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Starfield Gameplay Revealed For First Time At Xbox Showcase

Bethesda brought Starfield for its time in the spotlight during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase.

133 Comments

Starfield is a hugely anticipated game, marking the first single-player RPG for Bethesda Game Studios in more than seven years. It was the final game shown during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12. We got an extended look at the game in action, including combat, ship creation, and the environments. It's certainly shaping up to be an enormous game, and the huge chunk it was given at the show reflected that.

Microsoft closed out its briefing with the first-ever gameplay of Starfield. Bethesda's Todd Howard introduced fans to a sequence on the planet Kreet in the year 2330. The gameplay footage showed first-person gameplay of the player entering a space station and vanquishing enemies with a machine gun, and, later, a powerful shotgun.

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Now Playing: Starfield Gameplay Reveal | Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022

The footage also showed off a lock-picking gameplay mechanic as well as some third-person shooting sequences. The footage also showed off the game's capital city, New Atlantis, which appears to be a big, bustling city where players will accept missions and learn more about the world.

Starfield's character creation system was also on display in the footage, and Howard called it Bethesda's most extensive yet. There are optional traits that players can select, too, and these each come with advantages and disadvantages. What's more, Starfield will even let players create and customize their own space ships, and then fly them.

In discussing the size of Starfield, Howard also confirmed that Starfield has more than 1,000 planets, and each one is open and available for players to explore.

Starfield was originally planned to launch this November but it was delayed until 2023 alongside Redfall as Bethesda continues adding polish. Once it does release, the next game from Bethesda Game Studios will be The Elder Scrolls VI.

For more on today's Xbox/Bethesda briefing, check out all the biggest news.

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xNSHD

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would like i ask why any comment i use the word sony or salt in is getting removed. didnt understand that was classed as bad behaviour. be interesting to see if gamespots moderators kept the same energy with the other similar comments on playstation exclusive articles.

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phili878

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@xnshd: heh, mods can’t get any better than here. If this was another forum, I would have been banned two decades ago already.

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GamerBum

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@xnshd:

Mate I got band for a bit for something I never even did. The excuse the gave me was completely untrue. I think they maybe got me mixed up with someone else….I think😉

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mogan

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Edited By mogan  Moderator

@xnshd: We have a System Wars board if you want to taunt owners of a particular console. Please don’t make posts purely trying to start platform fights in the comments.

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xNSHD

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@mogan: thats fair enough thanks for letting me know. i now hope to see no console war posts in other articles regardless of the platform since these types of comments are everywhere.

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thochaos

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This was very underwhelming. It looks like Fallout 4 x No Man's Sky, while completely lacking the charm of Fallout. Hopefully the role-playing is stronger than their last few games, otherwise this seems like a total snoozefest.

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GamerBum

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@thochaos:

WOW really? Each their own I suppose.

To me it looks absolutely epic. Not worried about the combat like a lot of people seem to be. Fallout 4 combat was a big improvement over Fallout 3 and I think SF will be an improvement over F4.

But I’m here for the exploration. Being able to explore over 1000 planets in a AAA RPG like this? I’m hyped.

I see a lot of No Man Sky comparisons but that’s kinda silly. The amount of systems in SF and the fact that it’s a AAA RPG and not an indie survival thing like NMS I mean c’mon there’s no comparison really. In fact no other game is going to compare to this, none that I know about at least. The sheer scale is awe inspiring.

Can’t wait to dock onto my first ship or space station to plunder and reek havoc. They need to do multiplayer. So excited!

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Victor0933

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Why are you using first person shooting in fighting phase?

We 3D dizzy guys can not survive any FPS scenes.

Pass

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P4ouR

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@victor0933: I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they were demonstrating the ability to switch between first and third person at will, like in their other games. There will likely be a FOV slider as well.

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Atzenkiller

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Yes, it's the year 2330 and we're still using guns from a few centuries ago. Cause there'll never be anything better. One can only wonder what goes through the developers' heads when they decide to make a scifi game set in the distant future. And then choose to put in outdated tech that would in no way be around anymore by that time. Like the ships in Elite Dangerous where you have to do everything manually as if you were flying a WW2 plane.

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keiser69

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Man gamers these days are whiny. People judging the gunplay , before knowing how it actually handles or how the perks /stats affect it. People judging the character models of a game with 1000 planets. People judging the 1000 planet before landing on one. I need that ban ability across platforms Phil Spencer was talking about, but I need it for Twitter and Forums.

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phili878

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@keiser69: Man, gamers these days are whiny indeed. You can’t write about how bad gameplay looks before someone else whines regarding that statement. People obviously have to play the whole game before they can form an opinion on a pretty long preview.

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bobbo888

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@keiser69: Yes, they are the whiniest people on the planet.

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s9743469

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It just works

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TitanExtremer

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Edited By TitanExtremer

You know it's reliable information when it comes from Todd Howard...

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jenovaschilld

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Edited By jenovaschilld

At first I thought the gameplay footage felt stiff, but I think movement is based on your build as some scenes were faster then another. I like that menu pauses gameplay like Skyrim/Fallout games. And the game runs at a solid 60FPS/4k on console, higher on PC. The sparse UI is welcome, and lighting looked good. I could tell by the lighting on youtube that this game has HDR content, even though it was not on. And it does have a nice art style.

The gameplay trailer was nice. I hope the story and enemies are just as good. I do worry that any seconds of a hundred millions of dollars of a game -- is spent on lock picking mechanic.

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P4ouR

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@jenovaschilld: No offense. I'm a little tired of the same old lock picking mechanic. I still like Oblivion's over the Fallout 3 model that has ruled the gamescape for a decade. Time for something new.

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jenovaschilld

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@p4our: None taken, I agree. I wouldn't mind a mechanic that popped out a steak hoagie out of the console on success, now that, that would belong in a game trailer.

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P4ouR

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@jenovaschilld: That is coincidental. When asked 'what is the funniest word?' I answered 'hoagie.' Go figure.

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storjohan_

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It truly looks like a Bethesda game. Another title for the modding community to fix.

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jenovaschilld

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@storjohan_: lol, haha, I am laughing with your post only to hide my tears.

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G_Freeman

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Half Life 2 seems on par with this - even the Antlions.... but HL2 was released decades ago.... at least they had the gravity gun :)

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phili878

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Edited By phili878

Gameplay looks like male ass. AI as dumb as ever (1998 HL:1 Marines act smarter). Oh yeah of course, you think I'm pulling this right out of my ass, but nope, search for The AI of Half-Life on YT and see how small squads and fireteams actually flank you, outsmart you, use tactics, and the reason you win is because they got no clue you're using a HEV suit.

4:32 Enemy sees you, turns around, and says "Hey, there you are!" while doing nothing, the other dude next to him thinks that it is easier to draw a knife and run towards you instead of just aiming and firing...

5:30 heavily wounded guy climbs on top of a crate going full expose mode instead of going for cover, lol dafuq

5:35 Enemy instead of staying in cover, slow jogs to a starship that is far away while being in the complete open, back towards you although you just killed his bro like 10m next to him. Sigh....

11:25 As for space combat realism, another sigh.... Positron Lance beams zipping past you as it would be an intro-atmospheric bullet, btw Bethesda, Laserbeams make no noise because we’re talking about wavelengths here lol.

11:29 Love the differential pressure shockwave effect as the enemy space ship passes by you at close range, I mean, would be amazing if there was an atmosphere in space.

And 300 years into the future, and we resort to close-range starship knife-fight combat instead of letting missiles doing their work from long-range where a mix of better PD-weapons and better missiles (and more quantity) would decide who wins and who doesn't.

Oh well, I guess it is asking for too much for some good AI these days...Also, where's the V.A.T.S. ? Because the shooting mechanics look mediocre at best, I hope there's more in there to make this more fun, because the shooting mechanics and dumb enemy AI won't do it.

Still going to play this tho, since it's on Gamepass, ha

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P4ouR

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@phili878: Whoa! Ever seen Star Wars? There's a reason why good sound design makes for a better action sequence than nothing at all. Shockwaves as sound can't travel through a vacuum, but energy can. This would be better demonstrated by a rumble in the controller. It would not be as exciting. The AI situation I have to agree is looking iffy. However, they pushed back the release even though the game looks playable. So maybe there's still some work to be done.

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GamerBum

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@phili878:

Something tells me if this was exclusive to a different platform you’d be shouting from the rooftops!

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phili878

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@gamerbum: negative

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Sushiglutton

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Edited By Sushiglutton

So 300 years from now combat will be almost identical? What did war look like in 1720? I think they should have done more with the on-foot combat to make it feel more sci-fi. This is too standard.

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sladakrobot

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@Sushiglutton: yeah, i thought by the time we would become killing machines who kill only with our thoughts and handwaves...everyone fighting would be like waving hands LOL

Maybe ol' fashioned shooting isnt the worst idea

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Fortesque

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Worries: Combat engine, Framerate, procedurally generated (potentially) empty planets.

Hypes: The rest of the game!

But please, sort the combat and framerate

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deth420

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hopefully all the building pieces snap together in this.

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P4ouR

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@deth420: There seemed to be a snap to going on with the base building and the ship design. I'm sure there will be limitations, if that's what you meant?

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deth420

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@p4our: I was just making a fallout 4 joke. the base building parts in that, not allof them snapped together. the wood walls, several cement based objects.

They added those building dlc's to the game, and never addressed this problem. it took mod's to resolve.

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P4ouR

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@deth420: Ah. Understood. I can see the 'mod community' when dealing with Bethesda. I only game on console as of late. So, I am under the cuff when it comes to PC. I do believe, as a community, we are on the cusp due to the new consoles capabilities. It always takes a few years for the tech to catch up to the programming language. Now we are talking about the 'Cloud' and other real time calculations to change how AI functions. Analog chipsets and neural networks will make the impossible make more sense. Let's not even get into the quantum realm. I know this has nothing to do with modern gaming. It will, before you know it.

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xXRorschachXx

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Shooting and stuff looks a little iffy but that ship customization alone almost has me sold. Was honestly hoping for something smaller and more focused than this, though. Feel like it'll run the risk of seeming same-y and empty like No Mans Sky when it first released as opposed to them just doing like two dozen handcrafted worlds that you can explore. Sucks I don't have an Xbox, though, as this is something I'd like to play on console.

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ratchet200

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Looks pretty decent from what we saw. Though after Fallout 76 there's no way I'm pre-ordering this or even buying it day one without reading through the reviews first.

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GamerBum

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@ratchet200:

This is Tod Howard’s baby though. Pretty sure he wasn’t involved with 76 in the same way he is here.

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shadow6323

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@ratchet200: it'll be on gamepass day 1..

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sladakrobot

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Starfield looks amazing to me.
At beginning of the gameplay i worried a bit since they shown that typical Fallout shooting but i was glad then to see the crafting, spaceships and battles, building spaceships,space travel and bases building.
And the soundtrack gave me the perfect spaceopera-vibe.

The only thing that i couldnt oversee...the eyes of some of the NPCs wasnt placed right

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GamerBum

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Edited By GamerBum

@sladakrobot:

Yeah I noticed that too. Made me laugh one of the women NPCs looked cockeyed lol.

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Edited By yAlaYOlo

The gameplay looks AMAZING you can explore all the planets!!! did Bethesda achieve what star Citizen has failed to achieve, Bethesda is very good at FPS/RPG games but the graphics look outdated not after the amazing Unreal Engine 5 demo, sorry Bethesda Still that is an Amazing game and definitely gonna be the game of the Year

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joalopes

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For me the main take away is the confirmation of the scope of the game. Space travel and visiting thousands of other planets.

Keep in mind. This is a clear vertical slice of the game. WIP. It’s still a RPG and that won’t change.

I agree that the weapons shown aren’t very futuristic but given their modality and the typical scope of weapons available in Bethesda games I think there will be something for everyone. And if not someone will create it. :)

The characters are a step forward from previous games with clear improvements but definitively not the best in the industry. It’s close to Cyberpunk 2077 level but glassy eyes and shiny hair still show up. I would like to see a bit more physics in the hair in this generation but we’ll see the end result when it comes out. Still improvements are good enough for this type of game.

Combat really can’t be evaluated in this vertical slice. Ground combat seems to follow the same basic principles as any RPG FPS so we’ll have to wait and see.

Space combat also to be seen but seems to have a “The Expanse” kind of combat feel. Very “physical” with big explosions, debris and rocket propelled ships.

The key take away for me is that this will likely be the AAA space exploration RPG many wanted. The Outer Worlds on steroids in many aspects.

- Base building

- Ship building

- Space combat and exploration

- Ground combat and exploration

- And above all full mod support.

Starfield won’t have multiplayer. That addition would be very interesting but given the scope of the project I imagine that’s something they’ll look into in the future for a sequel or expansion but not a priority right now.

So no. This is not Star Citizen, NMS or ED killer. (although it probably comes close in some aspects;) )

These things could set Starfield apart.

Apparently full seamless transition from interiors to exteriors. From ground to space. A big step up in this hardware generation that opens some gameplay possibilities.

Confirmed full Mod support in a space sim RPG like Starfield. There is nothing like it right now.

On top of all the incredible things people did with mod tools in previous games, now they’ll have access to hundreds of planets, they’ll likely be able to mod space ships, mod space combat, create space environments, perhaps even build Tamriel on some planet.

But above all most likely great quest design coupled with great places to visit. This is something Bethesda really excels at. Their characters might not be best looking ones in video games but they really know how to build interesting quests that flesh out the world around you.

So although it will likely not be the perfect game, it will likely be the best in its niche much like Skyrim, Fallout 4 and others before it.

Finally a AAA space exploration RPG that covers almost everything.
Very exciting times.

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P4ouR

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Edited By P4ouR

@joalopes: First of all. A thousand planets. Not thousands. Hundreds of systems. I wonder if this is 'actual' Some landing sites may be unavailable, like a gas giant, or Uranus. There could still be a single landing spot, even on wee little Mercury. Are there probes? Any sort of vehicle? I don't know? And neither do you.

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GamerBum

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@joalopes:

The question of seemless transitions from planet to space I think was answered in the trailer. I was wondering that as well as No Man’s Sky let’s you fly into space with no cutscenes.

Unfortunately it looks like there’ll be short cutscenes when flying off and onto planets as I saw an ‘X’ button prompt to ‘land’ the ship in the trailer.

I was really hoping it was seemless. Makes it way more immersive that way.

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angrycreep

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Edited By angrycreep

Am I missing something? I haven't read anything here in the comments section about this. I don't know if it was just me, but to me the character in that third person view seemed to be too far to the left side of the screen and also too close to the screen. I'm not really a fan of that kind of third person view, I prefer to have my character in the middle of the screen and away from the screen like a traditional third person view.

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sladakrobot

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@angrycreep: thats how you play Resident Evil.
I think its a compromise so that your characters body dont cover the centre of the screen.

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cboye18

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@angrycreep: I also really dislike the zoomed-in, over-the-shoulder third-person camera but it's always been like that in Bethesda games. Mods can correct that later down the road.

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Crazy_sahara

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Edited By Crazy_sahara

So that's why they cancelled prey 2 for prey 2 source engine style find the creature as a desk shit.

https://www.denofgeek.com/games/prey-2-gameplay-footage-suggests-sequel-game-shouldnt-have-been-cancelled/

So should we call this prey 2 or freelancer.

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