Four years after the game was first announced, Bethesda has finally given fans a close look at its ambitious open world sci-fi RPG Starfield. Bethesda detailed Starfield's gameplay mechanics and features at the recent Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, but even more information about the game has come to light since then.
Bethesda's Todd Howard was interviewed by IGN after the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, revealing a ton of additional details about Starfield and what fans can expect from the game in the process. During the interview, Howard touched on Starfield's length compared to other games by Bethesda. According to Howard, Starfield's main quest is longer than Skyrim and Fallout, estimating that it has about "20%" more quests than those games.
Howard estimates that it will likely take most Starfield players 30 to 40 hours to beat the game. Of course, the main quest is just the tip of the iceberg in a Bethesda game, so there should be plenty more for Starfield players to do once they've finished the main story. Starfield has four main cities to explore that will likely be full of side quests and other things of interest, not to mention thousands of planets to visit.
Starfield has over 100 solar systems and thousands of planets for players to explore, though the jury is still out on whether not fans will actually feel like exploring these places or not. There is some concern that this will mean that many of the Starfield planets will be underwhelming or otherwise uninteresting. Fans will have to get their hands on the game for themselves to find out, but even if the majority of the game's planets aren't worth visiting, there should still be a ton of content to go through regardless.
Besides touching on the game's length, Todd Howard also talked about other aspects of Starfield, like its ship flying mechanics. In contrast to space exploration games like No Man's Sky, Starfield won't let players fly from planet to planet.
One of the biggest pieces of news coming out of Howard's IGN interview was the revelation that Bethesda is making Fallout 5 after it finishes The Elder Scrolls 6. Right now, the company's plan is to put out Starfield in 2023, then turn its attention to The Elder Scrolls 6. The Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production right now and likely years away from release, so chances are fans won't get to play Fallout 5 until the end of the decade or thereabouts.
Starfield launches in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X.
Source: IGN