Rumors surrounding the big name, first-party studios' new IPs are constantly circulating to help answer the question, "what's next for gaming?" As first revealed at E3 2018, Bethesda is looking beyond the stars with Starfield to answer that, and based on a handful of leaks, it seems like Naughty Dog is not too far behind them.
The public has officially known about Bethesda's Starfield for several years now, but new, verifiable information surrounding the project has been hard to come by as of late. It's likely that the title will make an appearance at E3 2021, but in what form exactly is still unknown. Naughty Dog is reported to also be working on a sci-fi game set in space, but details for the leaked title Stray's Cross are also few and far between. From the details officially announced, found in leaks and spread in rumors, both Starfield and Stray's Cross are starting to sound like relatively similar games. While it might appear that way on the surface due to superficial details, the likelihood that these two titles will share anything other than a setting is relatively low.
The Details About Starfield
Similar to games like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Elden Ring, fans are itching to see what Bethesda has in store with Starfield but the studio has been relatively silent about the game's details. It's been confirmed that it will be an RPG similar to Bethesda's other IPs, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Just how much DNA they'll share with Starfield is yet to be seen, but it's likely that Starfield will have similar inventory systems, UI design, conversation trees, and decision making.
Leaked images of Starfield seem to suggest that it'll be much more survival-based than either of Bethesda's other IPs. While certain games in the Fallout series had survival elements and even stand-alone survival modes, Starfield seems to be taking things to the next level with a UI element indicating O2 and CO2 levels which will need monitoring by the player. It's also unclear what the game's combat will look like if it even has combat at all.
Bethesda's previous works and Starfield's description as an action RPG seem to indicate that it will have a combat system, but it's unclear which series it'll take inspiration from. It might go the Fallout direction using a system similar to V.A.T.S. to simulate something comparable to tabletop turn-based combat or it may be real-time the whole time like The Elder Scrolls. It'll most likely include weapons of various uses and stats that the player either upgrade or cycle out during their time with the game.
Open world exploration also seems to be a driving force for Starfield. Todd Howard mentioned that the game will make use of procedural generation to create some elements of the world. It's unclear how that might play into the game, but it suggests that Starfield may be bigger than their previous titles if the world is constantly expanding. Rumors surrounding spaceship crafting and design also made the rounds due to other leaked images. Fans have speculated that ship design might mirror some elements from Fallout 4's base creation mechanics and Skyrim's home furnishings.
Naughty Dog and Stray's Cross
It's important to understand that, unlike Starfield, there's been no official word on if Stray's Cross even exists. All the details known about it come from leaks, rumors and speculation so everything mentioned here should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, all of the unverified information surrounding the project makes it sound vastly different from Starfield.
Because Naughty Dog just shipped The Last of Us 2 last year and much of the studio's efforts are being devoted to another iteration of The Last of Us' Factions, it's likely that Stray's Cross is still in extremely early stages of its development. That said, leaks seem to indicate that the game will take a first-person perspective, not the third-person one Naughty Dog is usually known for.
Details about the game's setting have been a little all over the place, however, most rumors seem to indicate that it'll be set in a steampunk future and follow two separate protagonists. In The Last of Us 2, the studio played around with a dual narrative so it seems likely that it might try something similar with Stray's Cross. While it would be treading old ground to frame it exactly how The Last of Us 2 did, Naughty Dog seems to be interested in playing around with the player's perception of the characters.
There are far too few details surrounding Stray's Cross's gameplay to say anything substantial, but looking at Naughty Dog's recent history, it's safe to assume that, despite reportedly being in first-person, it'll follow a similar relatively linear structure as both the Uncharted and The Last of Us series. There is an argument for the studio to revisit the open-world game design it previously used for the Jak and Daxter series. Naughty Dog even talked about using it in The Last of Us 2, but it ended up being scrapped in favor of more linear level design. However, seeing as the studio has established itself as one of the leaders in the linear narrative-based video game genre, moving to a more open world doesn't seem to make sense for it. Obviously, studios can branch out and try new things, but jumping from linear narrative games to open-world ones is a pretty big leap.
The Biggest Difference Between Stray's Cross and Starfield
As stated several times above, the exact gameplay from both titles is still a little bit up in the air. However, basing things on each respective studio's past seems to potentially inform the argument that Starfield and Stray's Cross will play pretty differently. That might not be the case if Naughty Dog readopts its old game design philosophy from the Jak and Daxter era, but even then, the biggest difference wouldn't be anything gameplay-related: it would be entirely based around characters.
Starfield is going to be an RPG in line with the rest of Bethesda's IPs and Stray Cross is rumored to have two main playable characters. The difference is that Starfield will have the player create a character and make choices informing who they are while Stray Cross most likely won't have character-defining choices put in the hands of the player. Both are valid ways of getting players involved with the story, but completely change the ownership of the characters.
Bethesda games often railroad the player character into a "chosen one" archetype, but the actions and skill paths the character takes are entirely up to the player. There were reported discussions at Naughty Dog during the development of The Last of Us 2 about whether the player should make choices for both Abby and Ellie during its playtime. The studio ultimately decided that the journey it was taking the players on should be more focused and put in the hands of the characters themselves. Even if Stray's Cross incorporates RPG elements which some rumors suggest, character customization and decision making probably won't be at the same level as a Bethesda game.
While both games may share a setting and even similar story beats, this difference should be enough to set the two apart among other things. If both studios play into their strengths, it's likely that despite both games being hard science fiction, they'll have their own separate identities as games and probably won't draw too many other comparisons. Additionally, while Starfield is very much in development, Stray's Cross still remains a mystery and isn't even confirmed to exist.
Starfield is in development.