Starfield Won't Be Skyrim In Space, Xbox Games Boss Says

Starfield looks set to contain a number of classic Bethesda gameplay elements, but don't expect this game to be a big-budget Skyrim in space. Speaking on the Friends Per Second vlogcast (featuring GameSpot's Lucy James), Xbox Games boss Matt Booty briefly discussed progress on the game and how Bethesda is pushing the envelope on a game that mixes "NASA-punk" designs with traditional genre elements such as ship-building, space combat, and world exploration under game director Todd Howard.

"I'm confident that he's not going to sit still on what was built before. It's not his approach to come in and reskin something," Booty said. "There's going to be an awful lot of things that move forward with this game. I think there's going to be an awful lot of new stuff that Bethesda fans and Todd Howard fans have not seen, brought to the game. I know just from checking in with them the team is hard at work to get that thing all buttoned up and put together. I'm fortunate enough to be involved in the status reports and things, and it's just fun watching them iterate through that level of polish on the game right now."

One Bethesda trademark that you can expect in Starfield are dialogue options that harken back to older games from the company. The big difference here is that players can use Starfield's persuasion system to push a conversation in a direction that favors them. Players will have a specific number of turns and persuasion points from which to select various dialogue options as they attempt to convince NPCs to give in to their demands.

The first slice of Starfield gameplay was shown during Xbox and Bethesda's summer games showcase earlier this year, where it was revealed the upcoming RPG will have thousands of planets to explore. Originally scheduled to release in November 2022, Starfield is now scheduled to launch in the first half of 2023. Big plans are also on the horizon for Halo Infinite, as Booty mentioned that the game's launch was akin to a runner coming across the finish line and then tripping and falling down.