Bethesda's newest open-world RPG Starfield already has an immense amount of hype behind it. Starfield is poised to take the iconic studio to the stars with a full universe for players to explore and learn. So far, players have only gotten one glimpse at Starfield and what they should expect from the RPG when it releases. Starfield's teaser trailer was included in Xbox and Bethesda's E3 showcase this year, but really only gave players a look at the visual style of the game, including how structures and spaceships will likely look when the game launches.

However, there is still very little that fans know about Starfield. Players expect many of Bethesda's trademark features and systems will make an appearance in Starfield, but the game should also take some cues from one of the biggest science fiction games that has not even released yet — Star Citizen. Star Citizen is one of the biggest and most expensive games ever made in the industry, and it makes a lot of impressive promises that players are expecting the game to fulfill. With how exciting many of those features are, it would only make sense for Starfield to borrow from some of them to help make sure Bethesda can nail the science fiction genre.

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Starfield Should Borrow From Star Citizen's Range of Ships

starfield release date e3 2021

One of the biggest features of Star Citizen is the ability for players to own a wide range of ships that are each unique in their appearance and functionality. It would be great for Starfield to have a similar feature. Traversing the world is always a big component of Bethesda RPGs and having different ships for players to choose from and customize would be an excellent way for Starfield to deepen that experience. Starfield's E3 trailer was completely in-game footage, so players did already get a decent look at at least one ship in the game, but Bethesda not introducing many more ships for players to chose from would be a big missed opportunity.

With Bethesda's usual approach to RPGs focusing on giving players the ability to approach the game in a variety of different approaches, it seems very likely that Starfield will feature multiple ships. Bethesda should ensure, however, that each of the ships very distinct and different from one another. Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series has always featured a variety of horses for players to unlock, but they very rarely featured anything different from one another beyond being able to run at different speeds. This would largely ruin the point of having multiple ships in Starfield, as having each ship have a distinct personality and role in the game would add a lot of depth and character to nearly every aspect of the game, especially Starfield's ship mechanics.

Starfield Should Borrow From Star Citizen's Different Activities

starfield poster art

Another important aspect of Star Citizen is how many roles and activities it promises to let players take part in. Following in Star Citizens' footsteps would greatly help Starfield expand its gameplay and let players really explore its world. This would enable players to do more in Starfield than just complete quests or fight NPCs. There are tons of examples set by other science fiction games, like Star Citizen, which could see Starfield including activities like mining, trading, exploring uncharted planets or systems. This would allow players to really roleplay different characters in Starfield and would add a lot of playtime to the game as well.

Starfield introducing different roles for players would also allow the game to add some more depth to its different factions. Bethesda games have always included various factions and allowed players to explore and get to know them in the past. Allowing players to interact with them in ways other than just seeing them as quest-givers or NPCs to kill would help Starfield's world and characters feel much more alive and interconnected. It also could help Starfield fix some of the mistakes that Bethesda titles have made in the past in regards to factions, as being able to favor one faction for trading and another for mining could help players find some good in all of them.

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Starfield Should Borrow From Star Citizen's Scale

Starfield logo planet

Another big part of Star Citizen's allure is the undeniably impressive scale that it is promising players. Of course, Bethesda's games are notorious for their massive size. However, Starfield should take note of Star Citizen's promised size to ensure that its world feels as big and limitless as possible. It does not need to be nearly as big as Star Citizen's scale since that will be an MMO with thousands of players, but it should be similar on a microscopic level.

Starfield boasting a range of highly detailed planets with their own systems and biomes for players to explore would make Starfield a very special game in the genre. Bethesda has also said that Starfield aims to let players make their own stories, and having a bigger area for players to interact with and explore serves that idea excellently.

Starfield being an impressively big game is also important for its position as the first next-gen Bethesda game. Players have been waiting for a new full-fledged RPG from Bethesda for many years now, and with Starfield next year on the new Creation Engine 2, it will really have to impress Bethesda's fanbase to be successful. This is even more important after Xbox's purchase of Bethesda, as Starfield will play a big role in Xbox's future now that it is a console exclusive on Xbox.

Of course, only time will tell what shape Starfield eventually takes when it releases. Thankfully, players have a release date to look forward to, but there is still a lot more information that fans are hoping to get about the game ahead of its release. Bethesda's many fans will likely be keeping a very close eye on Starfield's future events and presentations to try and glean as much information on the game as they can from them. Hopefully, Bethesda won't keep them waiting for long and will be able to deliver a truly next-gen Bethesda RPG.

Starfield releases on November 11, 2022 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

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