After a long period of silence, Besthesda Softworks, the studio behind the Elder Scrolls franchise, has finally released a new trailer for Starfield, an original science-fiction RPG set to be released sometime in late 2022. The premise of Starfield, far-future astronauts exploring the frontier of space, is very similar to the narratives and gameplay modes of The Outer Worlds and No Man's Sky. To make its newest RPG franchise distinct from these two IPs, Besthesda will most likely need to implement gameplay mechanics wildly different from those in No Man's Sky, along with an exploration-friendly game world that dwarfs The Outer Worlds in size.
The first teaser trailer for Starfield was released at E3 2018, promoting a brand new science fiction game IP set to join Besthesda's signature Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. The cinematic footage, concept art, and screen-captures for Starfield depict a science fiction setting that blends the omnipresent space travel of Star Wars or Alien with the grounded spacecraft designs of The Martian or the Interstellar movies. In the universe of Starfield, humanity seems to have spread across the galaxy, colonizing many different worlds in different star-systems; at the same time, the spaceships, space-stations, space-suits, and cargo seen in Starfield media resemble advanced versions of NASA technology, while the Constellation organization player characters belong to seems to be an idealistic group of Star Trek-esque explorers pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.
In the absence of actual in-game footage for Starfield, many gamers have tried to predict the gameplay of Bethesda's newest RPG by comparing it to stylistically similar games. If Starfield is going to have gameplay segments where players explore the terrain of wild, alien planets and fend off threats with high-tech weaponry, it will probably be similar in style to the core gameplay in Skyrim, Fallout 4, or Obsidian Entertainment's own The Outer Worlds. If Starfield also has a game mode where players pilot advanced spaceships between star systems and encounter other space vessels, there will likely be design parallels between it and space flight simulators such as Elite: Dangerous or the procedurally generated No Man's Sky.
Starfield Can Have More Planets & Side-Quests Than The Outer Worlds
Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds is in many ways a spiritual successor to its earlier post-apocalyptic action RPG Fallout: New Vegas, a licensed spin-off of Bethesda's own Fallout 3 title. Players of The Outer Worlds take on the role of a cryogenically frozen interstellar colonist turned spaceship captain who recruits a crew of ragtag scoundrels and ventures between planets, space-stations, and company towns ruled over by ruthless (and incompetently greedy) corporations straight out of the historic Gilded Age. Gameplay in The Outer Worlds alternates between open-world FPS action fighting off aliens, robots, or bandits and roleplaying interludes where players converse with NPCs, manipulate in-game factions, and determine the future of the Halcyon star system through cleverly designed dialogue trees.
Obsidian Entertainment deliberately chose to keep both the alien open-world environments and gameplay of The Outer Worlds fairly small in scope so it could polish every bit of game content and release it in a timely fashion. As a consequence, classic sci-fi RPG tropes such as spaceship battles, intricate hacking minigames, or romance options didn't make the cut. The strength of Bethesda Softworks, in contrast, lies in creating open-world games with lots of places to go and lots of stuff to do (even if a few bugs are missed by the QA testers), and can easily make Starfield stand out by giving players more alien terrain to explore, spaceships that can actually be steered though space, constructible bases, resources to be harvested, and more characters and quests to interact with.
Starfield Can Have More Realistic Space Travel Than No Man's Sky
Bethesda's Starfield science fiction RPG probably won't be as vast in scope as the space exploration game No Man's Sky, if only because No Man's Sky uses procedural generation to create galaxies filled with billions of potential planets, each with their own distinct life-forms, terrains, and atmospheres. Like many procedurally-generated games, the plot of No Man's Sky is somewhat abstract and minimalistic. Stranded at the edge of an uncharted galaxy, the player character must build bases, harvest resources, acquire new and better spaceships, avoid space pirates and/or killer robots, and eventually make their way to the galaxy's supermassive black hole heart. As Hello Games steadily adds new content to No Man's Sky, players can create unique stories of their own while exploring a functionally limitless virtual cosmos.
Like No Man's Sky, Starfield will put exploration at the center of its narrative and gameplay, using the vastness of the universe and its many mysteries to invoke a sense of wonder and awe. Unlike the Star Wars-style space vessels and technology seen in No Man's Sky, spaceships and spacesuits seen in trailers and concept art for Starfield borrow heavily from the real-life designs of NASA spacecraft and astronaut gear, conveying a sense of realism and authenticity to gamers. The space exploration gameplay of Starfield probably won't be as rigorously accurate as the orbital mechanics seen in space sim games like Kerbal Space Program or Children Of A Dead Earth.
Still, gameplay elements or asset designs that emphasize the challenges of space navigation, the harshness of outer space, and the delicacy of the systems keeping astronauts alive will help players better immerse themselves in the science fiction universe Bethesda Softworks has created in Starfield. It's still unclear what the overarching narrative of Starfield will be or what challenges players will face. Perhaps that was why Bethesda Softworks chose to make this game in the first place.
Open-world RPGs like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games are familiar franchises with deeply entrenched core gameplay conventions. Starfield, whatever form it does take, will be a bold and exciting new frontier for Bethesda (much like the expanse of outer space in the game itself). It can potentially take mechanics found in other sci-fi games, like No Man's Sky and The Outer Worlds, and make them even better.