Bethesda is preparing a comeback with a bang with the release of Starfield. This new open-world was revealed to and fro during the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase of the Summer Game Fest 2023.
When Bethesda prepares an RPG, attention crystallizes. So no, Starfield does not intend to approach the Elder Scrolls series, far from it, but rather offer a new concept of role-playing on a monumental scale. This new release scheduled for next September intends to wake up the giant Microsoft after a catastrophic year in terms of Xbox exclusives (Darktide and Redfall), and offer players a real good reason to opt for the X brand rather than a Playstation. 5. While waiting for its release at the start of the next school year, here is everything you need to know about this large-scale space RPG.
It was in a 45-minute video that Bethesda gave us some Starfield news. Largely absent from the last Developer Direct from Xbox and Bethesda last January, the game finally showed the tip of its nose throughout a show entirely devoted to it. On the menu, exploration, character creation, combat, crafting and construction, all in an extremely complete presentation that reassured many players. Indeed, after the catastrophic release of Redfall last May, Bethesda and Xbox had to show their credentials for their next flagship.
You can rewatch the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase announcements above, but to sum it all up, the game may well conquer your Xbox Series or PC before conquering the stars. Currently in the final stages of development, the game is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2023. Gameplay-wise, Starfield is shaping up to be an open-world RPG, a grand space epic of exploration, intrigue, and fights that will integrate almost everything that can be expected from such a type of game today. Crafting, skill tree, advanced character customization, impact of choices on the plot, construction of bases and ships, combat on the ground and in space… We already know the talent of the Bethesda teams in the creation of open-worlds, and Starfield seems to be no exception.
You will embody the character you have decided to create in the first or third person, in his quest to forge a name for himself through the stars. More than 1000 planets are explorable there, and you will be able to access them thanks to your fully customizable ship. You will find resources that you will have to manage, enemies that you will have to overcome, and different factions that you can decide to follow or not to progress in the plot. Add to that crafting elements and extremely extensive character customization, and you’ll have a gargantuan project that could well overwhelm your hard drive before destroying your framerate.
But that’s not all, Starfield is also a pure RPG. You will therefore have access to a skill tree in addition to the in-depth customization of your protagonist. You will choose to invest points in it to unlock passive and active effects that you can then improve through different challenges. Something to quickly take your adventurer from zero to hero. On the progression side, there is also the eternal crafting, which will allow you to modify and improve your weapons as you wish. Note that the game will also include the ability to build bases of operation where you want, and to hire NPCs there to perform various tasks.
If the takeover of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft has still not been concluded, this is not the case for Bethesda. The studio joined the group of the titanic holder of Xbox for 8.1 billion euros in 2021, de facto questioning the presence of Bethesda titles on Sony consoles. And for Starfield, unfortunately for Playstation gamers, the Xbox exclusivity ax has fallen. The game will therefore not be released on PS5 at least initially.
To be short in our answer to this question: no, Starfield will not incorporate multiplayer elements. While nothing is ever set in stone, the game has, since its announcement in 2018, always been advertised as a single-player game. Note that it is always difficult to offer an experience of the size and ambition of this RPG in cooperation or multiplayer. Information which, although it is not new, may deserve a little tear, as the potential of such a project in cooperation or multiplayer is titanic. Exploring the stars is good, with several it would still be a little better.