Starfield has a large font mode and deep sci-fi history lore, but no space fishing

Starfield director Todd Howard has revealed that Starfield will have a wide policing mode and no space fishing.

Howard shared these details and more in a podcast with Funny gamesin which he answered questions from the hosts and sent in by fans.

Here’s a summary of everything Howard confirmed for Starfield during the podcast.

Official Starfield Gameplay Trailer

When it comes to accessibility, Bethesda “really relies on” a large font mode, and it’s been considered across different monitor sizes and handheld devices. Steam Deck compatibility will be discussed “later”.

The background selected during character creation will add flavor to the role-playing game and not only affect numbers and stats. Starfield doesn’t have space fishing (defined as using a rod to catch alien fish in a lake and then cooking or selling them), although that’s a big trend in games. in the open world.

There are a variety of handcrafted places. Some will be placed on specific planets in a set position, others will be randomly generated or placed when a player lands on a planet. In terms of creating the over 1000 planets in the game, there will be procedural generation. About 10 percent of them will have life.

Some planets that players will find will be barren. Howard cited Buzz Aldrin’s “magnificent desolation”, saying that Bethesda wanted to give the abandoned empty planets a sense of beauty so players would feel like they were one of the only people who had ever seen it. He also said that having too many abandoned bases or items on a planet was too “game-y”.

A single planet can have multiple biomes. Scanning planets for traits will earn players money, so it’s worth doing. Environmental effects such as temperature and radiation can give the player a hard time if they don’t prepare properly before exploring on foot. There is no ground transportation (vehicles or animal mounts). Instead, players can use the boost pack and take advantage of low gravity to travel great distances.

Companions are not required, meaning the game can be completed without ever having a party. A companion will not leave on its own if it gets angry with the player, but the player can choose to send it to an outpost forever. It’s not clear if you can completely exclude a companion. Constellation’s four main companions are the only ones with full quests and romances.

Technically, you can have a fully robotic crew on your spacecraft. Aside from Vasco, it looked like there might be other bespoke robot NPCs you’ll encounter, though Howard couldn’t confirm that. There will be an interior design of the ship using modules.

All ships can be modified, even if it is a stolen ship. The modification system requires players to spend credits to register the ship. Howard said it’s a system he expects players to fully commit to in the late game because it’s expensive. The ship’s gravitational drive is technically called a graviton loop field network. Howard said Bethesda worked hard to create a fictional story about the scientific developments made and the lore behind its FTL technology at Starfield.

Like modding ships, Howard said he expects outposts to be an endgame system as well. To create a large network, players will need to collect many resources and develop their character skills. Players will be able to shuttle between planets and outposts. Outposts can be an economy generator.

The music was done very early in development. Once the concept art was completed, Inor Zur created the soundtrack. There is a radio station that can only be accessed locally on a particular planet, so players won’t be able to tune into it while exploring the universe.

Players can have “dozens” of active quests at a time. “It obviously creates a lot of chaos sometimes in our games, we realize that,” Howard said, “but it also creates those magical moments that we love and our players love.” Bethesda wanted to focus on consistency, Howard said, on a performance mode. He thinks it’s the “best thrill game” the studio has ever produced.

Howard said he can “guarantee” that Starfield will have generic side quests (things like fetch quests). Some of them can be randomly generated when the player lands on a planet, but Howard said the game also has many specific quests with greater depth.

Starfield will be a “modder’s paradise,” Howard said. He also said it was important for Bethesda to make modding accessible to gamers, either as a hobby or a career. Vasco can’t wear a hat (like, but Howard said he was sure this would be one of the first mods made for the game.

Howard also referenced Digital Foundry’s deep technical dive into Starfield, in which the team explains why Starfield runs at 30 FPS.