After months of teasing, Bethesda finally provided a look at Starfield’s gameplay during the Xbox and Bethesda showcase.
During this gameplay reveal, we got to see a number of things from planet exploration, Alien creatures, how players will mine for resources, character and ship customization, combat, shipbuilding, and more. After watching the gameplay reveal a few times, it definitely feels like Fallout meets No Mans Sky, and I’m perfectly fine with that.
It’s more than just that, as we also got to see a bit of the RPG elements of the game and an understanding of the story that will ultimately drive the narrative of the game. Apparently, the story gets kicked off when you, the player, find an artifact, and everything kicks off from there. One thing is sure; it doesn’t appear to be clear-cut black and white, from what I’m seeing. Like I said, RPG elements abroad.
However, what captivated me the most was both the character and ship customization. The ship customization looks wild, and there doesn’t seem to be an end to just how much customization is available. From the footage, players will be able to play with just about every aspect of designing their ships, just down to it being functional or just looking bizarre as they want them to be. This goes double for character customization. Skin tones, hairstyles and colors, character traits, body types, backgrounds, skills, and more are available to choose from. I won’t lie; after watching this a few times, I did geek out. When it comes to character customization, I can and have spent hours on my in-game avatars. I want them to be an expression of myself (or my wife), so I tend to get it just right.
When it came to exploring the vast unknown, we were treated to some spaceship dogfighting. Which is something I’ve enjoyed in past games such as Wing Commander, Privateer, Star Lancer, Ever Space 1/2 and a few others. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to this aspect. Of course, the big draw of Starfield is planet exploration, and we’re being told that there will be over 1000 planets to explore.
That said, we can’t tell if that’s a bit of an exaggeration or not, as that seems like overkill. And even if it is true, we don’t know if these are entirely crafted planets or if they’ll be procedurally generated. We’ve reached out to Bethesda to see if they could shed some light on that. If they aren’t the latter, then that’s a lot of hours spent crafting those worlds.
Another thing I enjoyed was the music score attached to this reveal. The sounds conjure up similarities to movies that also involve space exploration. That orchestrated music was epic, and I can’t wait to hear the entire score as I explore the vast unknown.
Overall, I’m excited about what I saw. Yes, it did look janky, and Bethesda has plenty of work to do. Still, for someone who’s always wanted to explore the stars yet realized that I wasn’t the best at math or anything science-related, I’ve always wanted a game like Starfield. I was hoping Star Citizen may have been that game, but I’m convinced that that title won’t be released in my lifetime. As for the game that many are already comparing Star Field against, No Mans Sky, it was almost everything I wanted. Almost.
Starfield was initially scheduled for a November 11, 2022 release date but has since been delayed into 2023. While we don’t know when it will be released, I honestly don’t care. Instead, I’d rather that Bethesda continue working on the game and release it only when they feel it’s ready.
