Starfield is the newest open-world RPG by Skyrim and Fallout developer Bethesda. It’ll serve as the company’s first new IP in more than 25 years; the studio has mainly been working on Fallout and Elder Scrolls since then, and although it’s published new IPs, it hasn’t developed any for a long time.
As such, the hype surrounding Starfield is huge, especially since Microsoft and Bethesda have confirmed the game will be released on Xbox Game Pass on day one. If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about when it comes to Starfield, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s talk about this exciting new Bethesda RPG and what we can expect from it!
When is the Starfield release date landing?
Originally, Starfield was due to launch in November this year, but it was subsequently delayed to next year, likely so Bethesda could polish it up. The studio has a reputation for launching broken and buggy products, so it probably wants to make sure Starfield is as intact as it can possibly be.
With that in mind, the Starfield release date is now going to fall sometime in the first half of 2023. We don’t actually know exactly when it is yet, but we do know that when it’s released, it’ll launch for PC and Xbox Series X|S, with the latter being the only console on which you’ll be able to play the game.
What will the Starfield story be?
Again, details are somewhat thin on the ground regarding the story right now, but we do know some things about the setting. Starfield takes place in an area known as the Settled Systems, which is an area containing our solar system but also a radius of around 50 lightyears beyond it. The Settled Systems were host to a massive war between two factions, the Freestar Collective and the United Colonies, roughly twenty years before Starfield takes place.
At the outset of Starfield, you will play as a space explorer belonging to a group known as Constellation (the space theming really is heavy here). It will be your job to go out into the Settled Systems and explore as many planets as you can, bringing back information about what’s on them to your superiors. You’ll also likely meet members of both the Freestar Collective and the United Colonies. Beyond this, we don’t have too many more details about the Starfield story, so we’ll have to wait and see what Bethesda has up its sleeve.
What does the Starfield trailer show us?
There are a number of different Starfield trailers out there right now, so it’s well worth hopping over to the official Bethesda YouTube channel to check them out. These include deep dives on various aspects of Starfield’s locations and world, as well as examinations of how the developers created the game’s world and what kind of challenges they faced while doing so.
The most important Starfield trailer for your purposes as a gamer, however, would be the official Starfield gameplay reveal from this year’s E3 presentation. It’s a 15-minute-long trailer showcasing raw, unedited gameplay, which is pretty rare in this day and age. What we’ve seen so far makes Starfield look pretty familiar as a Bethesda RPG; you’ll be exploring planets, discovering locations, and looting bases for equipment and items. It’s likely that we’ll get more information about Starfield, including new trailers, as we draw closer to the game’s release date.
What will Starfield gameplay be like?
If the gameplay trailer we’ve linked is anything to go by, Starfield gameplay will be a sort of evolution of the Fallout 4 formula. You’ll be exploring vast wastelands and inhabited towns, taking on quests from locals and engaging in combat with space pirates and other threats.
Starfield will also feature space combat, so you’ll be able to take on other pilots with your ship and blast them into smithereens. The trailer shows off the player docking with another ship seamlessly, although it’s not yet clear exactly what features that will enable.
Like other Bethesda titles, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to play Starfield in first-person or third-person, which should come in handy if you’re someone who suffers from regular motion sickness or you just want to experience the game world from a third-person perspective.
As well as exploring planets, engaging in combat, and taking on quests, you’ll also be able to scavenge planets for resources in a similar way to No Man’s Sky. This will entail finding ore deposits or other resources and harvesting them, so it’s always worth exploring every planet to its fullest.
The trailer also shows the player engaging in base-building, which is another element that Bethesda is carrying over from Fallout 4. You’ll be able to set up and maintain a base, adding new modules to it and creating a staging platform from which to explore the Settled Systems.
If you’re a fan of Bethesda’s RPG offerings like Skyrim and Fallout 4, it seems like you’re really going to love Starfield. It’s basically more of the same, but in a much bigger and more realistic universe; Bethesda has said it’s going for more of a hard sci-fi vibe with Starfield, which means that although you will see creatures and wildlife on planets, the story will be focused more around human conflict than intergalactic monstrosities. We can’t wait to get our hands on this one.
