Starfieldis Bethesda’s next RPG project, set for release beforeThe Elder Scrolls 6on the next-gen consoles. Despite the size of the project, Bethesda fans have only had a few potentially leaked screenshots to extrapolate from and what little the studio has revealed about the upcoming game so far.
Starfieldwill be a single player space-set sci-fi RPG, which led many RPG fans to compare it to BioWare’sMass Effectseries when it was announced. The most recent entry in the series,Mass Effect: Andromeda, may have had a disappointing reception, but there could be one wayStarfieldis similar to the lastMass Effectgame that has good implications for Bethesda’s new RPG.
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Starfield’s Scope
Starfieldis Bethesda’s first new IP in 25 years, having focused exclusively on theElder ScrollsandFalloutfranchisesin that time. The choice of the name “Starfield” for the new RPG gives some hints into the setting. In astronomy, a starfield is a set of stars visible through a single telescope lens or through a photograph. In short, though a starfield can technically be of any size, it is necessarily only a limited cluster of stars. The title implies thatStarfieldwill focus on a small cluster of stars and planets within a far larger implied galaxy, unlike the originalMass Effecttrilogy, which allowed players to traverse the Milky Way.
This is more similar toMass Effect: Andromedathan it is theoriginalMass Effecttrilogy.Andromedanaturally took place in theAndromedagalaxy but limited the player to five main planets along with a few visitable hubs in between. One of the reasons this didn’t work out very well forAndromedawas the fact that BioWare didn’t take advantage of this smaller scope to develop a deeper and more dense game-world to explore. There was only one major alien species introduced: the Angara.
The fact thatJaal, the Angara companion, was arguably the most popular squadmate inAndromedais evidence of the fact that players needed something new to motivate their exploration. The original races of theMass Effecttrilogy were exciting at first because getting to know companions of those alien races also gave insight into their home worlds and cultures, but that faded by the last game. Thus, the question becomes: how is this good forStarfield?
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Starfield’s Potential
While it’s possible thatBethesda’sStarfieldwill have a larger game world thanSkyrimorFallout 4, it seems unlikely that Bethesda would be able to develop a significantly larger game world than either without procedural generation–which could be very possible in outer space itself. That fact along with the game’s title implies thatStarfieldwill focus on just a few main areas, which could be great for a new IP in a way that it wasn’t for an older IP likeMass Effect.
Bethesda has the opportunity to pack a smaller area with unique and compelling new alien races , different biomes, and exciting ecology, all of which could feel totally new to players ifStarfieldavoids cliche sci-fi tropes. Many of the game’s details from how it might handle companions to exactly what these settings might look like have yet to be released, but there is potential to live up toAndromeda’s premise, which itself was good. The execution was just flawed.
Bethesda has confirmed thatno news will be released aboutStarfielduntil 2021. However, the risky new IP has a lot of potential to deliver a dense and original experience in an RPG market which has relied a lot on long-running franchises to draw players for much of the last decade.
Starfieldis currently in development.
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