New IPs from well-established AAA studios are always an exciting affair, both for developers and fans. The inevitable discussions and debates about how much a particular new IP resembles the studio's prior works, and how much it differs from them, ramp up as the launch date approaches. Bethesda Game Studios finds itself in a similar situation as its first new IP in 25 years, Starfield, gears up for its release next year.
Bethesda's first sci-fi RPG Starfield has been compared to plenty of iconic video games, movies, novels, and other pop culture media that has helped shaped the course of the sci-fi genre that exists today. However, none of those comparisons come close to Bethesda's existing IPs: The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. While comparing Starfield to previous Bethesda IPs makes sense in plenty of ways, Starfield could be a completely different beast altogether; one that isn't bound to the looming shadow of Bethesda's past games.
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What makes a game similar to Skyrim or Fallout is subjective and can differ from person-to-person. Starfield's surface-level comparison to Skyrim makes sense, given it's one of Bethesda's most successful games to date, and makes for a decent first impression. Interestingly enough, Bethesda's Todd Howard also has stuck to referring to Starfield as "Skyrim in space," though what that comparison actually means could be very different what fans may expect. As such, it boils down to how games like Skyrim or Fallout are defined by fans, and whether these elements make their way to Starfield, sparking genuine comparison.
A Bethesda open-world game tends to prioritize freedom over everything else, and it's something that Starfield seems to be carrying on in spirit. However, aside from this, everything else is a big mystery at this point in time until Bethesda decides to show off some Starfield gameplay. The exploration in Skyrim is praise-worthy because of the freedom it bestows upon the player right from the beginning. Choosing their name, gender, and race, to the freedom of going wherever they want, whenever they want, even before the main questline begins, is a reflection of Skyrim's flexibility.
Fallout games also prioritize exploration, but reinvigorate certain aspects like leveling, which ties to completing quests, or the karma system that influences how decision-making works. Fallout 4 even introduced a voiced protagonist that gives them a somewhat preset personality, akin to Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect trilogy. The faction questlines in Fallout 4 differ from Skyrim, as they intertwine at various points in the story, forcing players to choose which faction to side with, and which to annihilate. Fallout 4 also introduced settlement building that forms a significant part of the gameplay, which got further overhauled in the live-service Fallout 76.
Starfield may borrow certain aspects of Skyrim and modern Fallout games, though that isn't enough to call it Skyrim or Fallout in space. Starfield's leaked screenshots made it quite clear that settlement building will return in some form. Starfield will also be playable in both first-person and third-person perspectives. While fans have to wait and find out, the bizarre, hilarious bugs that have made Bethesda titles so infamous could also pop up in Starfield. However, outside of all these familiar traits and features, there is a huge possibility that Starfield, at its core, is an experience, unlike Skyrim or Fallout.
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Aside from the fact that Starfield takes place in outer space, there may be plenty of other factors that set Starfield apart from The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. Starfield uses Creation Engine 2, which is the next iteration of Bethesda's infamous game engine that it has used since the days of Morrowind. Creation Engine 2 might be Bethesda's gateway to the next-gen RPG experience that is drastically different from its previous games. While Starfield's E3 2021 cinematic trailer doesn't reveal how exactly the game would look and play like, it does give an idea of what fans could expect.
The intricately designed player character's suit, and the way they walk, might be representative of the actual game experience, something that is miles apart from that of Skyrim or Fallout games. Starfield's leaked screenshots also revealed the new UI that includes O2, CO2, and Gravity meters. Bethesda's open-world RPGs have never aimed for such tightly compact and realistic experiences. They always have had this casual and flexible nature that appreciates the level of freedom these games offer. For instance, in Skyrim, players could glitch their way up to a mountain on horseback. On the other hand, Starfield might be aiming for a more grounded and polished experience without gatekeeping exploration.
The cities in Skyrim come in different shapes and sizes, and are easily distinguishable from one another. However, the lack of density and depth robs them from feeling truly alive like Novigrad from The Witcher 3, or Saint-Denis from Red Dead Redemption 2. Bethesda open-world RPGs usually excel outside the confines of the city walls, where all the freedom of exploration comes into play.
However, Starfield might feature densely populated, varied looking and more dynamic cities from what Bethesda fans are familiar of. The few Starfield concept art pieces revealed so far seem to indicate a metropolis straight out of the Blade Runner movie, as well as a rusty old pirate town that highly resemblance something from the Star Wars universe. Coincidentally, Bethesda's managing director Ashely Cheng also referred to Starfield as a "Han Solo simulator."
What really separates Starfield from being just an evolution of Skyrim or the latest Fallout game is the fact that it's been 25 years in the making. In Into the Starfield: The Journey Begins trailer, Todd Howard even mentioned that "Starfield is a game [they] we have dreamt of playing, and it's only now that [they] we have the hardware, technology, and the experience to push [their] our creative boundaries even further."
While this does sound like a lot of hype-building PR statements, Starfield might really be something entirely different solely due to the way it's been slowly and steadily brought to life in the last two decades. It paints a picture that Starfield isn't born by the limitations and restrictions of Skyrim and Fallout 4, rather with dreams and ambitions that have been cultivating for a much longer period of time. Hence, even if Starfield borrows a lot of elements from Skyrim or Fallout, it might not end up feeling like Skyrim or Fallout in space.
Starfield launches November 11, 2022, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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