Starfield gets steerable spaceships and ‘more than a thousand explorable planets’

Bethesda has shown the first gameplay of Starfield. The studio claims that the game will have “more than a thousand” planets, which are fully exploreable. Players can also build and fly their own spaceship. Starfield is scheduled for 2023.

The trailer lasts fifteen minutes and starts on Kreet, the moon of the planet Anselon. According to Bethesda CEO Todd Howard, players can expect that location quite early in the game. The trailer also shows a player exploring the rocky moon, scanning its surface for flora, fauna and resources. The player also invades an abandoned building, which is occupied by space pirates from the Crimson Fleet. The trailer also hints at a questline later in the game where players will join a group of space explorers, Constellation.

According to Bethesda Starfield will have ‘more than a hundred’ galaxies, with a total of ‘more than a thousand’ planets. According to the studio, those planets are all fully exploreable. Some planets are inhabited and have cities, while other planets will be rich in resources. Players can fly to the planets themselves in their own spaceship, which they can build and customize themselves with different modules that affect how the ship performs, among other things. It is also possible to take on your own crew and end up in space battles.

Furthermore, it becomes possible to create outposts on planets, which can be used for survival and to collect resources. Players can choose how and where they build those outposts and it is possible to hire staff to keep an outpost running.

The studio also shares details about the character creator. According to the studio, that’s “the most flexible” in a Bethesda game to date. When creating a character, players select a background, such as diplomat, combat medic, scout, pilgrim, or professor. Each background brings with it three starting skills.

There are also optional traits to choose from, which come with unique advantages and disadvantages. For example, players can choose to make their character introverted or extra empathetic, but the trailer also shows options like ‘alien DNA’ or ‘neon street rat’. Furthermore, the game will have an ‘extensive crafting system’ and five different skills: physical, social, combat, science and tech. Each skill has different skills and each skill gets different levels.

Starfield is scheduled for next year. The game was initially scheduled to release on November 11, but was recently delayed because the studio wants to take more time to refine the game. The game will be out for Xbox Series X and S consoles, Windows, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Upon release, the game will be immediately playable via Game Pass.