Bethesda Game Studio’s mysteriously anticipated next big IP Starfield has been the talk of the town lately, especially after a humungous acquisition from Microsoft this past month. Interestingly, there have been certain leaks regarding the game that in our opinion, and of many industry influencers as well, seems very legit.
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Keeping all of that in mind, as well as the recent acquisition and statements from Microsoft as well as Bethesda’s very own Todd Howard, we decided to touch upon all the major attributes of the game that we currently know of and what we may expect in the future.
The Leaks
After maintaining an eerily silence since its E3 2018 announcement, there’s finally some room for speculations and discussions about Starfield. Reddit user Electrical-Ad-8659 was the first to post two alleged screenshots from the game that is supposedly from an early build back in 2018.
Survival Elements
After carefully analyzing the above screenshots( whether real or not) it is clear that Starfield will feature various survival elements and that traversal won’t be easy in this game. The CO2 and O2 meter in the left indicates that players will have to vary of these elements when traversing the outer space.
We wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more to it then managing player’s O2 level. Bethesda’s recent endeavor Fallout 76 had various survival elements as well and it’s a no-brainer that the studio would want to overhaul these elements for their next game.
Also at E3 2019 during his chat with Elon Musk, Todd Howard revealed that traveling around space in Starfield won’t be an easy affair. According to him- it’s like flight in the ’40s like it’s dangerous.” What it means that Starfield will be more grounded and realistic in implementing space travels and such, unlike other action sci-fi movies and video games.
As PC Gamer reported, Howard further elaborated on how he visited Musk’s SpaceX headquarters for research and inspiration. This clearly indicates that Bethesda is trying to make a more realistic and believable space adventure that will give us a glimpse of our own future, rather than a fantasy take on the sci-fi genre. However, Hodd also clarified that Starfield is not a space simulator and that they had to “gamify” it in their own ways.
To conclude, this does imply that Starfield will focus on space travel, one that would want players to be conscious not only of their surroundings but of their character’s attributes as well. The recent screenshots seem to indicate the same.
Settlement Building
Crafting and building settlements was a huge element in Fallout 4 which the studio overhauled it for their next game Fallout 76. If the screenshot posted above is any indication, this feature may also very well be a part of Starfield.
The structure in the above picture clearly looks like a player crafted structure. Not only that, but it also adheres to the settlement building formula from Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. The windows are all disoriented seems like it was attached by a player. Reddit user Orange_Thought also took the time out to clarify this in the image above.
Just like in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, settlement building may be an optional activity, but one where players would want to invest time in, considering how inexplicably detailed the above structure looks. Assuming that there will be many planets that players can explore, the settlement building will be an important element of the game to look out for.
Aesthetics
After rewatching the Starfield teaser and analyzing the second screenshot that features an intricately designed concept art of a spaceship, few things are eminent. Starfield’s world may feature a pale yellowish and orange color palette. Also, the space ship gives out a vibe similar to that of The Outer Worlds and The Outer Wilds, however, the score used in the teaser trailer indicates that Starfield will be a more serious game in contrast to Fallout or The Outer Worlds, both of which had a comic universe.
Whatsoever be the case, Starfield seems to be diverging a lot from previous Bethesda games and that is both exciting and concerning at the same time.
Release Window
Starfield has been in active development for 3 years now since they shipped the final DLC of Fallout 4 (Nuka World) back in late 2016. In the recent Xbox Live Podcast, Todd Howard while talking to Larry Hryb, Phil Spencer and Pete Hines spoke about how Starfield has been in development for a long time now and that Phil and a w other at Xbox has seen the game.
This also stacks perfectly with the ongoing rumors regarding a Starfield PS5 timed exclusively. If Sony approached Bethesda to keep Starfield timed exclusive on PS5, it is not difficult to assume that they may have seen the game up and running as well. Another important tidbit comes from user “Electrical-Ad-8659” again who posted the third and final screenshot from above on Skullzi’s discord server and stated that the game will be out in 2021.
Keeping all of this in mind, it seems like a 2021 holiday seems very likely and we may get a small teaser at this year’s The Game Awards like it happened with Elder Scrolls V Skyrim 10 years ago. Although Todd Howard also mentioned in the Xbox Podcast that he wants to wait till the end before revealing the game, the same way they did with Fallout 4. We believe that there will be a teaser revealed at this year’s The Game Awards, perhaps revealing that a full-blown reveal will take place next summer. However, all of this is still speculation from our side and we may or may not see or hear about Starfield anytime soon.
