Bethesda Game Studios has made a lot of games that can be called all-time greats, including multiple The Elder Scrolls and Fallout title, but perhaps the biggest of them all is The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. The open world fantasy RPG remains a giant of the genre even a decade on from its launch, and its influence can be felt in games all throughout the industry to this day.
Will that influence be felt in its developer’s upcoming games as well though? As you’d imagine, the answer is yes. In a recent interview with IGN, when asked if the upcoming sci-fi RPG Starfield will have things in common with Skyrim, director Todd Howard said that that goes hand-in-hand with the DNA of the kind of games the studio likes to make. In terms of Starfield’s structure, its factions, and its skill system (among other things), players will be able to see quite a bit of Skyrim in the game.
“I think it’s part of our DNA,” Howard said. “Those things that we like- being able to touch the world, and what are you looting from people, what are the factions… I think there is more Skyrim in terms of game structure in Starfield. Now that you mention it, the way the factors work. The skill system [in Skyrim] is really, really like the skill system in Starfield, and it follows a bit from things we’ve done in Fallout and Elder Scrolls. So I think this is part of our DNA. You’re gonna see those hallmarks in anything we do that is kind of a mainline Bethesda game.”
Given the fact that the elevator pitch for Starfield seems to be that it’s Skyrim in space, would Howard say that’s an accurate description? He said: “It’s Skyrim in space, I say, in all the best ways.”
That’s all pretty much in line with what Howard and Bethesda have said about Starfield in the past. Howard has previously likened Starfield’s structure to Skyrim, spoken about its “more hardcore” RPG mechanics, and the scope of the experience. Whether or not those elements can come together as cohesively as they did in Skyrim remains to be seen, but it’s not a bad game to draw inspiration from.
Starfield is scheduled to launch on November 11, 2022 for Xbox Series X/S and PC, and Bethesda seems pretty confident about the game’s release date. Recently, the publisher has been sharing intriguing lore-focused teaser videos for Starfield as well- check them out through here and here.
