Despite some of the controversy behind Starfield having a 30 frames-per-second lock on Xbox Series X/S, it has not overshadowed the level of excitement from fans after its full-fledged showcase. From its vast open world, in-depth character creation, and combat, Bethesda has managed to leave fans eager to get their hands on Starfield as its release edges ever closer.
As much as there will be a few more things for Bethesda to reveal and show off to build anticipation leading to its release, Starfield Direct was certainly a defining moment for players who were once skeptical in their decision of whether Starfield would be worthwhile.
5 Ship Flight/Boarding Enemy Ships
One of the many surprises for fans during the showcase was not only the reveal of how spaceship flight will function including combat with other enemy ships but the ability to raid enemy ships for resources and to keep it as their own. While this was only shown briefly and there is potentially much more that it has to offer, this stands as an impressive feature from Bethesda developers, essentially using the element of robbery present in most third-person open-world action titles, notably the GTA series, to great effect.
If Starfield can manage to provide a deep level of variety within these sequences, keeping each of them unique to players' experiences, then it will only heighten the positive reception Bethesda will be hoping for, and push for greater immersion. Given the massive amount of attention to detail and the idea of complete freedom in exploration that has gone into the development of Starfield based on reveals, immersion is undoubtedly one of the more prominent goals here, and this is set to activate that.
4 Gunplay
With its first and third-person nature, fans were worried to see whether both of these would operate and if one would suffer due to one receiving heavy focus. Despite this, it appears as though Bethesda has dedicated a great deal of effort to both perspectives, specifically for instances involving gunplay, as Starfield presents fluid animations in maneuvers, aiming down sights, running, and quick melee attacks when close in range.
Reminiscent of Bungie's Destiny 2 with its incredibly impressive reloading and shooting animations, Starfield seems to shine in its gunplay region and promises to provide an engaging experience keeping players riveted by combat encounters, wanting more after each one. If other areas such as enemy variety, and competence of AI in the aspect of their intelligence are sufficient, Starfield's gunplay has the potential to be the biggest selling point out of all of its exciting features.
3 Ship Building
With No Man's Sky containing no ship customization and Star Citizen still within its alpha phase, Bethesda's Starfield is on its way to stealing the spotlight as a complete space exploration game, starting with its spaceship customization.
With a plethora of options available to players from improving their ship's weapons for the aforementioned flight combat, changing the appearance in unique ways, and increasing crew capacity, the showcase suggests that Starfield will accomplish the most that any sci-fi game ever has done. Given the great level of importance and focus on traversal and exploration in Starfield, allowing players to customize their spaceship from top to bottom is pivotal to its success, and it seems as though developers are moving in the right direction in this regard.
2 Personality Traits/Background
When taking factors such as replayability into consideration, developers working on any title would focus on options and multiple different outcomes that can be achieved such as CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Bethesda is following in those footsteps with Starfield. As revealed during the character creation segment, players will have access to multiple personality traits, including a background that is said to be potentially changed based on players' actions in-game.
While only three can be selected during customization before starting the journey, this will give players another reason to dive into another playthrough and experiment with other traits or backgrounds and see just how far this will affect scenarios or even the narrative itself. Similar to Cyberpunk 2077, despite its lack of impact on the overall story, if players choose certain builds and skills or one of the three backgrounds available, it will result in different options in dialogue or paths that can be taken in missions.
1 Companions On Ship
As many players are aware that Starfield will be a single-player experience even with the possibility of future multiplayer added, the fact that NPC companions will play a large part in players' adventures is the most exciting of all. With the possibility of basic relationships with companions blossoming into romance, it seems as though the paths and options in Starfield will be near endless if Bethesda adheres to the idea of variation.
Having other NPCs alongside players will be a crucial and pivotal feature of Starfield's entire experience, as interactions with other characters will keep players engaged as opposed to going completely solo. This has the potential to make up for there being no co-op or online and opens the door to future updates that could take this a step further depending on how it performs at release.
Starfield is set to release on September 6, 2023 on Xbox Series X/S, and PC.