Looking for Starfield news? Bethesda has finally shared new Starfield gameplay details. The Fallout, Skyrim and Elder Scrolls developer has confirmed how dynamic quests and faction systems will work in the RPG, as well as how players will be able to visit our own solar system and explore the planet Mars - a lot of exciting stuff ahead of Starfield's release date.
Will Chen, lead quest designer at Starfield, explains how random encounters and quests will work in the upcoming open world game. Instead of single NPCs offering you jobs on the fly, Bethesda has developed an all-new dynamic placement system for entire settlements and enemy dungeons, making random quests feel much more meaningful.
“We have new technology that allows us to take entire locations that we've created and place them on planets,” Chen explains. “You could go to an outpost and find a whole group of people there with a problem. If earlier it could just be a person walking towards you along the road, now it is an entire location.
"They might have a problem like 'one of our people has been kidnapped by pirates, we think they're there.' We could actually place a whole other location with enemies around it, so it would be a dynamically placed settlement that would lead you into a dynamically placed dungeon."
Chen also explains how our own solar system, which in Starfield is officially called Sol, will be explored. In Starfield's main mission, you'll find out the fate of the Earth and the surface of Mars.
“Very early on, we will take you to our own solar system, which in our story is called the Old District,” Chen says. “You will be sent there on a mission from Constellation to uncover the mystery of the artifacts, and you will try to find out what happened to the Earth. But it also takes you to Mars, home to one of the earliest human settlements after leaving Earth. It’s a whole city with its own problems and people.”
With Starfield reportedly having 1000 planets to explore, it's nice to know that our blue bauble is among them. Chen also discusses how Starfield factions might work. Will you be able to join all of them? Will you be able to complete the quest lines for each faction, even if they may come into conflict? Chen says you can complete all faction questlines "independently."
“Early on, we discussed whether we should make some of the factions conflict with each other, and we decided that we really wanted to make sure that you could play all the faction lines independently,” Chen explains.
“You influence which direction the faction will move. So, for example, in Freestar Rangers, what is more important - justice or industry? Where will you try to push them? So you won't necessarily become the head of each faction, but all the major characters in each faction's questline will depend on your choices."
Compared to some of Bethesda's other RPGs, there have also been dynamic changes to how companions work. In addition to offering their opinions and perspectives throughout the main questline based on the Constellation faction, Starfield companions will help around the ship, carry your equipment, and can also be counted on to speak when needed or negotiate for you.
“We've added a lot of moments where you can ask them to speak for you,” Chen says. "So you might have a companion and you'll be challenged, 'You can't get through here,' and you might turn to your companion and say, 'Hey, can you handle this?' And he will speak on your behalf, and there may be consequences, good or bad, depending on what he says.”
That was all Starfield news for now. As soon as we learn something new, we will definitely let you know. Check out our Web54 site often.
Recommended:
- Starfield will cost $70 as Microsoft raises the price of next-gen games
- Starfield release date, latest news and gameplay
- Starfield Dev Profile Suggests RTX and Ray Tracing
- Starfield Interview: Former Bethesda Developer on Scale, Creating a New Universe
- Starfield release date set after Redfall, Microsoft says
