Starfield: ESRB confirms M rating and reveals details
Starfield will officially open on September 6, 2023 to a new space world designed to combine the RPG feel of Skyrim with the excitement of sci-fi. Except for gameplay trailers, little has been revealed about the activities that await players alongside their usual pursuits. Now the US age rating agency, the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board), has rated Starfield an M for Mature 17+ for containing “blood, foul language, salacious themes, drug use and violence.”
At this point the note: If you don’t want any spoilers about Starfield, you should stop reading from here!
In addition to the rating, the authority also provides a summary of the rating, which provides some very interesting details that specifically address scenes from the game. The ESRB confirms that in Starfield, players will take on the role of a miner scouring the galaxy for artifacts. There are interactions “between the characters, quests, futuristic weapons, lasers, axes and explosives”. That’s the fairly normal description for an M-rated title.
Furthermore, information is given about possible “suggestive content in conversations” that the character has with the character. IGN quoted here from the conversation after a sexual encounter: “Life is a sexually transmitted disease that is one hundred percent fatal”; “I’m all for going a little wild, but next time we should try without the jetpacks.” Whether the jetpack sex is only mentioned or can actually be experienced in the game is not yet known.
What is certain, however, is that the drug “Aurora” may play an important role in the game. The drug can be bought or stolen from dealers, and at one point in the game the character comes into contact with a drug lab. Using Aurora results in a “distorting effect on the screen,” according to the ESRB.
- Starfield: RPG in Space gets M rating
- Content: blood, vulgar language, salacious themes, drugs, violence
- Sex with jetpack, suggestive dialogues after sexual encounter
- Drug Aurora, purchasable, stealable, distortion effect
See also:
Gaming Games Logo Microsoft Games Collection Starfield
