Bethesda Game Studios’ next big game and new IP, Starfield, closed out the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase 2022 and we got a good 15 minutes of actual gameplay from it.
We haven’t seen any substantial gameplay since the game was announced, and the new space setting and what you can do feels an awful lot like No Man’s Sky, also a space game, to the point that even Bethesda is boasting about the game world’s massive size.
In Starfield, you can pilot your ship to land anywhere on a given planet, and you can explore all the planets on a given solar system. And there are, in Game Director Todd Howards’s words, “over 100 systems” to explore.
Massive? Yes. Will most of it be any interesting? Like No Man’s Sky, doubtful.
Starfield also showed a bit of the gunplay, which will remind you a lot of Fallout 4. Looks like even in space you can still have ruins of abandoned places where raiders, or rather pirates for this game, will be squatting about. And dungeon runs are always a thing in a Bethesda Games Studios game, Skyrim has a lot of that too.
Here are other interesting bits of gameplay from the new Starfield trailer:
- You can scan the flora, fauna and resources on each planet, with a completion count
- Mine for resources
- Kinetic guns using bullets are in space, including space sawed-off shotguns
- Jaunty, dynamic orchestral music that changes when in and out of combat
- Lockpicking mini-game is changed to something that will remind you of Ratchet & Clank’s Trespasser puzzles
- Jetpacks
- Main plot involves finding artifact pieces spread across the galaxy
- multiple factions including the Crimson Fleet (pirates), the United Colonies, Freestar Collective
- Character creator is available
- You can select a background, which gives three starting skills
- Optional traits that has advantages and disadvantages, Fallout-style
- Skills unlocked by putting in skill points, but to rank them up and make them better you need to complete challenges, old-school Elder Scrolls-style
- Weapon modding is available
- Outpost building is available. Outpost crew can be recruited
- New modular shipbuilding feature. Ship crew can be recruited
- You can fly the ship, including in space. Dogfights are a thing
There are a lot of familiar mechanics from past Fallout and Elder Scrolls games that will be present in Starfield.
While the game’s artstyle can look nice at parts of the gameplay demo, you can still see the cracks and jank that you would expect from a Bethesda Game Studios game, for better or worse.
Starfield has been delayed to early 2023, and will be available on Xbox and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store). It will be available day-1 on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.