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It is safe to say that Starfield is Bethesda's most ambitious project to date.
After sinking their resources into the underperforming mediocrity that is Fallout 76, it is also Bethesda's final chance at redemption. Starfield promises a number of long strides in technical aspects, thanks to a 'new and improved' Creation Engine 2.
However, it is Bethesda's core principle of modernizing the role-playing game genre that the development of Starfield puts under scrutiny. Bethesda games have always excelled in designing an engaging world. But after Morrowind, the attempts to fill these worlds with equally engaging content have been inconsistent. Thankfully, there are several exemplary role-playing games in the past decade that they can take pointers from.
5 games that might influence different aspects of Starfield
1) Outer Wilds
On paper, Outer Wilds is the antithesis of what most AAA open-world games advertise. Instead of the vast expanse, a space-based exploration game promises, Outer Wilds curtails its average completion time to less than half the industry standard. It is an indie game that solely focuses on exploration.
In practice, Starfield will have to cast a much wider net in terms of gameplay mechanics. The tighter scope and shorter rein of Outer Wilds are arguably what enable it to ooze with personality and charm. However, the important takeaway is that there is no need for big-budget, cutting-edge tech to make a compelling exploration experience.
The one thing Starfield can learn from Outer Wilds is how to make the restricted presence of civilization count by weaving worldbuilding into the most mundane things. Fortunately, it just so happens that Bethesda has already proved their leaning towards mundane NPC routines with Elder Scrolls games.
2) Divinity: Original Sin 2
The developers of Starfield, spearheaded by Todd Howard, claim to return to the root of CRPGs as the origin point of Starfield's approach towards role-playing. This essentially translates to a return of detailed traits and personal background for the player character. It is something classic Fallout games did too, which Bethesda slimmed down gradually with each of their 3D Fallout installments.
The best inspiration they can take for a more modernized outlook on character background is from Larian's Divinity games. The implementation of it is quite simple in practice: letting the player exert their personal leanings with more bespoke dialogue choices. Thus, in an ideal Starfield, we will get to see the player's chosen personality type, upbringing, quirks, and personal motivations play out in a much more material sense through dialogue.
3) Dragon Age: Origins
Starfield will bring the photogrammetry technique usually deployed in texture mapping into making in-game character models. It is not too much of a stretch to say, unless Bethesda is over-advertising, that Creation Engine 2 might usher in a new age of high-fidelity NPCs.
To stick to the same standard in the narrative channel, Bethesda also aims to spice up the followers into lively, dynamic, and reactive player companions. Released over a decade ago, Dragon Age: Origins remains the near-uncontested champion in this regard.
What makes companions like Morrigan and Alistair click so well is not just their centrality in the plot but also their humanizing banters during the game's quieter beats of exploration.
4) Starsector
Compared to the other entries on this list, Starsector is a minority niche tucked away into relative obscurity. Not many know about its commendable depth in all of its intricate mechanics. Essentially, the game lets you role-play a freelance privateer in an era of space piracy.
The game's whimsical take on sci-fi futurism is too eccentric for Starfield to take pages out of its notebook. In particular, the spaceship combat of Starsector is outclassed by no other game, again due to its sheer depth.
Being a two-dimensional affair, the actual combat is not something Bethesda can take inspiration from. Specifically, it is the customizability of player ships we would love to see in a AAA rendition.
The player can own over thirty different classes of ships, all of them diverse in areas they excel in. All of their modular parts, including hull, cargo, and weaponry, can be outfitted and modified individually. A freeform system like this encourages and often results in imaginative and fun builds.
5) No Man's Sky
Rather than pointers on what to do, No Man's Sky, one of the most well-known space simulation-survival games, is a cautionary tale that can tell Bethesda what not to do. To be fair, No Man's Sky is a perfectly serviceable game that has fully realized all of the ideas they laid out in their promised vision by now, if not more. But this was far from the case at the game's launch.
No Man's Sky at launch was a classic case of overpromising and underdelivering, akin to Cyberpunk 2077 to some extent. In AAA game development, public goodwill is just as much of a currency as more traditional resources. They had spent a great deal of this currency in the series of Fallout 76 fiascos that marred their reputation, a mistake they cannot afford to repeat.
Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
