Starfield is hopefully around the corner with a release date for the first half of 2023, and excitement continues to grow among players. Set in the future some 300 years, Starfield will undoubtedly embrace core sci-fi elements in its narrative and gameplay, featuring hundreds of star systems and over a thousand planets to explore. While this opens the door for thrilling adventures, many hope Bethesda will utilize hard sci-fi for the game's mechanics.
Hard science fiction generally portrays the future of space flight and travel with as much accurate consistency as possible, obeying the natural laws of physics that govern the observable universe. These elements have been featured as early as the late 19th century in classic sci-fi tales and steampunk, notably by Jules Verne, yet followed by other prolific authors. Many who have penned hard science fiction tales believe that the science of complex sci-fi stories should be instructive, educating the readers or viewers and providing entertainment.
Starfield's Lack of Flashy, Futuristic Alien Technology
Out the gate, Starfield is poised to embrace the harder elements of sci-fi by denying the inclusion of flashy, futuristic alien technology. Director and executive producer of Bethesda Game Studios, Todd Howard, has repeatedly mentioned during interviews that he wanted Starfield to feel like a natural evolution to space flight as seen by the present. To that end, Howard toured SpaceX and spoke with Elon Musk to better understand current space technology's logistic and aesthetic mechanics.
While the trip and conversation didn't impact Starfield's story, they inspired the design of space, planets, ships, space stations, and more. Howard has explained that he wanted the game to be grounded in gritty realism, akin to the first Alien movie, which featured a more rudimentary tug spaceship carrying ore back to Earth filled with blue-collar workers. This rendition of hard sci-fi made the experience more relatable to viewers, something that Howard hopes will be the case for players.
How Starfield Can Include Hard Sci-Fi in its Mechanics
The fact that Starfield already embraces a NASA-Punk aesthetic shows its leaning toward hard sci-fi. Building off work at SpaceX, not only will the technology be lacking in flashy futurism, but the ships and their customization will also be. So while players will get to build ships to their design, the pieces available are rooted in that natural evolution of modern technology. Furthermore, the fact that player agency is abundant and features numerous governments, factions, and corporations also show the more complex science fiction elements at play.
During a video interview called Constellation Questions, based on the player's starting faction, Constellation, Howard discussed how players, originally before being cut, were able to run out of fuel in space, stranding them without a viable way to proceed. While this has been removed from the game, players' ships and grav-drive will detail how much fuel and distance they can go, and perhaps something similar will be available if and when Starfield has a survival mode added (as seen in past Bethesda games).
For example, early gameplay shots and player HUDs showed the UI with a compass detailing Oxygen and CO2 levels and a meter for reading gravity. Additionally, since Starfield appears to lack sentient, alien life, a common trope of softer science fiction, it speaks to the harder elements it may embrace. This is further elaborated in Starfield's philosophical aspects, which aim to explore humanity's purpose, its future among the cosmos, and what's next after space.
Starfield releases November 11, 2022, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.