Highlights
- Lead designers confirm that a full pacifist run in Starfield is not possible, but players will have dialogue options and non-lethal weapons to avoid combat.
- Some quests offer nonviolent solutions, but dangerous encounters can be expected in certain areas of the game world.
- While a full pacifist playthrough is not feasible, players can still pursue nonviolent solutions for many of the game's challenges and will have a vast array of options and choices to explore.
Two of the lead designers behind Bethesda's upcoming spacefaring RPG Starfield have stated that, although the game will feature some opportunities to talk one's way out of trouble, a full pacifist run will not be feasible. The persuasion system in Starfield has previously been compared to the one in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and it will offer players a range of options for dealing with social situations.
In most modern RPGs, a significant portion of the gameplay involves combat in some form or another, and fighting mechanics are often among the most complex systems in the game. That doesn't stop a large subset of players from trying as hard as they can to avoid combat altogether, trying to complete so-called pacifist runs in many popular RPGs. The goal of a pacifist run, or pacifist playthrough, is typically to finish a game without killing any NPCs along the way.
During a recent Discord Q&A with Starfield developers, lead quest designer Will Shen and lead designer Emil Pagliarulo were asked whether a pacifist run of Starfield would be possible. Pagliarulo replied that the development team had discussed whether they would try to enable a fully non-lethal playthrough of the game, but they had ultimately concluded that it "wasn't totally feasible." He clarified that dialogue options for avoiding combat and non-lethal weapons would both be available in "a lot of situations," he "couldn’t comfortably say you can complete the entire game without any killing whatsoever."
Shen went on to explain that most quests where players are confronted by important characters would feature some scripted speech challenges, which will typically include a possibility to resolve the confrontation without bloodshed. However, there are certain areas within the vast game world of Starfield where players will be more likely to encounter NPCs who shoot first and ask questions later. According to Pagliarulo, players can expect a reasonable degree of safety within the "mostly civilized" Settled Systems, but when traveling off the beaten path and exploring the fringes of the game world, a lot more dangerous encounters can be expected.
Even if a full pacifist run is not possible, Pagliarulo and Shen's remarks seem to suggest that many of the game's problems will offer nonviolent solutions for pacifistic players to pursue. Fans who are eager to dive in and explore the vast array of options, choices, and possibilities in the game won't have to wait much longer to do so, and Xbox players can even start to preload Starfield right now.
Starfield releases September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X.
Source: Games Radar