Starfield: A Promising Bethesda RPG with Less Bugs and More Excitement
One of Xbox's big exclusives for 2023 is Starfield, and a lot is riding on the Bethesda RPG game. It's one of the most anticipated games of the year, and one of the best open-world games on PC. But despite all the excitement, Bethesda games have a reputation for being functional - they're some of the best games on PC - but plagued with bugs.
From the endless amounts of bottlecaps in Fallout 3, to the unending dragon attacks in Skyrim, or the Fallout 4 quest that just wouldn't complete, there's a certain charm to the quirks in Bethesda games. Fans came to accept the bugs and even fixed them with their own Fallout 4 mod, but with Starfield and Fallout 76 on the horizon, the studios represent a potential turning point in the way they approach game development.
"We are working very closely with Microsoft to get the game ready for launch and we are very excited about that," Starfield executive producer Todd Howard tells GamesIndustry.biz. "We're a pretty high-precision, detail-oriented group and we want to make sure everything is right. We also want to prove ourselves, right? We also want to mitigate any risk after the release of Fallout 76."
The interview says that while Starfield will still have some of the expected quirks, they'll be less prevalent than in previous Bethesda games. In the past, fixes represent a loss of charm, whether it's the passable gunplay in Fallout 4 or the dead-eyed NPCs in Skyrim. But the end result - a game that looks, plays, and ages better than previous Bethesda games - is perhaps worth the trade-off.
On the flip side, a reduction in bugs and glitches could also mean Starfield has less personality than Bethesda games of old. That said, it's not like the occasional bug or hilarious glitch ruined the experience of playing Skyrim, Fallout 4, or even Doom Eternal, so it's all about your perspective.
As for Starfield, I'm still waiting to see what the space RPG looks like outside of the trailer. Hopefully, we'll get to see some gameplay footage at E3, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Starfield is ready to go when the show kicks off in June.
