Bethesda shares new details about Starfield in 45-minute presentation

Bethesda shared new details about Starfield on Sunday evening. During a 45-minute Starfield Direct presentation, the developer will discuss the various features of the upcoming space RPG. The game is still scheduled for September 6.

Starfield explores according to Bethesda ‘the golden age of early space travel’. Bethesda calls that setting ‘NASA Punk’. The spaceships and technologies in the game are therefore ‘advanced, but practical and recognizable’, according to the studio. The primary story of Starfield revolves around Constellation, an organization that tries to unravel the mysteries of the universe and is looking for so-called artifacts.

That adventure begins in the city of New Atlantis, the first human colony in space. According to Bethesda, this is the largest city the developer has ever created. In addition to Constellation’s story, the game will also have several other storylines for players to follow, according to Bethesda. The presentation shows various cities on other planets, such as a mining colony on Mars, ‘fun city’ Neon and Akila City, a city with a western theme.

Bethesda emphasizes again in its presentation that Starfield will have ‘more than a thousand’ planets, something the developer already announced last year. Players can fly freely to those planets. Players can collect resources on planets with a laser, complete missions and encounter ‘unexpected things’, says Bethesda boss Todd Howard. Planets are procedurally generated when a player comes near them. Then blocks of terrain are combined. Then locations, living creatures and resources are added.

The game gets a Star Map for traveling between planets. It shows information about the planets in question, for example about temperature, gravity, atmosphere and flora and fauna. The map also shows planets with important locations and missions, in addition to the many planets that are barer but have many resources. Finally, players can zoom out and travel to different galaxies.

It is also possible to build outposts on planets, which allow players to mine resources while they are elsewhere. Players can fast travel to their ship while exploring. The game will also feature companions and crew members that players can recruit onto their ship and take with them while exploring planets.

The spaceship is the home of the player and crew members. Players can customize and upgrade those ships themselves in spaceports. For example, players can add extra cargo bays so they can carry out cargo missions, or install extra weapons or shields on their ship for use during space battles. While flying it is also possible to distribute power between engines for higher speed or weapons for higher damage. It is also possible to board enemy spaceships and take them over.

Bethesda further shares some technical details about Starfield. The studio says it uses real-time global illumination, which bases the illumination of planets on the type of star and the planet’s atmosphere. The game will also have a new animation system. As in other Bethesda titles, the game is playable in both first-person and third-person perspectives. According to the studio, the game also has a renewed combat system with smoother animations and moddable weapons.

Starfield is released on September 6. The game will then be released for PCs and the Xbox Series X and S. It is the first major game released by Bethesda Softworks since this studio was acquired by Microsoft. The company also showed off a Constellation edition of the game on Sunday evening, which comes with a watch and costs 300 euros.