19th June 2022

Starfield – upcoming RPG set in 2330

Bethesda Game Studios, known for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, has revealed gameplay from Starfield – its first wholly-original franchise in over 20 years.

The sci-fi epic, scheduled for release in 2023, is described by its developers as "NASA meets Indiana Jones". Players will join Constellation, a group of explorers hunting for rare artifacts scattered throughout space. Alongside this, two factions in the game, the United Colonies and Freestar Collective, are engaged in a conflict called the Colony War.

The game offers detailed character customisations, which includes their personalities, backgrounds, and skills, in addition to physical appearances. It even allows the crafting of entire spaceships and planetary outposts. Your character is playable in either first- or third-person perspectives.

The story takes place in the year 2330, by which time humanity has spread across 100 star systems. Judging by the presentation below, these are likely to be scientifically accurate, with each star's real-life spectral class, mass, temperature, and so on. Alpha Centauri, for example, matches the information found on its Wikipedia page. More than 1,000 planets will be fully explorable – both in your ship and on foot. These will range from barren rocks, to burning desert worlds, frozen wastelands, and lush forest planets with a variety of alien flora and fauna.

For gamers who might be disappointed with how Elite: Dangerous turned out, Starfield promises to be an excellent alternative, with its huge and richly detailed open world, compelling storyline, and futuristic setting.