After teasing it at E3 2018, Bethesda Game Studios lifted the veil on Starfield at E3 2021. Two years later, this great cosmic adventure is finally about to hit our screens, the space RPG release fast approaching. In this article, we will reveal all the notable information about Starfield, which will undoubtedly be one of the big hits of the year.
? What is Starfield?
Starfield est Bethesda’s first new universe in 25 yearsthe two other universes imagined by the studio being that of the franchise The Elder Scrolls and that of the franchise Fallout. Future RPG will be Bethesda’s next big action-RPG, but does it have the same ambitions as the cult Skyrim ? Yes, according to Todd Howard, executive producer of Bethesda Game Studios.
The creative head of The Elder Scrolls franchise since 2000 simply described Starfield to The Washington Post as being ” skyrim in space “. This sentence could not be clearer. Players will therefore immerse themselves in the hyper-detailed and vast universe of Starfield as they were able to do in Skyrim. Additionally, Bethesda CEO Ashley Cheng said that the RPG is ” a Han Solo simulator. Hop on a ship, explore the galaxy, do fun things ».
? What is the release date of Starfield?
Bethesda had announced a first release date for Starfield and in an original way at the end of the first trailer: it was displayed on the dashboard of the spaceship. The game was originally scheduled for release on November 11, 2022, before being pushed back.
Xbox will not have given any news for several months before indicating, at the beginning of March, the new release date of the game: September 6, 2023. Players will therefore have to be patient before discovering the space RPG.
Before the fateful date, a Starfield Direct will take place on June 11 in the wake of a new Xbox Games Showcase (which will be held at 7 p.m. French time). We will therefore have the opportunity to discover more in depth the gameplay of the game. Sequences which will be interspersed with interviews with the developers and exclusive information.
? What is the price of Starfield?
With Sony, Activision and now Microsoft raising the price of a standard game to €69.99 or even €79.99 in some cases, we are entering an era where games are more expensive than in recent years.
Unfortunately, and this has already been confirmed by Microsoft, Starfield will cost a whopping €79.99. Thankfully, Microsoft has made a habit of putting its latest AAA hits on Xbox Game Pass right from launch. And this will indeed be the case for Starfield :
? How long will Starfield last?
Players will have plenty to do. The main plot should last between 30 and 40 hours of play. To this are obviously added the multiple side quests and other various explorations. So many trips that will significantly extend the life of the game.
? What platforms will Starfield be released on?
Microsoft having acquired ZeniMax Media (Bethesda’s parent company) on March 9, 2021, some Bethesda games will be Xbox and PC exclusives. And sadly, Starfield will be a Windows PC and Xbox Series exclusive. Therefore, Starfield will not be released on the PlayStation 5, contrary to what some leaks suggested.
? Will Starfield be multiplayer?
No, Starfield will not have a multiplayer mode. Since its first revelation, Starfield has always been named as a single-player action RPG. Bethesda currently has no plans to develop competitive or cooperative PvP features for space explorers this time around. Other than Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls Online, it’s pretty rare for Bethesda games to offer multiplayer functionality.
At the moment, that seems like a no, but that doesn’t mean multiplayer will never exist. It’s still possible that Todd Howard and the Bethesda team will announce a few collaborative or competitive elements online in the coming months. Even if they don’t, maybe modders will develop a new Skyrim-style miracle Together.
? Will Starfield be moddable on PC?
Yes. Todd Howard said that, like Bethesda’s previous single-player RPGs, Starfield will be fully moddable. « Our plan is to have full mod support like our previous games “, he had said during an AMA on Reddit in 2021. “ Our community of modders has been with us for 20 years. We love what they do and hope to see others make a career out of it. ».
Read > Starfield has over 250,000 lines of dialogue, twice as many as Fallout 4 and Skyrim combined
? What is the storyline of Starfield?
Starfield takes place in an area that extends outward from the solar system, about 50 light years, called The Settled Systems. Towards in 2310the game’s two largest factions, the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective, have engaged in a conflict called the Colony War.
The game is set 20 years after the war, with the main factions enjoying an uneasy peace. The player assumes the role of a customizable character who is a member of The Constellation, an organization of space explorers in search of rare items. The game can be played in first or third person and players can of course join other factions according to their choices, but the original one will always be The Constellation.
At this stage, we don’t know much about the main story yet. According to a Bethesda Q&A video with quest designer Will Shen, Starfield’s faction questlines will look a bit more like Skyrim than Fallout 4. From what it sounds like, they’ll all be independently playable.
As for the activities players will perform during their playthrough, Todd Howard revealed that it will be “ like NASA meets Indiana Jones who meets The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but that’s about all we know about it so far.
? Quel gameplay pour Starfield ?
The 2022 Xbox and Bethesda Showcase gave us our long-awaited first look at real Starfield gameplay. We have a right to a preview of our character creation and skill system.
The character can be personalized : body shapes and sizes, skin tones, hairstyles, will be there. On the other hand, it does not seem possible to customize the face of his character in detail, although this may change in the future.
You will choose an origin for your character, with options like combat medic, bouncer, teacher, or homesteader, all of which come with three starting skills. Character skills range from medicine to lasers to persuasion to negotiation and more. There are also five skill trees:
- Physique
- Social
- Combat
- Science
- Tech
You will choose assign points to your skills at each higher level. A crafting system will also allow players to modify and customize their weapons. Players will be able to establish outposts as they explore. There ship customization of Starfield will also be possible. You will therefore be able to create your own dream ship to fly between the 1,000 explorable planets that the game will offer.
In Starfield’s gameplay reveal, Todd Howard said the game’s fully explorable galaxy will contain over 1,000 planets through a mix of crafted content and procedural generation. Each planet would be explored on foot. Will many of them just be wastelands with minerals to harvest? Probably. But most real planets are too, after all.
As is tradition with Bethesda RPGs, Starfield will offer companions to accompany you on your travels. Notably there will be Vasco, a robot companion presumably Starfield’s default companion, similar to Canigou in Fallout 4. Refurbished to handle the rigors of expeditionary space travel, Vasco looks more like a workhorse than anything else. , with storage capacity and a variety of equipment to aid you in exploration.
Howard confirmed that the romance of a companion in Starfield will be possible, with the studio seeking to give these relationships additional complexity. ” They may be in love with you and dislike something you’ve done, and be temporarily mad at you. » explique Todd Howard.
Here are some other Starfield gameplay highlights to remember:
- NPCs may be pickpocketed. In an unveiled gameplay sequence, a pickpocket prompt appears when a pirate steps in front of the crouching player character, visible for just a split second.
- Lockpicking is backAlso.
- There is a persuasion mini-gamebut supposedly more involved than Oblivion’s dialogue pie chart.
- There will be recruitable NPC companions. As in previous Bethesda games, they will aid in combat. And yes, some of them are romantic.
- You can join factions. Their questlines will be independent of each other, unlike factions in Fallout 4.
- You can build outposts, briefly featured in the Starfield gameplay reveal. What we saw looked like base building in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, but we don’t have details yet.
- You will probably be able to loot defeated enemy ships in order to collect valuable resources, weapons and artifacts.
