Bethesda looks to be attempting to take all the best bits of its previous games, including the mammoth franchises The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and combining them into what seems to be its largest and most ambitious project to date. Despite all the revealed gameplay footage and details so far, though, not everyone has been blown away, with criticism surfacing over its visual performance and some rather bland-looking gameplay design. While it would be unfair to judge the game at such an early stage, Bethesda could definitely ease some fan concern by unveiling further footage and details sooner rather than later, and Starfield’s vast explorable galaxy provides a great way to do this.
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Starfield’s Planets Are the Perfect Advertising Tools for Bethesda
Bethesda is certainly no stranger to creating huge, richly detailed worlds full of things to do and see. Its groundbreaking RPG The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is considered by many to be one of the greatest video games of all time, and the fact that it has had four separate releases in the years between 2011 and 2022 speaks volumes to the game’s continued popularity and appeal. Then there’s the equally impressive Fallout series, that, despite a couple of less-than-stellar entries, has also amassed a large, loyal fan base thanks to it’s vividly detailed game worlds.
There are a number of different ways in which this project dwarfs anything else attempted by the developer to date. For starters, Starfield’s dialogue points and detailed social encounters promise to offer a new kind of conversational depth for Bethesda, which should influence the narrative in a variety of exciting ways. Alongside this, there’s the inter-planetary traversal, with space flights and dog fights offering a break from the ground combat. Then there’s the ability to build bases on these planets, and it remains to be seen how in-depth this system turns out to be. However, the volume of explorable planets looks to be the area which could really drum up more hype.
The sheer volume of these planets means it’s very likely that a number of them could be procedurally generated, or almost identical in terms of environments. However, there should still be a significant quantity of richly detailed, varied environments. Todd Howard explained they will range from “barren but resource-heavy ice balls” to “Goldilocks planets” that fully support life. Bethesda should capitalize on what seems to be the game’s real selling point, and begin to shine a spotlight on these environments.
As the year draws to a close, it is safe to assume Starfield is merely months away from release at this stage. Development is likely to be all but complete, so now is the perfect time to begin to reveal some of Starfield’s many planets, from their environments to their inhabitants, whether friendly or hostile. Many of the planets are likely to be optional, and gamers could benefit from getting a feel for the types of rewards some of these planets may hold, for those willing to explore the far-reaches of the galaxy.
Starfield launches on PC and Xbox Series X/S in 2023.
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