Fans have known for a while that Bethesda’s next RPGStarfieldwas going to be an ambitious game. Rather than lean on its already established franchises ofFalloutandThe Elder Scrolls,Starfieldis an entirely new IP, complete with an expansive galaxy filled with its own unique lore. A part ofStarfield’sscalethat seemed daunting to fans at first was the announcement that the game would have over 1,000 planets for players to explore.
The reason why thisStarfieldfeature left some in the gaming community feeling disgruntledwas the idea that due to these 1,000 planets being procedurally generated, there would be less of the handcrafted content fans of Bethesda games are used to seeing. However, as part of a recent interview, Bethesda Director Todd Howard came forward to say thatStarfieldwill have plenty of handcrafted content for players to enjoy, and that this will exist alongside the procedurally generated planets filling out the game’s vast galaxy.
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According to Howard, Bethesda has done “more handcrafting in [Starfield], content wise, than any game we’ve done.” Bethesda’s Director then went on to talk about the scope of the handcrafted features players can expect, stating that there are already over 200,000 lines of dialogue set withinStarfield. It seems thatStarfield’smain questwill be where most of this handcrafted content will reside. “If people just want to do what they’re used to in our games,” Howard continued, “and follow a main quest, and do the questlines, you’re gonna see what you’d kind of expect from us.”
It is possible, then, that the open-world ofStarfieldwill have more of a procedurally generated feel while everything that the player needs to do to complete the main objectives will have precise attention to detail. According to Howard, this isn’t exactly a huge step from what Bethesda has done before with its previous titles, as he claimed that procedural generation was used for the generation of landscapes and questing inSkyrim.Bethesda also is reportedly still using its older titles as Todd Howard saysThe Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfallis a game the company looks at a lot “in terms of game flow.”
Whether a player wants to see what the 1,000+ planets have to offer inStarfield, or if they want to simply complete the main objectives, it seems that Bethesda’s upcoming title will have plenty for them to do. According to recent reports,Starfield’smain quest will be longer thanSkyrim’sorFallout 4’s, requiring around 30-40 hours to complete. Considering the amount of time side objectives could take, dedicated gamers will probably want to prepare to pour hundreds of hours intoStarfield.
Starfieldreleases in the first half of 2023 on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
