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Bethesda’s long-awaited space-themed action role-playing game Starfield will be launched this month on September 6. The game promises to take gamers’ fascination with space travel and planetary exploration to new heights and features a seamless blend of spaceship piloting and interstellar travel with immersive planet exploration and breathtaking space combat. Here is what you need to know about Starfield before its launch:
What is Starfield’s Release Date?
Starfield was originally slated to launch in 2022, but the game got delayed into 2023. And the day has come; Bethesda’s most anticipated game, Starfield is now scheduled to release on September 6, 2023.
Starfield will be released for PCs via Steam and last-generation consoles. Since the developer company Bethesda was acquired by Microsoft, the game will only be released for Xbox Series X|S on the gaming console side. As of now, there is no information or expectation about Starfield’s PlayStation release.
How Much Will Starfield Cost?
As for how much the game will cost, it looks like it’ll be at least $70 on PC and Xbox Series X|S (unless you pre-order the Premium or Constellation Edition).
Microsoft has already released a limited edition controller and a headset with sleek NASA-punk designs that fans can purchase ahead of launch to play Starfield with style. Pre-order bonuses are also available for those looking to get in early.
Starfield’s Ships and Guns Are Player-Customizable
Starfield will allow you to customize your ships in various ways. A ship’s body, for instance, features fixed attachment points that can be fitted with a variety of modules, including fuel tanks, landing gears, cargo bays, hab modules, and weapons systems.
Each of these modules has its own corresponding statistics. For example, the hull statistic represents the ship’s health bar, while Mobility and Top Speed govern flight. Jump Range and Cargo, meanwhile, determine how far the player can travel between star systems. Finally, LAS, BAL, and Missile represent weapon types, while Energy, Gravity Drive, and Reactor power meter stats affect how much each component consumes.
Speaking of missiles, Starfield has also promised a larger selection of upgrades and weapons. These will range from cannons and lasers to electromagnetic MAG weapons, and they all have four core stats: power, damage, accuracy, and range.
Starfield Companions Will Be More Dept
Bethesda’s Starfield is a space RPG with a huge galaxy to explore and various factions. It’s clearly taking inspiration from popular science-fiction games like Elite Dangerous, but it will still be a Bethesda game at heart with the same wide open worlds, massive settlements to discover, progression systems that reward player investment, and an overall structure that leverages choice and consequence.
The first companion to be revealed was Sarah Morgan from the Constellation faction, who will play a major role in the game’s story. She has Astrodynamics, Lasers, and Leadership skills.
Other Starfield companions include Sam Coe, a space cowboy who has Piloting Rifle Certification, Payloads, and Geology; Barrett, who specializes in Astrodynamics, Spaceship Engineering, and Particle Beam Weapon Systems; and Marika Boros, a shotgun expert who focuses on Ballistics and Shotgun Certification.
Starfield Factions
Starfield has a variety of factions that will either be your friends or enemies. These factions range from explorers to megacorporations and space pirates. Bethesda hasn’t revealed how many of these major factions there will be in Starfield but the developer did say that you will encounter a number of them throughout your journey.
It seems like in the upcoming Starfield, there will be groups, and these groups might have different opinions of each other, and depending on who you help, others might like or dislike you. This is similar to other games made by Bethesda.
Starfield has five main factions:
- Constellation
- United Colonies
- Freestar Collective
- Ryujin Industries
- Crimson Fleet
How Big is Starfield? How Many Planets Are There?
Starfield‘s promise of a massive galaxy to explore has captivated many players. However, concerns have also been that the game will be too big for players’ PC systems. The game has a recommended download size of 125GB, which is a lot for a single-player RPG.
This size is due to Bethesda’s use of procedural generation. This technique allows the developers to create large planets with varying wildlife and climates without having to spend too much time hand-crafting them. This will free up their development time to focus on more gameplay features.
Thanks to procedural generation, Starfield will contain 1000-plus planets. This is because the developers have tried to replicate “Goldilocks Zones,” where life thrives. The rest of the planets will be barren but resource-heavy.
Will Starfield be a Multiplayer?
Unlike Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls Online, it seems that Bethesda made the game a more traditional single-player experience. In fact, all of the store listings on Steam list it as a single-player game.
But this is not a problem since the game has so much content to spend time with. According to the official website, there will be over 1,000 planets that you can explore in Starfield. While some of these planets will have story content, most of them will be procedurally generated and provide a wide variety of biomes and gameplay experiences.
Starfield PC System Requirements
Starfield is a huge game with massive universes, intricate character and ship customization, multiple factions to fight against, and a whole lot of interplanetary travel. It was also reportedly in development for over seven years, so it’s no surprise that the system requirements are high – but some gamers have been left shocked by the minimum and recommended requirements published on Bethesda’s website.
- MINIMUM:
- OS: Windows 10 version 21H1 (10.0.19043)
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, Intel Core i7-6800K
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700, NVIDIA GeForce 1070 Ti
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 125 GB available space
- Additional Notes: SSD Required
- RECOMMENDED:
- OS: Windows 10/11 with updates
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, Intel i5-10600K
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 125 GB available space
- Additional Notes: SSD Required
