Starfield, an open world created for wanderers: new details from Bethesda

Starfield, an open world created for wanderers

"Made for Travelers" is a seemingly simple motto, but one that has great importance for those who know and appreciate Bethesda games, and that's probably what many wanted to hear from Todd Howard and his companions about Starfield, the protagonist of a new in-depth video from which further interesting information emerged.

Game director Todd Howard, design director Emil Pagliarulo, quest designer Will Shen and graphic chief Istvan Pely were the protagonists of the new video " In the stellar field: Episode 2 ", a round table in which some aspects related to the design and concept of Starfield were made clear, since the gameplay (except perhaps a very short fragment) was not shown, of course.

For that we will have to wait for the next maxi-event which will probably be in the spring, and Bethesda has no intention of contradicting what was previously stated, obviously. In any case, important statements have been made, but the probably most significant one is condensed in the title of this episode of the video diary: that is, that "Starfield will be an open world created for wanderers", because it represents the essence of 'open world built by Bethesda and is - basically - a little bit what everyone wants from this new gaming experience.

As reported by Pagliarulo, it's about creating a simulation that integrates classic RPG elements, but the everything is related on a particularly broad level and must include a lot of additional variables, opening up many different possibilities given by the freedom of choice granted to the players. Furthermore, another dominant idea in Starfield is the fact of recovering some historical characteristics of the classic RPGs and proposing them in new forms.

Characters and Factions

Starfield, one of the new exploration artworks Character building has always been left to the player's initiative in most Bethesda Softworks games, especially in The series. Elder Scrolls, and again we will be dealing with a similar system. In short, the protagonist is not predetermined and this also contributes to the sense of freedom typical of Starfield, in which the story is built according to the player's will, starting from the appearance of his avatar in the game world. In this case, the head of the graphics division, Istvan Pely, also makes it known that the construction of the protagonist and the NPCs is based on new technologies, which exploit systems for detecting and reproducing 3D real figures similar to the photogrammetry used for the scenarios, but applied to character creation. The goal is to create faces and bodies as distinctive as possible, also endowing the NPCs with a certain charisma.

Another recurring element that will be present in Starfield are the factions: this science fiction universe also offers different social groups with which you can interact with, each linked to new lines of quests and story developments, as well as to possible evolutions of the protagonist.

Starfield, an artwork on the setting of the Freestar Collective We had already talked about it in the previous special on what we know about the new Bethesda universe, but the question is taken up and further clarified: the Colonial Union is a Republic of Space, strongly based on an idealization of technological progress and order, the Freestar Collective is instead composed of frontier inhabitants who refuse central control and constitute a society similar to the far west and Ryujin Industries, a mega-corporation based on trade, for example.

Social relationships and interactions

Starfield, another illustration on the settings Much of the game action is based precisely on the interactions between characters and factions, elements that historically "create game "in classic RPGs and that lead to the construction of the narrative and quests. Bethesda's approach to world building was quite radical, trying to build a whole new universe unrelated to any consolidated series, studying ways to make it believable and to make the interactions between player and NPC meaningful and original. This also concerns the way in which you can take part in the factions: in The Elder Scrolls, or in Fallout, these were limited to opening new lines of quests to be followed in a slavish manner but in Starfield, at least in the intentions of the developers, it is about open new contexts in which to act with a certain degree of freedom.

For example, to enter Ryujin Industries you have to propose yourself as a candidate for a real job, but there are different possibilities, such as the one suggested by Todd Howard on the possibility of joining the Crimson Fleet, or the "pirates", the faction considered the "bad guys", so to speak. It is possible to become part of this faction but by acting in different ways: if you do not want to share the aims and vision of the Fleet, we can act undercover, playing a double game and pursuing other ideals. All this also ties in to the dialogue system that was developed by Bethesda for Starfield, which should represent something different than what we have seen so far in their games: the main idea is not to want to provide a line that is admittedly the "right" one. but to provide many different possibilities of approach and interaction and with moral nuances that are not easily distinguishable, thus going beyond a clear distinction between right and wrong.

Apotheosis of the open world

Starfield , new image on the game's settings What also emerges from this last session in the video discussion on Starfield is that Bethesda wanted to build an open world as rich and complex as possible, substantially evolving what has been done so far in the history of the team, who has specialized in this genre for decades now. Waiting to see how all this will really be staged in the game, which in fact has not yet shown itself in an official way beyond the vague presentation trailer at E3 2021, we can meanwhile count on the willingness of the developers to propose something new and evolved also with respect to their great experience in this type of securities. The opening of the world, given by the possibility of freely exploring the cosmos, should be reflected in a great breadth and variety of actions and approaches that are also possible in the interaction with the characters and scenarios.

As in any game, Pagliarulo points out, we have adventure, mystery, fictional history, but here there is also the cosmos to provide a further level of exploration and construction of one's own adventure, which in a certain sense becomes the path of man in search of the fundamental answers to life's big questions, as related by Howard in the video. All wonderful ideas, but being able to really put them into action within a video game is a titanic undertaking, even by exploiting the greater potential of next gen platforms. Also for this reason, the curiosity to see Starfield in action at this point has reached an unsustainable level and we hope to soon have news on the famous complete presentation that should arrive in the coming months, considering that the release date remains set for 11. November 2022.

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