Starfield Will Be “Next Generation” In Every Way, Says Bethesda – “We’re Pushing It”
Among the various exciting announcements rained down upon us during this past E3, one of the most intriguing yet simple presentations introduced a mysterious new game titled Starfield. The promise of Bethesda’s first original project in 25 years and a short video teasing interstellar proportions was all that was revealed, leaving fans of the developer in a state of both awe and puzzlement.
With so little shown off, it’s realistic to assume multiple years of (im)patient waiting is ahead of us, an aspect Bethesda director Todd Howard plans to fully take advantage of. Talking with Eurogamer during Barcelona’s Gamelab conference, Howard spoke about what plans they have with creating a truly “next generation” experience and what how development plans to approach such an ambitious promise.
That to us means two things. It does mean hardware and it does mean software on our side, and it also means gameplay – what does the next generation of epic single-player RPGs feel like to us?
What systems we put it out on – what’s the hardware requirements – is still to be determined. We’re pushing it; we’re thinking very, very far in future so we’re building something that will handle next-generation hardware. That’s what we’re building on right now, that’s where our mind is, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t exist on the current systems as well.”
The success of franchises such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout have made the two experiences synonymous with what makes a “Bethesda RPG”. As Starfield is a fresh property aiming to represent a leap forward forward for the studio, the question arises whether the game will still be a recognizable adventure in that respect. As production is in early stages, Howard doesn’t have much to offer about these aesthetics, but does confirm numerous “new systems” that will be in place for the final game.
I don’t want to say yes or no to that because I don’t know what that means to you or whoever’s going to read that. It’s different, but if you sit down and play it you would recognise it as something we made if that makes sense? It has our DNA in it. It has things that we like.
But it has a lot of new systems we’ve been thinking about for a while that fit that kind of game really well. We’ll talk about it in the future. See now I wish I hadn’t announced it!”
Starfield may not have much to show publicly, but Howard himself confirms the wheels have been in motion at Bethesda for a number of years, with development officially starting in late 2015. The project’s origins were said to go back even further than that, with ideas rattling around the director’s mind as early as 2004.
We had made a list of what we might want to do in the future and an epic science-fiction game has always been on my mind. OK post-apocalyptic was our first choice, sci-fi was our second at the time – we were going to do our own post-apocalyptic universe if we didn’t get Fallout [from Interplay in 2004].
We talked about it [sci-fi] and then it really picked up steam – ‘we’re gonna do this’ – when we registered the trademark about five years ago, and then we would talk about it from time to time, ‘What are we going to do?’ and then we started work right after Fallout 4 was finished.”
With all this long-standing effort, the game ahead is seeming to be quite an impressive endeavor, despite not having much revealed. As Bethesda has often been behind many of the most creatively acclaimed games in recent years, perhaps the hype behind Starfield may turn out to be warranted. But for now, we’ll let the fans continue watching that E3 reveal trailer on repeat.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to the “next generation” gaming of Starfield, or is the long wait for anything concrete an excruciating experience? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more from the realm of Bethesda, check out these next few news stories:
Eric Hall2712 Posts
Phone-browsing Wikipedia in one hand and clutching his trusty controller in the other, the legendary Eric Hall spreads his wealth of knowledge as a writer for Don't Feed the Gamers. Be sure to catch his biweekly "Throwback Thursday" segment for a nostalgic look at trivia from the past.
