Xbox and Bethesda’s showcase has now passed, and there were plenty of exciting announcements. You can find our full reactions here, but some of the biggest news came right at the start of the show. Todd Howard gave us a look at Starfield, the brand new game created by Bethesda Softworks. This guide will cover everything we know so far about Starfield, including the release date, engine, and more.
The trailer shown at the Xbox & Bethesda showcase revealed that Starfield will launch on 11 November 2022. That’s exactly 11 years after Skyrim launched, and that seemingly has a big meaning. Skyrim and Fallout 4 were both running on Bethesda’s creation engine, and they were both drastic jumps in quality from their previous entries. Whilst The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was a fantastic RPG, Skyrim exceeded it in every way. With Starfield launching on the same date eleven years later, we feel that Bethesda are framing this as the next evolution of their RPGs.
Which Platforms Will Starfield Release On?
Of course, Xbox now own Bethesda, and we now know what that means. Bethesda will launch exclusively on Xbox Series X|S and PC. It will skip the previous generation of consoles and the PlayStation 5. Bethesda also confirmed that Starfield will launch on to Xbox Game Pass, ensuring that all subscribers can play it at no added cost on launch day.
The biggest news about Starfield was hidden right at the start, when it was shown that it will be running on the new Creation Engine 2. The original Creation Engine, which was used for Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76, has seemingly limited their capabilities with Starfield. The Creation Engine 2 reveal is the biggest indication that Starfield will be a significant jump above Bethesda’s previous games because it is the first evolution of the engine since 2011. It’s very likely that The Elder Scrolls VI will also use the Creation Engine 2.
Starfield is a next generation RPG created exclusively for the new generation of Xbox consoles and PC. The official description on the Starfield site reads “In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity’s greatest mystery”.
Although we still don’t know whether we will explore planets, galaxies, or more in Starfield, it seems that we are in for a breath-taking level of freedom.