Starfield updates: more ‘handcrafted’ content than any Bethesda game

Over Starfield’s 100 star systems and more than 1,000 planets, there is going to be a lot of procedurally-generated content. But Bethesda game director Todd Howard said there’s still a lot of “handcrafted” work in the ambitious, upcoming space role-playing game.

Microsoft showed an extended trailer during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on Monday to build out the world and establish its storyline: It’s the year 2330, and a group of space explorers — you, the player, are one of those — are looking to recover lost artifacts. It is likely that the story will branch out. When the trailer was released, Howard dropped those huge numbers — that StarfieldThanks to procedural generation, there would be unimaginable worlds for players to explore. Some players were concerned and asked: Are 1,000 enough? Are these believable, fleshed-out worlds possible?

Howard stated to IGN that Howard was able to give an answer both yes and no.

Howard told IGN in an interview that Starfield has “more

Yes, there’s a lot of procedurally-generated content — but Starfield isn’t only that, game director Todd Howard said

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More than any game, handcrafting [Bethesda’s] done” before. He said Bethesda wanted to say “yes” to the player — meaning players could do something way off the path of Starfield’s main game and have it be meaningful. Following are some of the story-areas that will make up these worlds. Starfield’s main path, which will look familiar to Bethesda fans. Howard said to IGN that his main quest was 20% bigger than similar games. The Elder Scrolls SkyrimAnd Fallout 4It takes between 30 and 40 hours, plus any extras.

Howard stated that players can also discover worlds with barren iceballs as part of the built-in questline. They can explore those worlds if they so desire.

“So we’re pretty careful about saying, ‘Here’s where the fun is, here’s this kind of content,’ but still say yes to the player and, ‘You want to go land on that weird planet, check it out, and build an outpost, and live your life there, and watch the sunset because you like the view of the moons there? Go for it,’” Howard said. “We love that stuff.”

What areas are Starfield has “handcrafted,” as Howard puts it, include four main cities. New Atlantis is one of these cities, and it was displayed Monday during the showcase. A lot of the main questline will take place there, Howard told IGN, noting that it’s the biggest city Bethesda’s made.

StarfieldIt was added in 2018. The Elder Scrolls 6Howard indicated that the project is still in pre-production. It was initially scheduled for release on November 11, 2022, but it was moved back to 2023.

Starfield It will be available for Windows PCs and Xbox Series X.