While Starfield has been on more than a few ‘most anticipated’ lists for a while, Bethesda was able to keep the game mostly under wraps until recently. A few leaks emerged, but nothing that was terribly exciting or groundbreaking. The past few months have seen a pickup in content around the upcoming action RPG, but after it was delayed into 2023, fans were worried that they might not see much more of Starfield this year. Thankfully the recent Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase blew players out of the water with its extensive list of reveals and announcements, including the first official look at Starfield gameplay with a fifteen-minute long reveal video. The video showed off some exciting mechanics and features, but it also allowed fans to get up close and personal with characters for the first time and see how the focus on upping the animation ante actually played out.
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The Latest Starfield News
Bethesda has been very slowly releasing news of Starfield over the past few months, but despite a lot of talk around the aims of the game and its premise, players haven’t really had a good look at it until now. Some Bethesda development videos detailed a few of the features like environments and factions, but fans were really hoping to see Starfield gameplay sooner rather than later, especially after the game’s delay was seen by some as a cause for concern. After the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, players will have more than enough to keep them satisfied for a while thanks to a detailed look at Starfield and what it has to offer.
The gameplay reveal showed off more planets, settlements, and characters, as well as a look at what it’s like to explore a planetary surface and fight off some pesky space pirates. Other exciting details included space flight and combat, in addition to the impressive array of customization options from building settlements and ships to designing a character. The scope of Starfield is undoubtedly epic, with hundreds of systems and over a thousand planets for players to discover and explore, and fans are hoping the developer can pull it off. One aspect seen in the gameplay reveal that boded well for Starfield’s success was the vast improvement in facial animation from Bethesda’s previous games.
A Focus On Facial Animation
Bethesda has already revealed a little about the design and depth of Starfield, mostly through the behind-the-scenes “Into the Starfield” videos. In addition to its NASA-Punk aesthetic, Starfield is striving for realism and immersion in its design that hasn’t been present in most of the developer’s previous games. With technological advances and the power of current-gen consoles to play with, Starfield is already gearing up to be a visually impressive experience, but it’s clear Bethesda wanted to take this a step further with the level of detail and photorealistic visuals.
Not only was this present in the equipment, ships, and structures shown in the gameplay reveal, but also with the presentation of characters. From what players have seen of Starfield so far, it feels suitably cutting-edge, even in comparison to other popular RPGs that have been launched recently. This is particularly impressive, given the game’s mind-boggling scope and ambitious exploration aims. Players will be able to make use of the game’s extensive character creator mode to fine-tune their space explorer, and there seems to be a galaxy full of characters to interact with as well.
In a previous “Into The Starfield” video, the development team spoke about how important inter-character interactions will be, and how they want the development of relationships to feel authentic and meaningful. Realistic facial animations will be integral to this, as there’s nothing more jarring when players are trying to immerse themselves in the action than awkward facial ticks and mismatched mouth movements. Straddling the line between animated and expressive but not too over-the-top is tricky, but from the close-ups of characters that players saw throughout the gameplay reveal, it seems like Starfield has managed to accomplish this quite well.
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Improvements From Previous Bethesda Titles
With such a long wait for Starfield, the pressure was on Bethesda to really deliver something truly special. The gameplay reveal did leave players with a few questions and one or two concerns, but on the whole, the deeper dive into Starfield has just made gamers even more excited about its release. Starfield seems to be leveling up almost all aspects of previous Bethesda titles, from building settlements to character creation. One of the most obvious advancements is in its visuals, with stunning environments and extraterrestrial creatures providing a more realistic version of a Bethesda game than players have seen before.
Games in the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series, while still popular and beloved, have come under fire occasionally for their visuals, especially when it comes to stunted or unrealistic facial animations. These games are older, so a comparison to Starfield isn’t completely fair, but they still suffered when held up to contemporary titles like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which launched the same year as Skyrim. On the whole, Bethesda games aren’t necessarily known for their graphics and attract players more for their unique worlds, compelling stories, and fun gameplay over visuals. Hopefully, Starfield will be able to combine all of these elements to create a really spectacular game, but fans will have to wait a little longer to see if Bethesda can pull it off.
Starfield is scheduled to release in early 2023 on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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