In a series of brief YouTube videos, Bethesda has revealed three major locations from the upcoming RPG Starfield. Excitement for the new game has been high ever since it was first unveiled with a brief, cryptic teaser in 2018. The project was shrouded in mystery for years after that, until this year's E3, when Bethesda came forward with a brand new Starfield trailer which established a release date on November 11, 2022.
Bethesda has a strong reputation for expansive RPGs in detailed open-world settings. It owes much of this reputation to the Elder Scrolls series, which is more closely intertwined with Starfield than one might assume. While poring over the recent E3 trailer, some fans noticed a tiny scratch in one of the spaceship control consoles that bore an uncanny resemblance to a map of High Rock and Hammerfell, two provinces in the Elder Scrolls setting of Tamriel. Fans have puzzled over what this easter egg might mean for Elder Scrolls 6, another Bethesda project which has been shrouded in mystery for some time now. There's a chance that this subtle hint was Bethesda's way of teasing the location of the upcoming fantasy RPG, which has been a major point of speculation ever since the game was announced alongside Starfield in 2018.
But while fans contemplate the future of Elder Scrolls, Starfield continues to move ahead. Shinobi602 on Twitter has revealed three videos that have been posted to YouTube by Bethesda Softworks. These videos highlight three new locations that players will be able to explore when Starfield launches next year. These locales include a fishing rig turned pleasure city named Neon, which capitalizes on a local fish with psychotropic properties. There is also New Atlantis, which serves as the capital of a major government faction called the United Colonies, or UC. Finally, there is Akila City, a walled bastion of freedom and individuality which is surrounded by wilderness inhabited by the Ashta, alien monsters which resemble a cross between a wolf and a velociraptor. While these intimidating creatures were not shown, concept art for all three locations can be viewed in the post below, as well as in each of the cities' respective YouTube videos.
It's not common to see such concrete lore details revealed for a game this early in its development. Starfield hasn't even had gameplay shown yet, though the fact that the recent E3 trailer was created entirely in-game indicates that such a development might not be too far away. The images shown in these new videos are clearly not in-game renders, but they're still evocative pieces of art which will likely get some fans excited to explore their eventual in-game counterparts. The corporate and government factions mentioned in each video give some hints as to the plot of Starfield, but thorough information remains elusive.
Starfield represents not just an intriguing new sci-fi RPG, but an original and relatively unknown property from a company with a reputation for sitting on its laurels. Fans have frequently expressed frustration with Bethesda for constantly re-releasing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and the recently announced Anniversary Edition is just one more example of this repetitive behavior. There are some concerns that the rerelease is a bad sign for Elder Scrolls 6, but only time will tell if that is the case. In the meantime, Starfield remains intriguing, and these new lore videos will likely help fans get excited for its eventual release.
Starfield will release on November 11, 2022 for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Source: Shinobi602/Twitter, Bethesda Studios/YouTube (Neon, New Atlantis, Akila)