It’s officially December, which not only means that the holidays are right around the corner, but it’s also time for The Game Awards 2022, one of gaming’s biggest events of the year, chock-full of new presentations and a star-studded celebrity cast with Geoff Keighley teasing “40-50” presentations this year and appearances by Hozier, Pedro Pascal, Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson and more, and that’s all before the long-awaited announcement of 2022’s Game of the Year. Right at the start of the pre-show is Bethesda boss Todd Howard presenting new, never-before-seen footage from Starfield, a new space-themed RPG from the studio responsible for Skyrim and Fallout.
Called Bethesda’s “most ambitious game ever” by Howard himself, Starfield takes after other Bethesda games as a first-person RPG that allows players to experience an open world, being and doing whoever and whatever they want – however, the game takes those familiar concepts and puts them in an environment Bethesda hasn’t managed to capture yet: space.
New gameplay footage of Starfield, released at The Game Awards 2022, has the player – an astronaut – arriving on the desolate moon of Kreet in the year 2338 to investigate an abandoned research facility that’s been taken over by the pirates of the Crimson Fleet. Along the way, players are able to explore the alien world around them, strange creatures, and harvestable minerals.
Combat-wise, the new gameplay footage of Starfield is filled with somewhat standard fare blasters and rifles, but the movement mechanics do take advantage of the low gravity in the environment and allow the player to make incredibly long jumps – almost mimicking a gliding mechanic, in some cases – that even allow the player to engage in combat from the air, firing at the enemy pirates before their boots even hit the ground. The game also features a quick-select wheel for easy weapon swapping and an interesting minigame that allows the player to unlock chests similar to that of Skyrim but much more advanced.
Later in the game, the player will be introduced to a group called Constellation, which Todd Howard describes as “the last group of space explorers” in the futuristic world of Starfield. Constellation is based in the gleaming city of New Atlantis, which boasts a visual aesthetic that’s somewhat reminiscent of a Star Wars world like Naboo while also looking completely unique.
“We’re all here because we’re committed to the biggest question of all: what’s out there?” – Starfield gameplay preview, TGA 2022
After meeting Constellation, the player is tasked with finding and researching a collection of mysterious space artifacts scattered around the galaxy that have a supernatural air to them. During the hunt for these artifacts, players will continue to encounter the Crimson Fleet – even, according to the TGA gameplay footage, infiltrating the group and one point and being given the option to join the other side.
Todd Howard Explains Gameplay Mechanics of ‘Starfield’ by Bethesda
Regarding the actual mechanics of the game, Howard calls Starfield’s character customization “our most flexible yet,” with a system that allows players to customize their physical appearance, choose a background and starting skills, and even customize personality traits. Players will be able to unlock new skills on multiple skill trees as they level up, as well as craft things like weapon mods by using materials that they’ve harvested in the world.
In a never-before-seen feature, Starfield will also apparently allow players to build their own spaceships, with a drag-and-drop system allowing players to customize the look and layout of their ship, along with customizing the ship’s shields and weapons systems for sky battles. Players will also be able to actually fly the ship through a stunning 3D environment of open space, engaging battles with other ships and truly giving Starfield a player experience unique to a space-themed game.
In a size demonstration for the game, Howard presented the planet of Jemison, home to New Atlantis – players will be able to land anywhere on the planet, on any planet in that solar system, or in any of the games’ 100+ systems with 1000+ planets, per The Game Awards presentation.
Starfield is currently slated to be released for Xbox, Cloud, and PC systems via Steam in 2023 after the initial release date of November 11th, 2022, hit a delay back in May of this year, per PC Gamer. Admittedly, this doesn’t come as a surprise since Bethesda is somewhat known for its long-delayed game releases (Elder Scrolls V was released in 2012, mind you), but hopefully, Starfield can stay true to its new projected release date and give fans a long-awaited chance to explore the outreaches of space in a game headed by a company known for sold-out successes like the Elder Scrolls series and Fallout games, to name only two.