Bethesda started working on Starfield in late 2015, though the studio's interest in launching an original science fiction franchise goes back much further. The recent Starfield Direct offered fans the deepest look yet at Bethesda's upcoming science-fiction action RPG and space exploration game. This included fans' first detailed look at spaceflight and ship combat, a showcase of Starfield's weapons and RPG mechanics, a preview of alien worlds and creatures, and more information about its characters and story.
That latter sees players join a colorful cast of characters searching for ancient artifacts of an unknown alien nature. Along the way, Starfield's customizable protagonist will make friends, enemies, and annoying Adoring Fans. Of course, there are still a lot of lingering questions about Starfield's story, with the Starfield Direct introducing a few more. However, what Bethesda's shown off so far might seem familiar to fans of BioWare's Mass Effect series.
Starfield's Story
On the surface, Starfield and Mass Effect might not look like they have much in common. Mass Effect's world is sleek and futuristic, and while the series has a variety of inspirations, Star Trek is the big one. While Starfield isn't the hardest of sci-fi, the game draws inspiration from real-world NASA designs and data for its ships, robots, and planets. Bethesda also made a conscious effort to make ships and locations feel lived in and believable, down to accounting for what the spaceship crews eat.
However, the two games seem to have significant similarities based on what Bethesda's shared so far. Granted, Mass Effect did not invent the space opera. Some of these similarities are common science fiction tropes and Starfield's factions and space-western elements are more reminiscent of Star Wars or Firefly than anything else. Rather than saying Starfield is like Mass Effect, it might be more accurate to say that both universes are pulling from the same pool of ideas, which is not inherently a bad thing. Still, Mass Effect is old and big enough to be part of that pool, and it's worth looking at what Starfield might have fished out.
Based on the information from the Starfield Direct, it's possible to fit together a rough idea of the game's opening act. Players work for a mining company called Argos Extractors, and their colleagues find them passed out after discovering a strange alien artifact. The artifact seems to have done something to the player character, although it's not immediately clear what.
At some point, they are contacted by Constellation, a group of explorers made up of talented individuals from all walks of life, who give them a watch and an invitation to their headquarters in New Atlantis, the capital of Starfield's United Colonies faction. The members of Constellation have been collecting artifacts like the one the player found and believe that it communicated with the player's character in some way. After confirming that the artifacts are part of a set, Constellation embarks on a galaxy-spanning quest to find the remaining pieces.
Mass Effect's Story
This compares to the first Mass Effect game, where Commander Shepard finds an artifact created by an extinct alien race called the Protheans. This artifact, the beacon, gives Shepard a vision of the Reaper invasion, transmitting the message directly into their mind, but the message is incomplete. Shepard must assemble a crew of talented individuals from all walks of life to embark on a galaxy-spanning quest to find the truth before it is too late.
The specific events are quite different, of course. Shepard only finds the first beacon because the Geth were already looking for it and is in a race against time to stop the Reapers from returning and exterminating all advanced life. Meanwhile, Starfield's search for precursor artifacts doesn't seem to be on quite as urgent of a timetable.
Sure, the June 11 gameplay trailer hinted that there may be a greater threat on the horizon, but the overall tone of Starfield's promotional material presents the player's quest as an exciting mission of discovery rather than a tense race against the clock. Compare that to Mass Effect, which made the urgency clear from the first trailer. Nevertheless, the similarities are there.
Starfield and Mass Effect Companions
BioWare also didn't invent the support NPC or even the slightly more specific idea of a companion character. Still, companions have been a big part of BioWare's identity for some time. Meanwhile, Bethesda didn't introduce followers until Fallout 3, when they were a minor part of the game. Skyrim had a more extensive roster of follower NPCs, but very much took a quality-over-quantity approach. Fallout 4 was the first Bethesda-developed game to introduce something close to BioWare-style companions with quests, relationship mechanics, and romance.
Starfield seems to be pushing even further into the BioWare model of companion characters. This is arguably evidenced by the amount of focus Bethesda put on companions and romance in its Starfield Direct presentation. Players will collect a small pool of important NPCs who can join them as crew members on their ship. Starfield doesn't have Mass Effect's alien races, but it does have a variety of nations and factions, with companions seemingly serving as a representative of each. This is typical of the BioWare approach and another way that Starfield is reminiscent of Mass Effect.
Mass Effect and Starfield's Galaxies
Both franchises also let players feel like they are exploring a newly settled galaxy. The first game took players to a sparsely populated and only partially explored frontier region called the Attican Traverse. Meanwhile, Starfield's Settled Systems aren't all that settled and have a similar frontier feeling. The original Mass Effect even had a big focus on exploration, letting players land on planets to explore the surface for landmarks and treasure.
Granted, Mass Effect's exploration aspect became increasingly secondary in subsequent games. However, it never disappeared entirely, and that spirit of exploration was a big part of why some fans remember Mass Effect so fondly. One could argue that Starfield might have an excellent opportunity to capture the exploration aspects that Mass Effect couldn't quite pull off with 2007 technology.
Starfield launches on September 6, 2023, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.