The Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase at E3 2021 showcased Starfield, one of the most anticipated games for fans of Fallout and Elder Scrolls. The newest open-world adventure from Bethesda takes place 300 years in the future, where humans have been exploring the deep reaches of space. While the newest Starfield trailer revealed a release date of November 11, 2022, and a few interesting details, fans were undoubtedly expecting a little more information.
Thankfully, game director Todd Howard revealed a bit of the process behind developing Starfield and how the structure of the game resembles The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. While many of the finer details remain secretive, it appears that Starfield will feature a more dynamic approach for players to carve out their own storylines.
What's Been Revealed About Starfield
For the most part, the newest trailer for Starfield at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase was more of a teaser than a substantial reveal. Fans were able to catch a glimpse of the world design and life inside the spaceships but there weren't many indicators for the gameplay itself. Thankfully, game director Todd Howard was surprisingly candid in revealing a little more information about Starfield, and in particular, how the game will be structured.
Todd Howard revealed that Starfield is centered around a group called Constellation, essentially the last group of space explorers in the world. Although not much more context was provided, it's evident that Constellation will play a role in shaping how players navigate the game. Furthermore, Todd Howard mentioned that Starfield is a game about hope, shared humanity, and searching for answers. This seems to imply the nature of Constellation will likely be a major component of the story. Starfield's narrative will also center around philosophical questions, and in particular, how science or religion play a role.
Structural Similarities to Skyrim
Perhaps the most interesting reveal from Todd Howard however, is that the structure of Starfield should be familiar for fans of Skyrim. Notably, while the Constellation group will be the main faction in the game, players will encounter numerous other factions that they can align themselves with. Much like Skyrim, this allows players the freedom to choose the path they want their characters to follow, and immerse themselves into the narrative. Bethesda is known for this structure in its open-world games as it allows them to tell different stories alongside the overarching narrative and this enables the worldbuilding and lore found in its games.
In Skyrim, factions were an important aspect of the game as players could choose to join different associations, explore unique storylines separated from the main quest, and get involved with different NPCs. Factions added a substantial component to both Skyrim's lore and gameplay which helped facilitate the feeling of discovery in its open world.
Similarly, Starfield will also feature numerous factions that players can join which will likely include different storylines that deviate from the overall narrative. Todd Howard stated that the goal with this design is to encourage players to express themselves freely and showcase who they want to be in Starfield's universe. While there hasn't been much revealed about Starfield, it seems that Bethesda is ambitiously planning to match Skyrim's scope of telling different stories spread over many factions.
Starfield will release on November 11, 2022, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.