Starfield will be released in the US for mature audiences only. The age rating reveals some new details about the role-playing game.
Till the release of Bethesda’s new open-world role-playing game Starfield on September 6, 2023, it still takes a little while. A lot of new information is promised by the Starfield Direct event, which will take place on June 11.
Update from May 10, 2023: But already there is new info, because the publisher has quietly published the age rating by the American authority ESRB. And that suggests that it could get dark in space – and not just literally.
But already there is new info, because the publisher has quietly published the age rating by the American authority ESRB.
It gets concrete in the game description of the ESRB, which reveals quite a bit about the gameplay.
Fights and weapons: You’ll use futuristic firearms, lasers, axes and explosives to heat up your opponents (humans, alien creatures and robots). Some attacks spill pixel blood, which can also leave traces on the ground. Sounds more like Skyrim than Fallout.
Sex: Starfield contains no explicit sex scenes, in these episodes of your potential romances the game fades out. Dialogues afterwards will hint at what went down (example: “I like it wild, but let’s try it without jetpacks next time”).
Drugs: The fictional space drug “Aurora” plays an important role in the story. In one quest, you even work in a drug lab yourself. You can manufacture, buy and also consume Aurora, which gives you a distorted UI.
From here on out our original post from May 8, 2023:
Starfield gets Mature rating – what does it mean?
This happened: On the official (Twitter account) of Starfield there’s a new banner since a few days, on which you can now see the age rating in the USA. The game has been rated as Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
Concretely, this means that the game is approved for ages 17 and up in the US. Also, some content relevant to the protection of minors can already be seen in the picture:
- Violence (Violence)
- Blood (Blood)
- Suggestive themes
- Strong language
- Use of drugs
This all sounds pretty grim and exactly what you’d expect from a Bethesda role-playing game – even if there’s not much of it in the gameplay footage shown so far:
Starfield is thus going to be pretty adult and gritty at times, but also a bit tamer than, say, Fallout 4. While the end-times RPG also got a Mature rating from the ESRB, the blood, gore, and intense violence was added here to the already mentioned content.
In mid-March, Australia has already published its age rating for Starfield. Since then, we already know that interactive drug use
will be a part of the game and explicit sexual acts will not be possible – at least not as long as modders were not at work. After all, they ve already accomplished similar things in Skyrim.
Fallout 4 received the age rating USK 18
at the time and could therefore be bought uncut for all adults in this country. Since Starfield will be a bit milder in the depiction of violence, you will probably be able to play the original uncensored version without a blood patch.
