It has been no secret that Microsoft is having a hard time with its Xbox division, and the company desperately needed a win with its Showcase event, if it was going to continue to compete at the same level as its competitors. And holy, effing, sh*t. Xbox knocked it out of the park.
The Showcase started off with a clever introduction to Fable, a title that fans have been dying to see after the franchise has been shelved for the last 10+ years. The Fable introduction featured Richard Ayoade (IT Crowd) in a way no one expected. Only a little gameplay was shown but the concept direction is beyond intriguing.
Afterward, we got a ton of new introductions in games like Star Wars Outlaws, South of Midnight, Clockwork Revolution, Avowed, Hellblade II, Flight Simulator 2024, Towerborne, 33 Immortals, Path of the Goddess, a handful of Persona titles, Metaphor, expansions for both ESO and Sea of Thieves.
And while each of these reveals was their own individual win in some way for Microsoft, the big draw here was Starfield, a game that everyone has been hesitant to be excited about. Why? Well, Microsoft’s IPs have been less than successful in recent years and Bethesda, despite being the grandfather of large, open-world RPGs, has had a few missteps themselves. And Starfield itself is being touted as the biggest, raddest, open-world game we have ever seen and always wanted. So naturally, everyone who has heard of Starfield has remained skeptical.
Until now.
Starfield looks and seemingly plays exactly like it has been advertised. If Starfield launches with everything that was shown in today’s Direct, it will be exactly what everyone has hoped it would be.
Opening up, Starfield reminds us that this is a universe “25 years in the making” and that humanity’s biggest question of “what’s out there” is about to be answered. And this was not just cutscenes either- the game featured some of the most breath-taking gameplay we have ever seen. And the game comes out this year on September 6th.
Starfield Direct starts at 1:04:50
The Direct opened with Todd Howard thanking the community for their support and expressing how Starfield came to be and took shape. Then came the gameplay, as the first new universe from Bethesda in over 25 years. Howard explains it was not until now that they had the technology to create hundreds of worlds, realistically simulating the universe around you.
As the presentation went on, we are shown the studios’ new systems and engines that help make all this possible. From the lighting, and weapon design, all the way to the hundreds of planets and moons that are all explorable in the universe. Oh, and plenty of dangerous aliens and bandits to boot.
Keeping things a bit more grounded, we are shown the city of New Atlantis, occupied by the system’s last space explorers. The team introduces you to the concept of rare artifacts believed to be built by an intelligence outside of our known systems.
From there, the gameplay expands into the vast and unparalleled character creation and the various builds you can choose. From backgrounds and traits to upgrade perk modules and even playstyles. Stealth looks particularly promising. After an introduction to all that, Bethesda showed off the ship customization options which seem just as expansive. If you can think it, you can fly it.
Ship customization may be cool and all but the actual ship combat is where this concept really shines. The UI looks incredible as you man your ship and shoot down enemies before zipping off through hyperspace.
Bethesda highlights that there are over 1,000 planets in the game and that you get to decide what type of journey you wish to have while you explore. Want to be a hero? Sure thing. Want to become a pirate and take over ships and colonies? You can do that to. Whatever you want to do, you can do it.
Each world is teeming with unique, native wildlife. You can explore each planet and collect data on the local flora and fauna, and earn rewards for your survey work. But not all the locals will be friendly. And with that, you will need to have some combat skills, which Bethesda says they completely rebuilt. Their combat system is unlike anything they have made before.
On the subject of combat, the game will feature various weapons types, more weapons in total than any previous Bethesda title. Handguns, rail guns, energy weapons, shotguns, and so much more. At one point, the game even teased the use of some sort of magical power, which we had hoped would be present in the game.
With so much to do, so much to see, one other important variable is fashion. While you are out exploring, conquering, slaughtering, pillaging, plundering, or anything else, you will find some really radical-looking armor sets and cosmetics that will make you look like a Titan from Destiny 2 if you want, or something a bit more NASA-esque, should you prefer. Of course, there will no doubt be a lot of looks to choose from and once mods open up, you can bet you will be able to look any way you can imagine. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Starfield comes out on September 6th, 2023, less than three months from now, for PC and Xbox platforms. And while we expect the game will definitely have a handful of bugs at launch, as is the Bethesda way, this game is shaping up to be everything we ever wanted and more. To put it simply, we can’t wait to play this game.
For everything else announced at the Xbox Games Showcase, check out News.Xbox.com.
