We were the first to see the first 30 minutes of Starfield and reveal why we’re now even more excited for the release.
With Starfield one of the most anticipated games of the last years will be released on September 6, 2023. A few days before the official release of the sci-fi role-playing game, something particularly nice has happened to us: At gamescom 2023, the Bethesda development team revealed the last secrets and gave us a deeper insight into the huge universe.
We’ve seen the first 30 minutes of Starfield! Hach, we had to let that sink in first. But of course we don’t want to deprive you of our newly acquired knowledge. Here are the latest details you need to know before you set off on your own intergalactic adventure soon.
How Starfield Begins
Spoiler warning! Attention, attention, this is the final warning. Anyone who wilfully goes past this point and reads on will definitely have some details revealed to him or her that he or she might have preferred to find out for themselves. If you can’t contain your curiosity, then go ahead, continue. But don’t say afterwards that we didn’t warn you, you slyboots!
Nobody less than Todd Howard stands in front of us and chats briefly about Starfield. Then it finally starts, the video begins:
The year is 2330, we are on the planet Vectera in a mining outpost. As a newcomer, we descend deep into the mine in a lift with our experienced colleagues. Everywhere, busy NPCs are working with thick laser cutters and even thicker drills. The atmosphere is as thick as the dust-drenched air.
Soon after, we come across a mysterious artefact in the depths of the mine. What is it? Some kind of…metal cube? Apparently it defies the laws of gravity. A strange energy seems to emanate from it. Our hero can’t help himself: he touches the cube, immediately topples over and has a crazy vision that we don’t want to reveal to you for the life of us.
Black screen. Time to catch our breath. When the hero wakes up again in the infirmary, character creation is finally waiting for us: we can customise our character’s appearance down to the smallest detail – right down to walking style – and choose our background story as well as up to three characteristics, which will have both positive and negative effects as the game progresses.
Alien DNA gives us improved movement skills as well as more health points and oxygen, but medipacks don’t work as well. Or how about a bounty? Then we will be attacked regularly, but we can relieve the enemies of their lucrative belongings.
What happens next? Soon after, we are hired by the legendary space explorer organisation Constellation, who already seem to know more about the artefacts. On the way to our new supervisor’s ship, another typical Bethesda trait becomes apparent: we can steal anything in the game world that isn’t nailed down. We can even steal the half-eaten sandwich from the plate of a pausing employee, who then complains loudly.
The search for the artefact doesn’t go quite as smoothly as that: at the spaceport, space pirates from the Crimson Fleet suddenly attack and the villains don’t let up in space either. After all the enemies have been dealt with, the journey continues. Our destination: New Atlantis, the capital of the United Colonies, where the search for the background of the mysterious artefact really begins!
What is our impression?
Our first impression cannot be described in any other way: We are totally thrilled! From the first scenes on the planet Vectera to the interstellar battles in space, everything is so opulently staged and designed that we are literally drawn into the action through the screen. Even in these few minutes, the game world seems much more alive than in Skyrim or Fallout.
Bethesda’s attention to detail is evident in every corner of the game – at least in the heavily scripted first 30 minutes. For one big question still remains: Can the rest of the game maintain the high quality of the entry as consistently as possible?
I guess we won’t get an answer to that until we can finally play Starfield at home in our NASA pajamas at release. But the beginning? At least it promises great things!
