Starfield has a large font mode and deep sci-fi history lore, but no space fishing
Todd's top titbits.
Starfield director Todd Howard has revealed that Starfield will have a large font mode and no space fishing.
Howard shared those details and many more in a podcast with Kinda Funny Games, in which he answered questions from the hosts and sent in by fans.
Here's a roundup of everything Howard confirmed for Starfield during the podcast.
On accessibility, Bethesda is "really leaning in on" a large font mode, and it's been considered in relation to various monitor sizes and handheld devices. Steam Deck compatibility will be discussed "later down the road".
The background selected during character creation will add flavour in roleplaying and is not just an effect on numbers and stats. Starfield has no space fishing (defined as using a rod to catch alien fish in a lake and then cooking or selling it), despite it being a big trend in open-world games.
There's a variety of handcrafted locations. Some will be placed on specific planets in a set position, others will be randomly generated or placed when a player lands on a planet. In terms of creating the game's 1000 plus planets, there will be some procedural generation. Around 10 percent of these will have life on.
Some planets players find will be barren. Howard quoted Buzz Aldrin's "magnificent desolation", saying Bethesda wanted to give a sense of beauty to abandoned empty planets for players to feel like they're one of the only people to ever see it. He also said having too many abandoned bases or objects on a planet felt too "game-y".
A single planet can have multiple biomes. Scanning planets for their traits will net players some money, so it's worthwhile to do so. Environmental effects such as temperature and radiation can give the player ailments if they don't properly prepare before they explore on foot. There's no land transportation (vehicles or mounting animals). Instead players can use boost pack and take advantage of low gravity to traverse across large distances.
Companions are not compulsory, meaning the game can be finished without ever having a party. A companion won't leave by themselves if they get angry with the player, but the player can choose to send them to an outpost forever. It's not clear if you can dismiss a companion entirely. The four main Constellation companions are the only ones with full questlines and romances.
Technically, you can have an all-robot crew on your space ship. Other than Vasco, it seemed like there may be other bespoke robot NPCs you'll meet, though Howard couldn't confirm this. There'll be some interior ship design using modules.
All ships can be modified, even if it's a stolen ship. The modification system requires players to spend credits to register the ship. Howard said it was a system he expects players to fully engage with during the late-game as it's expensive. The ship's grav drive is technically called a graviton loop field array. Howard said Bethesda has worked hard to create a fictional history on the scientific developments made and the lore behind its FTL technology in Starfield.
Like ship modification, Howard said he expects outposts to be a late-game system too. To create a large network, players will need to collect lots of resources and build out their character skills. Players will be able to shuttle cargo between planets/outposts. Outposts can be an economy generator.
The music was made very early on in development. Once the concept art was done, Inor Zur created the soundtrack. There is one radio station which only be accessed locally on a particular planet, so players won't be able to dial in to it whilst exploring the universe.
Players can have "dozens" of quests active at once. "That obviously creates a lot of chaos sometimes in our games, we're aware of that," Howard said, "but it also creates these magic moments that we just love and our players love". Bethesda wanted to focus on consistency, Howard said, over a performance mode. He believes its the "best feeling game" the studio has ever produced.
Howard said he can "guarantee" Starfield will have some generic sidequests (things like fetch quests). Some of those can be randomly generated when the player lands on a planet, but Howard stated the game also has a lot of specific quests with larger depth.
Starfield will be a "modder's paradise", Howard believes. He also said it's important for Bethesda to make modding accessible to players, as a hobby or as a career. Vasco cannot be given a hat to wear (like, but Howard said he's sure it'll be one of the early mods made for the game.
Howard also referenced Digital Foundry's technical deepdive into Starfield, in which the team explains why Starfield runs at 30 FPS.