Starfield gets its first 15 minute gameplay demo fresh from the Xbox conference
Roleplay, handguns, base and spaceship building, space battles, 1000 planets - and all in just one game. Bethesda's 15-minute Starfield gameplay trailer makes the dream of "Elite No Man's Skyrim" come true.
When Xbox Showcase 2022 kicked off, the audience had no idea where the journey would take Starfield later in the event. "Too much colourful anime stuff", "too many kids' games", "too little of this and too little of that" - in fact, the livestream was a rather plodding event in places. But then, towards the end and after just under 2 hours of showcase, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said "This is Starfield" and suddenly everything was like Christmas, like a trip to the stars.
Starfield with the best of science fiction entertainment.
Because the gameplay trailer shown for Starfield (to be seen here) weighs in at a meaty 15 minutes runtime and really has it all. For the first time, developer Bethesda finally shows real gameplay from the popular science fiction game, which is supposed to be less of a colourful No Man's Sky and more of a space game with a "serious" veneer. In the end, it's a hodgepodge of the best the science fiction genre has to offer gamers: The engine, i.e. the basic framework, is very reminiscent of Fallout 4 and Skyrim (beautiful landscapes, not contemporary character renderings), the space battles of Elite Dangerous and all the rest ... well, to No Man's Sky with more story and role-playing elements.
An excellent combination of proven gameplay elements, in our opinion. Starfield offers role-players a lot of room for exploration and character development with its complex skill system, its 100 star systems and its 1000 planets. Bethesda has also thought of a flexible character editor to bring the character you want to life. The planetary surfaces, cities and bases look very good, not too playful, and those who want to engage in firefights like in a Mass Effect or Fallout will get the opportunity in Starfield.
Dream (space) ship without silver iron, but with lasers and rockets
In the trailer, resource mining can be seen for the first time - immediately reminiscent of No Man's Sky. Which is good, because mining resources and building bases in NMS is really fun. You also build bases in Starfield, as well as your own spaceships. In fact, Starfield comes with a versatile ship editor that lets you build your dream ship. Whether you want a large or small ship, pick your crew and equip on-board cannons and laser weapons to defend it against attacks!
Sadly its unclear if you can also launch and land spaceships manually from the trailer. Maybe Bethesda just intentionally put the focus on film sequences during the presentation. But once you are in space with your huge crate, you will of course also have to deal with enemies there, with manual ship control. Spectacular spaceship battles are also part of the Starfield package. And those who are not yet completely in the Starfield hype may not see the universe for the stars - but they will.
Starfield is scheduled to be ready in 2023. Originally planned for release in 2022, it is now assumed after the postponement that Starfield will be available in the first half of the year. Of course as as an official partner of Bethesda the game will be available for pre-order on Gamesplanet soon!
