Starfieldis Bethesda’s upcoming space-set RPG, and based on everything revealed so far it could be one of the studio’s most ambitious projects to date. The game will be the first new IP Bethesda has tackled in over two decades, and will set the stage forThe Elder Scrolls 6, which is set to release after it.
Starfield’s ambition alone will not be enough, however. Based on what’s known about the scope ofStarfieldso far, Bethesda’s recent history shows that its new game will need to prioritize more than scale.
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Starfield’s Ambition
Based on everything revealed so far,Starfieldwill be an extremely ambitious game. Not only will it be the studio’s first new IP in years, but it will attempt to create an open-world RPG spanning multiple planets.Leaked images ofStarfieldalso indicate survival features like oxygen levels, CO2, and gravity, as well as what could be base-building mechanics like those seen inFallout 4. The game will also likely have some spaceflight mechanics, though beyond the reveal of the ship itself, the specifics remain unknown.
The potential for gravity mechanics and the jetpack the player character is wearing in the leaked images also imply that Bethesda’s physics engine will be undergoing a significant upgrade. Todd Howard also stated atBrighton Digital 2020that the game would make significant use of procedural generation, which creates large landscapes automatically before developers go in and add detail, rather than random generation which creates unique landscapes for every player. This could allow Bethesda to create a series of huge in-game worlds for players to explore, though the exact scope ofStarfield’s galaxy has yet to be revealed.
While survival mods have been a staple of theFalloutandElder Scrollsmoddingcommunities for years,Starfieldalso appears to be the first time Bethesda will attempt to integrate significant survival mechanics into an RPG’s retail release. Though Bethesda has withheld most updates on the game’s development, it seems to be setting it up as a huge open-world RPG with spaceflight, base building, survival, and a robust physics system. Bethesda’s ambition has not always been to its advantage in the past, however.
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Bethesda’s Recent History
Fallout 76was an undeniably ambitious project. Taking a famously single-player RPG series and making it into a multiplayer game was an undoubtedly tough undertaking. Nonetheless, Bethesda’s ambition didn’t pay off, and Todd Howard even said thatFallout 76"let a lot of people down."
Fallout 76isn’t the only time in Bethesda’s recent history where the studio’s ambition has gotten the better of it.Fallout 4undertook the extremely ambitious task of introducing the series' first fully-voiced protagonists. Every single in-game line was recorded for both female and male characters, while the game even had the voice actor for the player’s robotic servantCodsworth record hundreds of namesso that the character could refer to the player by their chosen name in in-game dialogue.
WhileFallout 4was a financially successful game, the choice to have a voiced protagonist was ultimately another time when Bethesda’s ambition didn’t play to the studio’s strengths. Many players found the preset voices to be limiting in terms of roleplay, while the inability to see the player character’s full lines when selecting dialogue led many to feel a greater disconnect between them and their character. This in turn led some fans to claim thatFallout 4was a better shooter than an RPG.
There were certainly placesFallout 4’s ambition payed off, particularly areas that focused on developing roleplaying opportunities.Fallout 4’s companion characters, for example, were far more developed than previous games, often with their own unique backstories and developing plotlines. What Bethesda has shown in its last two big releases, however, is a tendency to set extremely ambitious goals that don’t always complement the strongest aspects of Bethesda’s open-world RPGs.
Starfield’s Future
Fallout 4’s settlement building mechanicwas another example of a highly ambitious feature which ended up adding little to the game without modding. Leaked images showing modular buildings hint thatStarfieldmay attempt to expand upon and improve some of the base-building mechanics found inFallout 4, but without improving the way those bases complement roleplay that won’t be enough.
The inhabitants ofFallout’s settlements, for example, rarely acted in an immersive way by performing tasks like farming and maintenance, most of which was left to the player. They also had a very limited selection of settlement-based dialogue that left many player settlements seeming like they’d been taken over bySynths.Starfieldcan’t just expand an already ambitious system like this further; it needs to go back to the basics and figure out how to make such a system an integral part of the game’s roleplaying.
The same can be said for using procedural generation to create a huge open world. Scale is one thing, but creating an in-game world that’s too large could lead to it feeling empty and characterless. Unless that world is able to be properly populated with compelling NPCs and interesting environments, the ambitious scope ofStarfield’s scalecould prove to be to its detriment.
Bethesda RPGsin the past have found success by creating worlds where freedom is prioritized above all else. The player’s identity is largely left up to them, they’re free to explore the world without pursuing the main storyline, and that world is populated with a breadth of quests that range from blowing up villages to assassinating emperors.
It remains unclear whetherStarfieldwill be a traditional Bethesda first-person open-world RPG. What is certain, however, is that the studio’s ambition in the past has previously led to features which don’t actually complement the studio’s strengths as an RPG developer. IfStarfieldis going to be a hitnew IP for Bethesda, the studio will needs its ambition, but also focus and restraint.
Starfieldis in development.
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