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During a keynote session at yesterday’s Develop:Brighton event, Todd Howard revealed a few key bits of information regarding the upcoming Bethesda game Starfield.
Hosting his second instalment at the digital event, Howard was keen to talk about the previous successes and challenges of Bethesda and their enduring games. The topic of the highly anticipated Starfield could not be avoided for long, however, with a few key details being revealed during his chat with James Batchelor of Games Industry.
One of the most interesting pieces of information was the sheer scale of the creation engine changes, with Howard stating, “The overhaul on our engine is probably the largest we’ve ever had, maybe even larger than Morrowind to Oblivion”.
He also expressed a hope that people will be “as happy as we are with what’s on the screen”, once the changes are implemented. Animation quality, rendering ability, AI responsiveness and pathing will all be impacted by the engine overhaul, raising hopes that the game will endure as well as some of the studio’s other creations.
It was also made clear that Starfield would be a singleplayer experience, with particular emphasis on NPC behaviour and procedural generation. This doesn’t give excited fans too much to go on, but the implication is that the game map will be even more extensive and richly detailed than any Bethesda game before it.
The focus on NPC interactions and AI also make it clear that lessons have been learned from Fallout 76, where non-player characters had to be reintroduced in the Wastelander Update due to overwhelming fan demand.
Starfield will also be on GamePass from launch, due to Bethesda’s ties to Microsoft, alongside The Elder Scrolls: IV. Howard made it clear, however, that the game may be a long time coming.
Eager not to tease the game too far in advance, he stated; “You just don’t want to string them [the fans] along too long. You get kind of fatigued”. The game itself may be a long time coming, but the team (which is several times larger than that used on previous games) appears to be striving to offer something worth the wait.
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