ℹ️ - Starfield
Straight after yesterday's impressive Xbox Games Showcase, Bethesda treated us to a 45-minute deep dive into their upcoming and hugely anticipated RPG, Starfield. It is fair to say that it did not disappoint, the game looks every bit the vast interplanetary adventure that it has always promised to be, and even its photo mode has been revealed.
Bethesda themselves claim that Starfield goes way beyond anything they have created before with larger cities and settlements, better combat, more weapons, and more mods, but that isn't even the half of it. With over 1,000 planets to explore, the possibilities are enormous and cover everything that you might expect from a street level RPG playable in first or third-person views, right up to the depths of outer space with resource gathering, dogfights, and piracy.
- STARFIELD DIRECT // BETHESDA -
User generated content is a key factor too with in depth character customisations that can affect how they are received by the various factions you will encounter, along with comprehensive terrestrial base and spaceship building – both of which are enhanced with crew and companions as you develop them. To really top things off, the game also includes a brand new photo mode so you'll be able to capture and share your adventures and discoveries wherever they take you.
- STARFIELD // PHOTO MODE UI -
With a shortcut button (RS) tucked away within the in-game scanner, it seems that the photo mode can be accessed both on the ground and in space and is designed with the usual kind of tabbed UI menu that is standard across many other virtual cameras. Although there is currently only one still image of the UI and a few example shots to go on, we can see that there are sections for the likes of camera / lens options, character posing, brightness and colour tweaks, and some frames.
Also evident is an option to toggle the character's helmet, plus a centre reticle, thirds grid and a, outer surround with a partial scale bar to act as compositional aids. No sign of anything advanced like custom lighting then, but if the scope of the game manages to fulfil its potential, there should be more than enough photographic opportunity here to make it well worth your virtual photography time.
- STARFIELD // © BETHESDA -
One last thing though, being a Bethesda game, there is a certain question of quality that comes to mind. The studio describes the game as "what you've come to expect from a Bethesda title, but on a much bigger scale" but one of the things people have come to expect is that their games tend to include quite a few bugs, especially at launch.
What are the prospects for a title that is larger and more ambitious than anything they have done before then? Well, Xbox seem to have pre-empted this as while talking to GiantBomb, Xbox Games Studio head Matt Booty has claimed that, based on the current bug count, Starfield would have fewer bugs than any previous Bethesda release.
- STARFIELD // © BETHESDA -
I certainly hope so because from what we have seen so far, Starfield is shaping up to be one of the next great RPG's and a game that could stick around for a very long time to come. One way or another, we will find out as the game is due to launch on 6th September 2023.
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