With the latest showcase of Starfield maintaining the ambitious scope Bethesda set out for its interstellar RPG, it seems the game will take its world-building out among the stars with the potential for player encounters throughout the expanse of space. Many RPGs grant players the freedom to explore the world before them, and these games attempt to populate worlds with people and places for the player to discover, each with their own stories which hopefully builds a richer world that feels alive and real. Starfield has taken a novel approach to this though, capitalizing on its space-faring gameplay and blending it with random encounters.
Starfield offers an immersive spaceflight experience for players, including interstellar dogfights and its own version of faster-than-light travel, but its docking functionality adds a great deal more for players to do as they zip around the universe. Given how vast space can actually be, portraying spaceflight realistically runs the risk of leaving the game feeling empty and the player dissatisfied. But beyond planets, moons, or space stations, which means that docking figuratively and literally opens the door to pockets of Starfield with stories to discover and explore.
Filling Starfield's Space With Things to Encounter
While there will always be quest lines to follow or missions to complete in every RPG, an open-world design is arguably the greatest asset of such games as it hands agency back to the player and gives them the freedom to choose how they want to play. Bethesda has embraced this in each of its games from Skyrim to Fallout 4, and so too has Starfield with its ship customization and character creator. As a result, RPGs are often filled with locations, characters, or events that the players can come across as they explore to enrich the game's lore, direct the player's attention, or reward their curiosity.
But Starfield's commitment to a big universe pushes open-world design to its limits, which means it faces a bigger challenge when it comes to providing players with people or places to find throughout its vast open space. With the ability to dock with any vessel the player encounters, Starfield has not only resolved this issue, but it has given itself a wealth of potential to work with. Whether it's passing fellow space travelers offering trade and tips or enemy factions picking a fight, Starfield can create all sorts of stories for the player to discover.
The Stories Starfield's Encounters Could Tell Are Limitless
Of the various types of random encounters Starfield could utilize, there are some obvious choices that have already been showcased or are likely to be included anyway. These include encounters with enemy ships to coming across Starfield's star yards, with the player's ability to dock allowing such encounters to occur virtually anywhere across the cosmos. These encounters could range from enemies surrendering and joining the player's crew to those at star yards serving as key characters in storylines or even as one of Starfield's romance options.
Other encounters could push the spaceship out and work in alternative experiences for the player, tapping into other genres such as horror, crime, and mystery. After all, where there are ships, there are shipwrecks, and players may begin to suspect they're not alone when they board these ruined spacecraft. Players might stumble across smugglers and present them with the choice to capture the Starfield ship and take a cut, do the right thing, or simply turn a blind eye. Other ships in Starfield that are adrift in space might even present hidden stories, from those abandoned centuries ago to those trying to stay secret for questionable reasons.
Starfield is set to release on September 6, 2023, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.