According to an ArtStation post from the Starfield trailer's lighting artist, the teaser shown at E3 was created entirely in-engine with Creation Engine 2. First announced in E3 2018, Starfield is a highly anticipated title from Bethesda, the studio most known for its game series The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. There has been almost no information given about the new and mysterious title for the last three years, with the studio closely guarding every detail about the game for years on end.
At the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase in E3 2021, a teaser trailer for Starfield was presented to the world regarding the details of what Todd Howard called "Skyrim in space." The teaser for the game shows off a beautifully rendered moon-like environment and futuristic technology in the form of robots, guns, and spaceships. While the trailer was cinematic in nature, it's been revealed that no external tools were actually used in its creation.
In an ArtStation post from the trailer's lighting artist Keith Beltramini just a few days after the trailer's release, it has been revealed that the footage shown at E3 was entirely captured using the Creation Engine 2, with no other tools used to enhance the visuals, un like most other cinematic trailers. "Using our own Creation Engine 2, we created this entirely in game without any cinematic tools. Working closely with director, Istvan Pely, I assisted in art direction for anything lighting and mood related." The fact that the entirety of the trailer was rendered in-engine says a lot about Bethesda's confidence in its new game engine along with the new title in its long line of open-world games.
Even with the latest reveal for Starfield, most of the game's premise and plot still remain a complete mystery along with the capabilities of Creation Engine 2 in actual gameplay. So far one of the biggest (and only) speculations formed from the teaser is the game's inclusion of crafting and settlement building. The release date for Starfield is set for November 11, 2022, meaning that there could still be a lot of time before any more information is given about the highly anticipated title; Bethesda has plenty of room to slowly trickle in details over the next year and a half.
Given that the new trailer is shot entirely within Bethesda's new game engine, it can be said that not only is the technology at the company's disposal far more advanced given the new generation of gaming hardware, but that there is a talented team of game artists and developers using these tools to their fullest potential. It seems like it's true when Bethesda says the game is "25 years in the making," as the studio is clearly leaning on a long history of expertise for this title. So far it seems that Starfield could live up to the hype it has accrued over the last three years, but with no solid details about the game besides the graphical capacity of the game's engine along with Bethesda's recent disaster Fallout 76, the hype could end up crashing down on the title if it doesn't live up to the standards of fans.
Starfield will release on November 11, 2022 for Xbox Series X/S and PC.