How 'manual space flight' became first-ever Starfield community meme

The release of Starfield, Bethesda Game Studio's first new IP in 25 years, is only seven months away.

Much to the chagrin of an already hyped-up community, there has been no direct indication of a Starfield gameplay reveal. Mere months before Bethesda's biggest game in decades, its followers have been left spitballing and chewing on fan theories about how it might play.

The relative discrepancy between the bubbling community hype and how little information Bethesda has put out about gameplay, even verbally, means there is a lot of theorycrafting.

The publisher has left its community in the dark to an extent where enthusiasts cannot say whether this game about space travel will have manual space flight.

For that matter, 'manual space flight' is such an oft-quoted central quandary in Starfield that it has taken up the status of a meme. Even mentioning it in a post in the r/Starfield subreddit may de-legitimize its sincerity and get it downvoted to oblivion.

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'Manual space flight' continues to be the biggest point of contention among Starfield fans

In a post claiming that every ounce of speculation has been exhausted till the gameplay reveal, one user said:

"I don't know. I think I need about 50 more posts asking if we think there will be manual space flight."

It all arguably started with a now-infamous dubious lead from BethesdaAsia's bilibili post in the game. It was simply the bilibili outlet for the mini-featurette about Vasco the Constellation robot companion that Bethesda put out a few weeks ago.

The original Reddit post speculating that the 'lead' was, at best, a very wishful overanalysis of the phrasing in the bilibili post, which roughly translates to "Vasco... can help you fly the ship."

Already hardened by numerous shaky dead-end Starfield rumors over the year, few fell for it. This, however, is arguably what pushed it across the threshold of memes from the domain of a serious question.

However, the centrality of a hands-on seamless ship piloting mechanic remains a matter of centrality. As sardonic as the community's vexation at its million-dollar manual space flight question may sound, there are some reasonable grounds for a Starfield enthusiast to pose this question.

The most obvious reason for this is Istvan Pely's 'NASA-punk' labeling of the game. At its narrative and philosophical core, Starfield will be exploring what it means for humanity to exist in space in its retro-futuristic retreat into 'the settled systems'.

In a game 'made for wanderers', it makes sense to give the players the reins of their spaceship. The E3 2021 announcement trailer places the player figure at the helm as they prepare for the launch.

On the other hand, Bethesda has never really had functional vehicles in its Creation Engine, the predecessor to Starfield's engine. Granted, modders like Xilandro have implemented an impressive driving system for Fallout: The Frontier.

Bethesda's own attempts, however, have been ridiculous and genius in a way. The metro ride in Fallout 3 DLC, Broken Steel, was built into a giant hat on a scaled-up giant NPC running unidirectionally underground through the railway course.

The equally obvious counterargument to this cynicism, on the other hand, is the technical strides Bethesda claims to have made with Creation Engine 2.

Except for its visuals, we are not well-informed about its true capacities. Being hopeful about actual vehicles and airship piloting may seem sensible.

The community's take seems to be a measured response balanced between 'yes' and 'no'.