Starfield's anticipation continues to grow as early 2023 approaches. The first new IP from Bethesda Game Studios in 25 years, Starfield is meant to resemble Skyrim in space, yet its reported realism will also serve as an existential look at what it means for humanity to live among the stars. Todd Howard, the Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios, has excitedly framed Starfield as containing step-out moments - where players will be confronted with the wonder of the game and universe.
Skyrim and Fallout 4 feel like lived-in games where players can get a sense of immersion through content that expands upon the main stories, themes, and interactions. This can be attributed to Bethesda's Creation Club, where Bethesda and community creators designed additional content compatible with the main games and their respective DLCs. This Club was established well after both games had been released, but in the case of Starfield, it may benefit Bethesda to release the Creation Club early.
Bethesda Creation Club
Launched in 2017, Creation Club features new content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition. This content includes gameplay, abilities, weapons, world, characters, and creatures. Bethesda and other development partners and community creators (modders) worked together to develop additional content. The Club content was inside in-game digital marketplaces in both titles, with Credits used to purchase it - a form of microtransactions.
Creation Club allows modders to apply their application to share their mod work, ranging from creating entertaining avatars to entirely new pieces of gameplay and worlds. This allows Bethesda-approved content to be developed for its games, paid for by the company, but bringing in fresh perspectives from its community of fans. It's a way to show players that the Studio executives care about their fan base.
Starfield's Explorable Content
Starfield has been promised to be gigantic and expansive. Fans have been told that there's so much to do; between 30-40 hours of story, factions and bounties to join, bases to build, wealth to capitalize on, and planets to explore, someone could quickly sink countless hours into the game. It's the planet exploration that stands out, however. Howard has revealed that players can travel to hundreds of star systems and visit over 1000 planets.
Howard has continued to explain that while there are plenty of Goldilock planets - planets in a habitable zone - there are other types to explore. He also mentioned that many of these planets in Starfield would contain resources that are needed for players to mine, extract, and use for craft and trade. With countless worlds available for numerous players, there's no way to guarantee that every planet has been handcrafted with assets and content.
Early Access to Creation Club
While Creation Club for Fallout 4 and Skyrim came after those games had been released, it could be beneficial for Creation Club to provide an Early Access ahead of Starfield's release. With so many planets potentially empty, an ocean of opportunity is presented for those community creators and outside development teams. Since Howard continuously references Starfield as the players' game, the chance for players and creators to have a say in additional content and features could make sense.
Starfield anticipation continues to grow as early 2023 inches closer. While there are still many details unknown to players, what is known continues to spark interest and questions. Bethesda Game Studios' work with its Creation Club for Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition opened the door for community creators to develop additional content, worlds, story, and gameplay features for those games. Early access to this for Starfield could help accumulate other content and gameplay for its 1000 planets.
Starfield releases in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.