Starfield Gets Deep Dive Combat, Ships and More
Jun. 11, 2023Starfield Gets Deep Dive Combat, Ships and More
Starfield Bethesda’s next major RPG got a massive deep dive into combat, exploration, ships, skills and more.
The next major space title from Bethesda Starfield has its own special feature during the Xbox Game Showcase. As promised, Todd Howard the game’s director and team went into detail about different aspects of the game. This included taking a look at ships, skills, companions, the announcement of 5 day early access and more. The Elder Scrolls studio even revealed a Starfield Chronomark Watch, a gadget which will be released alongside the game in the special Constellation Edition (collector’s edition). There was a lot of info revealed, so let’s break down everything that was revealed during the showcase!
Howard kicks off the deep dive by explaining just how massive the Starfield universe is. It spans a 1000 worlds, which is not new info but continues to confirm there will be plenty to explore in this RPG. You can visit just about everything you see, including the moon. How you view your surroundings is available in both first and third person.
It’s not long into the presentation when we get to see combat. Quickly diving into gunfire, we see what it will be like to attack a base. Enemies called Spacers are seen defending, but these low-level enemies seem no match for the automated firearm the main character is carrying. Jetpacking into the air and shooting from above looks like a good way to gain the upperhand.
Out in space, you can scan planets from afar to get the lay of the land. This can tell you things such as the resources available, which are important for crafting and building.
Planets are not just home to enemies but a whole habitat of creatures. Shown in the direct are strange almost pre-historic looking animals. While you won’t be seeing green little aliens, these creatures are bizarre but look local to their environment. I do wonder how friendly they will be and whether we’ll have run-ins similar to Horizon Forbidden West.
There arecitiesto visit each having its own settlements. Factions exist and even more independent star systems are also explorable. Having its own Cyberpunk spin, there’s even a pleasure city calledNeonin Starfield. As you’d expect, the sense of lawlessness will come with some danger.
If you want to get into the game fast, there are 40 preset characters that you choose from. The creation screen provides an employee database, which you can choose from. If you want to customise further, there are different options to choose from including body, face, background and traits. Backgrounds come with three startingSkills.
Traits
Traits are optional coming with advantages and disadvantages. Hero Worshipped comes with your own albeit slightly creepy adoring fan. On the plus side, they can join your crew and you’ll receive gifts from them. The downside, their incessant worshipping might get a little annoying and make you want to rethink this arrangement. I want to know what these ‘gifts’ are and whether this will be more trouble than it’s worth. I could see the Adoring Fan probably ending up having a fatal accident in some players’ playthroughs.
YourSpaceshipis your home away from home. Starfield’s theme is “NASA-punk” a term the devs have coined their low-fi game. While spaceships have the latest tech, they have a “lived-in” look. It also serves as the way you will hop from one planet to another. The video mentions you will need to upgrade your ship in order to get to further away places. Charting a course, it will automatically travel to your desired location.
The ship is fully customisable, letting you place cargo space, rooms, additions and more where you want. Different ships can serve various purposes. A smaller, speedier ship can help with bounty runs. The possibilities seem endless, as it will be up to the player.
You can even make ships look like animals. Space platypus is one example given but you could make anything your imagination puts forth. If Zelda Tears of the Kingdom are anything to go by in terms of gamer imagination, I suspect some amazing and horrifying creations are incoming.
Companionsare much more than just providing banter. They have their own Skills which can be useful for different missions. They have their own questlines to explore as well. Get to know them really well as you could even start your own whirlwind space romance. Just how many companions can you romance at one time? That’s yet to be seen, but that could pose some interesting drama if that’s possible. I hope these bonds will affect the story too.
Can you make companions hate you? Will there be consequences for making certain decisions during their quests? Do these interactions affect their skills? It will be interesting to see how deep these systems run.
Recruiting new crew members is possible and you can even pick up new crew out in the world. TheseNPCscan be assigned to different roles. Their skills will also affect where they are placed on your ship or outpost.
Fighting is not only on planets you explore. Mid-journey you may end up in a space battle with enemy ships. These battles are in real-time meaning you can chase after them, use your thrusters to boost speed and set lasers to kill. There are also skills related to space battling such as the “Targeting Contol Systems” which means locking in on specific parts of the enemy ship.
Of course, winning a battle means looting the remains and you can also turn anySpaceshipthat engages you into scrap. But you can also make it real close and personal by boarding the enemy’s vessel by docking. The option to engage face-to-face is a whole different experience, letting you live out your space pirate dreams. Just like GTA in space, once you win over a ship it’s yours to command. Ships are contactable, meaning opportunities to trade, or to engage in space piracy, it’s your call.
Other intriguing places to explore are star yards. Massive ship bases that let you explore and meet other NPCs. They look like floating mini-cities. Other major ships to encounter include wealthy cruise ships which look a bit more relaxed.
Building and crafting aren’t limited to your ship.Outpostsare places you can put down some roots, by building your own base. Starfield has quite the in-depth building feature as you can mine resources even when you’re not there. The structures are very customisable, letting you decorate your interior how you wish. I could see many hours being spent here, making this setup the space home of your dreams.
The action appears most intense in person. The combat shown is heart-pumping with plenty of gunfire. Bethesda has gone all out when it comes to weaponmodsas they boast it might have “more mods and more weapons…than any other game” they have developed. That means more options than the likes ofFallout 76orFallout 4.
Each planet has its own gravity which can vary. You can even use gravity to gain an “edge” in combat. Zooming through the air like you’re flying looks to be a fun way to gain a better viewpoint for shooting down foes. What’s interesting is that in zero gravity, using a ballistic weapon will even push you back as you fire. This is where the use of energy weapons will be useful as they won’t give the same pushback.
Briefly touching upon MagWeapons, these powerful laser beam guns sear enemies with ease. You won’t want to step in front of one of these. There are even big guns if you want something with some big impact. You can still throw a one-two punch if you prefer taking things into your own hands. So there seems to be a good variety of ways to fight in Starfield.
If you want to get your hands on the game early, only the Premium (both digital/physical) and Constellation Editions offer 5 days of early access. This means you could potentially be playing on September 1st with these two editions.
Pre-order bonuses will include both a Deep Mining Helmet & Pack, plus a Laser Cutter weapon. These are available if you pre-order before the release date.
The standard edition gets you the game plus pre-order bonuses mentioned above.
For just $10 more, you can get the premium edition which includes the following:
Premium Edition Upgrade (Physical/Digital)
The edition comes with the game and the following items:
Physical Premium Edition Upgrade:
DigitalPremium Edition Upgrade:
The Constellation Edition (CE) will set you back roughly $300 with several collectable items. The main feature is the smartwatch which sends you notifications and interacts with the game. Avid space explorers will need to be quick on their feet with this one as many sites have already sold out of this edition.
Physical Items
Digital Items
Yuria
News Editor at Fextralife. Yuria is an avid PC gamer and Twitch streamer who enjoys online multi-player games and believes games should have amazing storylines not just great graphics.
