Bethesda's upcoming Sci-Fi RPG Starfield is promising a lot, and for a studio that loves overpromising on its recent games, this could end up being another Fallout 76 situation all over again. But thanks to recent gameplay deep-dives, it finally seems as though those promises could truly end up being fulfilled. Though Bethesda is, naturally, still trying to get fans hyped about everything Starfield has to offer, it's also been very upfront about what the game won't be able to achieve, and that shows some real growth for the studio.
In recent interviews, like the one with Kinda Funny's Xcast, Bethesda's own Todd Howard was surprisingly candid and honest about Starfield's limitations. Howard took the time to confirm that only around 10% of Starfield's planets would be fully populated, and that there would be no fishing in the game, among some other restriction. But one of the most prominent limitations Howard mentioned is that Starfield will only have four romance options in the entire game. And while this might be a tad disappointing for some fans, it's likely for the best in the long run.
Starfield's Approach to Romance Options is Hopefully Quality Over Quantity
During the aforementioned interview with Kinda Funny's Xcast, Todd Howard confirmed that Starfield will have just four romance options. These four romance options will come from the game's four possible Constellation companions. Though not everything has been revealed about these companions just yet, it seems likely that at least three of the possible romance options will be Starfield's Sarah Morgan, Barrett, and Sam Coe. Sarah Morgan is the leader of the Constellation faction, and an excellent astrophysicist. Barrett seems to be Constellation's chief engineer. And Sam Coe seems to be a smooth-talking space cowboy ripped straight out of the Firefly series.
For some fans, the low number of romanceable companions in Starfield is going to be disappointing. It's often the case with modern RPGs that players can romance at least five characters, with some games giving players many, many more to choose from. BioWare, for instance, has given players many romanceable companions in the past, with Dragon Age giving players eight romance options, and Mass Effect 2 delivering a whopping total of 12. Even Bethesda's previous games have achieved a similar number, with Fallout 4 letting players romance 10 characters, all potentially at the same time.
But while some fans may be disappointed with Starfield's fewer romance options, it could be the best course of action for at least two big reasons. The first reason is that Starfield is spinning a lot of plates. Starfield is promising to be a gigantic Sci-Fi RPG with a slew of complex systems and mechanics. A groundbreaking character creator, a ton of potential companions to discover, a galaxy-spanning story, 1000 planets, 100 of which have life on them, and an in-depth ship creator are all just some of the most complex features Starfield will have to offer. In the grand scheme of things, four romance options seems like a reasonable trade-off.
With much fewer romance options available, this might also mean that Starfield's romanceable companions feature better quests and dialogue than those in previous Bethesda RPGs. Hopefully, Bethesda has spent the time really fleshing out each of these four romanceable companions, including their individual characterization, their motivations, any lines of dialogue they might have, and any potential quests that their romance might lead the player on, potentially even reaching the same level of quality and originality as Mass Effect 2's Loyalty missions.
Starfield launches September 6 on PC and Xbox Series X/S.