Starfield release date, trailer, gameplay and more

We’ve finally been given our first proper glance at Starfield, thanks to the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase at E3 2021. And while we don’t know a lot about the game yet, it’s coming 2022 and could be a lot like Skyrim in space. That’s handy as the wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 seems a long way off. 

There’s a hard sci-fi vibe to Starfield from what we’ve seen so far, something that’s more Ridley Scott’s Alien than Star Wars. And going by art work for the game, it looks like there’ll be a rather enigmatic plot to Starfield. 

It looks like space exploration, and possibly survival on inhospitable planets could play a part, as well as cheese sandwiches. With that in mind, here’s what we know about Starfield so far. 

Starfield release date  

Bethesda revealed that Starfield will arrive on November 11, 2022. That means we’ve got some 17 months to go. 

However we can expect more Starfield details before that, with Bethesda likely using the some what vague trailer to build up excitement around its original IP. Given some Bethesda games have launched in a rather buggy state, we’re quote happy for the developer to take its time here. 

Starfield trailer 

E3 2021 saw the first proper trailer for Starfield. It shows what could be the in-game engine, but seems rather vague on concrete details. Expect a sci-fi world that’s all about handling the rigours of space travel rather than the ‘laser swords’ of Star Wars. 

A second video gives us a closer look at the development behind Starfield and how it’ll be the first “new universe” from Bethesda in 25 years. 

Starfield gameplay  

No game footage from Starfield has been revealed yet and even the trailer for it doesn’t give much away either. But given it’s an in-house Bethesda game, we suspect it will blend sci-fi space exploration with the open-world, choose-your-own-adventure format of the likes of Skyrim and Fallout 4.  

So expect to pilot a ship, or a variety of ships, across the inky blackness of space and through brightly coloured nebulas and around asteroid fields. All with the aim to explore a variety of environments by landing on planets, moons, space station and other astral bodies. 

And that could all be framed around a main story with branching strands that players can choose to pursue in one go or dip in and out of while digging into side quests and other stories not core to the main plot. 

We suspect there’ll be a lot of player customization that will also extend to space ships. Of course, that’s assuming that there are indeed space flight elements, and that Starfield is not simply set on a space station in the vein of System Shock, Prey, and Alien Isolation.  

Ideally, we’d like to see a game that is effectively an open-world Mass Effect, mixing exploration with a compelling choice-heavy story, with some space-sim elements thrown into the mix. There aren’t a vast amount of space-sim or space-based RPGs around, so there’s definitely a gap in the gaming world Bethesda could fill with Starfield. 

Starfield story  

Much like the rest of Starfield, its story is a bit of an enigma. The latest trailer gives off the feeling that exploration of a new region of space will play a big part of the game’s plot. 

“For me, Starfield is the Han Solo simulator,” Bethesda executive Ashley Cheng told The Washington Post. “Get in a ship, explore the galaxy, do fun stuff.”

And Bethesda boss Todd Howards told The Telegraph that Starfield would be like “NASA meets Indiana Jones meets the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” 

So we’d posit that means exploration with some alien stuff going on, particularly as part of the latest trailer showed what looks like a diagram for some form of ring-baaed portal or teleporter structure. 

Regardless of the actual narrative, as Starfield is a Bethesda game we can expect it to have all manner of quests, characters, and dialogue options to explore, with a story that somewhat reacts to what the player does and the decisions they make. We just really hope that Bethesda spends a lot of time on making the main story thoroughly engaging, with site missions that tie in with it. 

Skyrim had a thoroughly passable main story, but the side quests were more interesting. That’s no bad thing, but a compelling main story is definitely something we really want to have from a sci-fi game, much like that of Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic II and Mass Effect. 

Starfield Xbox Series X and PC exclusive

If you’ve found an Xbox Series X restock or have one of our best gaming PCs, then you’re in luck as Starfield will be an exclusive game for those platforms. 

We’re afraid to say PS5 owners are all out of luck. But then they do get Deathloop, which is a Bethesda-made exclusive coming to Sony’s new games console. 

Starfield outlook 

While we really want another Elder Scrolls game, we’re very interested to see what Bethesda does with Starfield, given it’s a brand new IP from the gaming giant. 

It’s set to be a next-generation game, so we’re expecting it to look very impressive on Xbox Series X. But aside from that, there’s scope for Starfield to be space-faring sci-fi Skyrim or something that’s more akin to space-sims such as Elite Dangerous.

Either way, we’re excited to see what Starfield will turn out to be. Bethesda has a strong pedigree of making and publishing impressive games. So it’s got a lot of experience to draw from, though that also comes with a lot of expectations from fans as well. For the time being, we’ll just have to wait and see what Bethesda reveals next.