wonderland for wacky brands, pirates, mad scientists, and more.
There's even evidence that some of the real-life factors that would have to be considered on any space exploration journey will come into play in Starfield. One of the oldest leaked images of the game shows the Starfield player's UI, which has a compass which appears to show Oxygen levels, CO2 levels, and what seems to be a meter for reading gravity.
If the player has to factor in major environmental differences when visiting different planets, then not only will Starfield's setting err likely on the side of hard sci-fi, but that choice will have a noticeable impact on its gameplay as well. Bethesda has already claimed that Starfield will be more of a hardcore RPG than some of its recent releases, which could see the introduction of stricter survival mechanics based on the real potential enivornmental differences between planets and their implications for human survival there.
There are a few lines from Starfield's E3 trailer and the behind-the-scenes video released by Bethesda within a week of E3 that point to some other ways Starfield might be considered hard sci-fi. The lines "humanity's final journey" and "life's greatest mystery" seem to hint that intelligent alien life has yet to be discovered in the Starfield universe, which is generally considered a hard sci-fi trope in comparison to the swathes of humanoid aliens found in sci-fi series like Mass Effect.
It's possible those lines in the trailers were referencing something else, but either way Starfield's marketing materials so far haven't revealed any humanoid alien races, and it seems very unlikely that the game will have multiple playable species. In fact, the only aliens that appear to have been revealed so far are some crab-like aliens that can be seen in some of the Starfield concept art. That's where Starfield's soft sci-fi side begins to come into play.
Starfield's Soft Sci-Fi
Starfield's setting may be relatively hard sci-fi compared to a more lighthearted series like Fallout or The Outer Worlds, but to a degree it will also likely rely on some softer sci-fi tropes in order for it to function as an open-world RPG. The crab aliens seen in one piece of Starfield concept art provide a clear example of this. It seems unlikely that Starfield's hard sci-fi setting will simply have human-like alien races as part of the premise, but players still need some enemies to interact with, and limiting that to human enemies alone could make combat feel very repetitive.
As such, it seems like Starfield will have aliens, but that the key point of distinction will be that they are far less complex lifeforms than humanity, and that the quest for truly intelligent alien life goes on. That isn't the only softer sci-fi element hinted at in Starfield's concept art.
While a lot of the concept art pieces show towns that look like they were built in the style of NASA or SpaceX facilities, there's one piece of art showing a town that, while undeniably sci-fi, looks more like it's from Star Wars than Interstellar. The town has a noticably Old West look to it. While the focus on Starfield's armor has mostly shown the function-over-form suits worn by the player, this piece shows clothing that has a more space-western feel, including long coats, decals painted onto armor, and other elements that aren't as closely rooted in real-world spacesuits as the designs seen so far.
It also seems very likely that faster-than-light travel will be a key part of Starfield's universe. While it's possible that FTL flight will be considered impossible, that seems unlikely. If the player character is going on "humanity's final journey" they'll likely have to travel extreme distances over the course of that journey, which makes a soft sci-fi explanation of how humanity discovered FTL travel likely to be part of the premise, even if the game then sticks closer to hard sci-fi from there.
Constellation is the main Starfield faction revealed so far, and it's possible that the others won't be as closely influenced by organizations like NASA and SpaceX, with Starfield's place on the sci-fi scale varying depending on where the player is and who they're intereacting with. For now, it seems like Starfield will be one of the few recent RPGs to really lean into hard sci-fi. Whether or not it will find success doing so is a whole other story.
Starfield releases November 11, 2022 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.