GameTech: This is what we're hoping to see when Starfield finally drops
Starfield.
Starfield officially lifted off back in 2018, with Bethesda announcing the new single-player role-playing title to rapturous anticipation. Back then, we thought the space-faring adventure would be orbiting our social lives within a few years. After years of Fallout and Elder Scrolls, we thought the final frontier was just around the corner.
Three years on, we have heard nothing from Bethesda – but that is about to change. In just a few short weeks, we expect to see a full reveal of Starfield, at the Microsoft show in E3. Here are some of the hopes and dreams we have for Bethesda’s next big release.
1. In space, no one can hear you grind: Our number one hope for Starfield is that it retains the spirit of previous Bethesda role-playing games – and remains a truly single-player, fully immersive world. That means no online services, no microtransactions, and no unnecessary grind or padding, like so many other modern ‘adventure’ games. Redeem your place in our hearts, Bethesda, and take one small step (backwards) for gaming, but one giant leap forward for Starfield itself.
2. Morrowind re-entry: More recent Bethesda games, like Fallout 4 and, erm, Skyrim (now almost a decade old) have suffered from a lack of imagination. They felt like well-trodden paths. Fallout was fresh once, but failed to shake things up. Skyrim was beautiful, but also the blandest fantasy setting a game could achieve. So with Starfield, we hope that Bethesda returns to the days of Morrowind, where the weird was wonderful and gamers were ‘strangers in a strange land’, as producer Todd Howard put it.
3. Engines on: Leaked screenshots don’t tell the whole story, but it doesn’t look like Starfield is using an entirely new engine. However, we really hope it does. Bethesda has been building on their GameBryo engine for decades, and despite improving it immensely over time, there’s only so much that can be done before a true new start is needed. We hope that Bethesda can develop an engine that delivers even more scope and freedom to players, without reducing the capacity for cool systems and interesting gameplay.
4. There are levels to this: If Starfield is going to be a space-faring adventure, where players can head in any direction they wish and explore as they see fit, then we don’t want that experience to be curtailed by hand-holding gameplay. If we find an area with great loot that is too difficult for our level, then give us the joy of figuring out a solution – or running away. Don’t adjust the levelling system across the board. Hand-place great loot and bosses, and don’t make players the center of the universe at all times.
5. Alien experience: The recent remaster of Mass Effect has reminded us how great space opera can be, when it’s done correctly. We’d love to see Bethesda introduce a whole new universe to gaming, full of new alien races to encounter, complete with their own worlds, lore, loot and conditions. If Starfield can get the balance right between depth of lore and depth of exploration, the results will be spectacular.
6. Shoot for the moon: Every time a human goes to space, they take incredible risks. For Bethesda to retake their crown as a premier developer of single-player gaming, they will need to do the same. If they reveal a bland space-shooter that resembles the military in orbit, where players collect junk to survive while shooting an indistinct alien enemy – then the game is already lost. If they reveal a brave new world of imagination and exploration and mystery, with the emphasis on making players feel like they can approach this universe and create their own stories – then a classic might be born.
7. Get the launch date correct: We’ve waited three years just to see an official reveal of the game – so we can wait another year for release, if needed. If Starfield releases too early and has many bugs or broken features, it may suffer the same fate as Cyberpunk 2077 and be consigned to history as a failure, despite financial success. Bethesda have been accused of bugs in the past, so they should take their time and get this one right. If they succeed, we’ll be playing Starfield for a decade to come.
