Starfield

Role-playing action in a pseudo-open world of distant space, focusing on well-developed and immersive quests with high replayability in each playthrough. The game tells the story of humanity's life beyond the Solar System on new planets throughout near space and reflects on the destroyed homeland. The main character is a space miner who, by chance, joins the explorers of the secrets of space from "Constellation." Together, they must unravel the mystery of rare artifacts and shed light on the origins of humanity.

The events and happenings of Starfield take place in a new game universe created by Bethesda Game Studios. It is not connected to The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. The Starfield universe is one of the possible futures of our reality, with a similar set of systems, planets, and characters, laws of physics, technologies, languages, and other aspects of life.

In 2050, humanity established the first colony on Mars, where it found an artifact that affects gravity. Realizing that engines based on this technology could occupy the entire galaxy, people began to rapidly explore near and deep space, but in the process of settling, they weakened Earth's magnetosphere. By 2200, solar radiation scorches the Earth, but humanity thrives in the United Colonies.

By 2330, the beginning of the events of Starfield, the area of space within 50 light-years around the former Earth is occupied, but far from all of the 1000 claimed planets are settled. The distribution of civilization is also uneven. There are both highly developed megacities, industrial centers, and mega-corporation bases, as well as backward peripheral worlds, provincial planets with the anarchy of the "Wild West," and somewhere pioneers are barely surviving.

The protagonist, an unemployed guy without a backstory or character, goes to work as a miner on one of the distant planets, where he excavates a mysterious artifact. It quickly becomes clear that he is the Chosen One, the only person capable of finding such things and harnessing their inexplicable powers. The hero joins a secret society called "Constellation" — a group of researchers trying to unravel the mystery of the artifacts, and faces fierce resistance from the "Starborn."

The setup sounds cliché even by Bethesda's standards, but still, Starfield has an unusual and deep story that unfolds later. The protagonist quickly finds himself embroiled in colonial wars, NPC life problems, and faction squabbles. There is no shortage of dialogue, and companions chatter incessantly and try to build relationships. There is a global plot and the opportunity to leave your mark on the galaxy, some variability, and an open ending leading to "New Game +". The ending is capable of surprising.

Starfield lacks narrative direction that can maintain interest — colorful engine cutscenes, staged shootouts, and explosive action. Only towards the end will there be diverse main quest tasks — with complex dialogues, drama, and moral dilemmas.

Bethesda wouldn't be itself if it didn't provide the ability to modify the game inside and out. The mod editor and toolkit from the studio will be available in early 2024.

However, this did not stop enthusiasts from creating dozens of modifications immediately after the release, some of which we offer to download from our database. Mods change the rules of the game, add the Russian language, new quests, weapons, characters, improve graphics, turn an ordinary adventure into an incredible journey, and do much more.

The feature of Starfield is that it does not follow the principles of other Bethesda sandboxes regarding travel and exploration. On the contrary, the player needs to focus on choosing a role, leveling up the character, and completing as many quests as possible in a given time. Without getting distracted by looking for something unusual around.

The concept of single-player gameplay is as follows: arrive in a system, land on a planet, approach the target, eliminate enemies, take what you need, and fly on. Procedural generation creates a beautiful picture, some kind of filling, and a sense of life, but all of this is just large-scale scenery.

The game has many quests (non-story), which can be completed in different ways, depending on the chosen role. A nice ranger will have one set of methods, a smuggler another, and a bounty hunter yet another. Ultimately, the next task will be given: some options will close, and others will appear for its completion. Each faction has its own set of quests, even individual NPCs.

The world of Starfield is stitched together from many locations, from microscopic (rooms inside buildings) to huge (areas of planets measuring 2x2 km), nested within each other like a matryoshka, connected by loading screens. There seems to be plenty of space, but flying or walking while engaging in monotonous exploration or loot gathering for crafting will be a mistake. At the same time, visiting story locations such as New Atlantis and Neon City with their magnificent architecture and atmosphere, filled with "sides" and NPCs, will be memorable for a long time.

In developing the world, Bethesda used a "NASA-punk" style. All game content is depicted as if it could exist today, yet it is not devoid of futurism. This approach is evident in cities and settlements, on buildings and streets, in offices, laboratories, and nightclubs, as well as in specific items — decorations, clothing, medkits, armor, and weapons. In both cases, whether it’s planets or content, the world of Starfield does not go beyond what can be seen on Earth or at least imagined.

Spaceships are the main innovation of Starfield. The game features dozens of variations in both creating your own models and upgrading existing ones. There is a market for buying and selling. Players choose modules (weapons, engines, power systems, shields, ship control) and the overall configuration themselves. Another ship is a hub location where companions are located.

Space battles with pirates and hostile factions are inevitable. The mechanics are simple and arcade-like, reminiscent of "airplane" games. The player flies inside a three-dimensional invisible cube and defeats enemies by performing aerial maneuvers, taking cover behind asteroid fields and space debris. During the process, they distribute energy between shields, fire, and the engines of their ship, choosing which part to shoot off from the opponent. By damaging the engine, one can board the enemy vessel, take out the crew, and seize the contents or the ship itself.

Engine limitations hindered the implementation of space simulation: there are no hyper jumps across the galaxy, no flights within the system, and not even exploration of space around the planet. Everything is done through loading screens, and one can only "approach" a space station or asteroids, as distant stars and nearby large objects are merely static backgrounds.

The combat system is a copy of Fallout 4. Weapons are divided by types of impact (ballistic firearms, laser, and electromagnetic) and categories (pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, rifles, machine guns). They are traditionally modified at a workbench by replacing individual components — barrel, stock, magazine, sight, and so on. Starfield slightly complicates this mechanic: first, you need to research or find a blueprint for the upgrade. The same principle applies to equipment.

The perk system offers 5 development branches: strength, diplomacy, combat, science, and technology. First, you need to unlock the main perk by performing certain actions, for example, reloading a weapon 150 times. Then you can buy a perk for skill points — and those are earned through experience gained in battles, crafting, completing quests, and other activities.

Shooter mechanics are complemented by abilities: pushing, squeezing, energy shield, health point vampirism, energy explosion, invisibility, mental control, "spider sense," and others. The roster of opponents is limited, with no mini-bosses or truly massive enemies.

Familiar elements from previous Bethesda games have made their way into Starfield with upgrades: both individual solutions, like hacking locks and computers, and entire gameplay mechanics. If you steal an item in front of an NPC, a guard character will immediately appear, to whom you can surrender or try to eliminate. Additionally, building outposts with buildings and populating them with various NPCs is now one of the pillars of the single-player experience.