Starfield

A role-playing action set in a pseudo-open world of distant space, focusing on well-developed and immersive quests with high replayability in every playthrough. The game tells about humanity's life beyond the Solar System on new planets across the nearby cosmos and reflects on the destroyed homeland. The main character is a space miner who, by chance, joins explorers of space secrets from the "Constellation." Together, they will uncover the mystery of rare artifacts and shed light on the origin of humanity.

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

In 2050, humanity established the first colony on Mars, where they found an artifact affecting gravity. Realizing that engines based on this technology could take over the entire galaxy, people began rapidly exploring near and deep space, but in the process, weakened Earth's magnetosphere. By 2200, solar radiation is burning Earth, but humanity thrives in the United Colonies.

By 2330, at the start of Starfield, the area of space within 50 light-years around former Earth is occupied, but not all of the 1000 claimed planets are settled. The distribution of civilization is also uneven. There are highly developed megacities, industrial centers, bases of mega-corporations, as well as backward peripheral worlds, provincial planets with the lawlessness of the "Wild West," and some pioneers are simply surviving.

The protagonist, an unemployed guy with no background or character, goes to work as a miner on one of the distant planets, where he digs up a mysterious artifact. It quickly turns out that he is the Chosen One, the only person capable of finding such things and gaining their inexplicable powers. The hero joins the secret society "Constellation" — a group of explorers trying to solve the mystery of the artifacts, and faces fierce resistance from the "Starborn."

The plot sounds banal even by Bethesda standards, but still, Starfield has an unusual and deep story that unfolds later. The protagonist quickly gets involved in colonial wars, NPCs' life problems, and faction conflicts. The dialogues are plentiful, and companions chatter endlessly and try to build relationships. There is a main storyline and the possibility to leave your mark in the galaxy, some variability, and an open ending leading to "New Game +." The ending can surprise you.

In Starfield, there is a lack of narrative direction capable of maintaining interest — colorful in-engine cutscenes, staged shootouts, and explosive action. Only by the final will there be diverse main quest tasks — with complex dialogues, drama, and moral dilemmas.

Bethesda wouldn't be Bethesda if it didn't provide the possibility to modify the game extensively. The mod editor and tools from the studio will be available in early 2024.

But this didn't 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 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 doesn't follow the principles of other Bethesda sandbox games about travel and exploration. Instead, players need to focus on choosing a role, leveling up their character, and completing as many quests as possible in a given time. Without getting distracted by searching for something unusual around.

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

The game has many quests (not story-driven) that can be completed in different ways depending on the chosen role. A kind ranger will have one approach, a smuggler another, and a bounty hunter a third. The result will be a different task: some options will close, and others will open for its completion. Each faction, even individual NPCs, has its own set of quests.

The world of Starfield is made up of many locations, from microscopic (interior spaces within buildings) to vast (planet areas of 2x2 km), nested inside each other like a matryoshka doll, connected by loading screens. There seems to be plenty of space, but flying or walking around doing monotonous exploration or loot gathering for crafting would 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 "side" activities 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 already exist today, but it is also not devoid of futurism. This approach is visible 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. Both on planets and in the game content, the world of Starfield does not go beyond what can be seen on Earth or at least imagined.

Spacecraft are the main innovation of Starfield. The game features dozens of variations in creating your own models and improving existing ones.There is a buy-and-sell market. The player chooses modules (weapons, engines, power systems, shields, ship control) and the overall configuration. Also, the ship is a hub-location where companions sit.

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 3D invisible cube and defeats opponents by performing advanced maneuvers, hiding behind asteroid fields and space debris. During the fight, they distribute energy between shields, firepower, and engines, choosing which part of the enemy to shoot. Destroying an engine allows boarding the enemy vessel, killing the crew, stealing contents, or capturing the ship itself.

Engine limitations prevented the realization of a true space simulation: there are no galaxy hyperjumps, no system-wide flights, and not even space exploration around planets. Everything is through loading screens, and you can only "approach" a space station or asteroids, as distant stars and large nearby objects are just static backgrounds.

The combat system is a copy of Fallout 4. Weapons are divided by impact types (ballistic firearms, laser, and electromagnetic) and categories (pistols, shotguns, automatics, rifles, machine guns). They are modified traditionally at a workbench by replacing individual parts — barrels, magazines, sights, etc. 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 branches of development: strength, diplomacy, combat, science, and engineering. First, you need to unlock the main perk by performing certain actions, such as reloading a weapon 150 times. Then, you buy perks with skill points — which are earned through experience gained in battles, crafting, completing quests, and other activities.

Shooter mechanics are complemented by abilities: repelling, crushing, energy shield, health point vampirism, energy explosion, invisibility, mental control, "spider sense," and others. The enemy roster is limited; there are no sub-bosses or truly huge enemies.

With upgrades, familiar elements from previous Bethesda games have also been carried over: both specific solutions like lockpicking and hacking, as well as entire gameplay mechanics. Stealing an item in front of an NPC will immediately trigger a guard character, to whom you can surrender or try to eliminate. Building outposts with structures and populating them with various NPCs is now one of the pillars of the single-player experience.