The gameplay experience thatStarfieldhas now shown in full alongside the Xbox Showcase appears to be far more than just a simple shooter or flight simulator. This new world is an entirely immersive sim that looks like it might capture much of the look and feel of theStar Warsfranchisethrough its ship customization and space combat.
While there are already a plethora ofStar Warslicensed games to choose from on the market, most are looking to dive into a certain part of the already established world and ground the player in a story that progresses at a specific pace. The apparent difference forStarfieldis that by having an open world consisting of 1,000 planets to freely explore, this places the player into the galaxy to explore, rather than into the shoes of a character to follow.
RELATED:Starfield’s Skill System Explained
Starfield’s Personalized Millennium Falcon
There’s more to the grounded feel ofStar Warsthan sticking a player in the cockpit of an X-Wing fighter and having them fly through asteroid fields and space stations. While this certainly made for an incredible experience inStar Wars: Squadronsit handles the IP more like a backdrop to decorate around the dogfights. The aspects of the original trilogy that really make the franchise so beloved are more in the build and life on a ship like the Millennium Falcon, whichStarfield’s NASA-punk styleseems to nail with intricate detail.
Thecustomizable spaceship inStarfielddoesn’t just give players the ability to slap on whatever weapons they might need on cookie-cutter fighters. Each module has a specific use that can affect space combat and give players more options for what to do while living onboard the ship with their eclectic crew. This makes for the perfect combination of pieces that all come together to give the experience of the entireStar Warsfranchise within gameplay, rather than just focusing on lightsaber duels or blaster rifles.
Complex and Layered Space Combat
Once the player’s ship is fitted out to be the lived-in space their looking for,Starfieldpromises intense space combat that will allow players the freedom to destroy, disable, or even board enemy ships. With the freedom of space, players can even choose to run away if the task at hand feels too daunting, either by pumping up the engines and blasting at full speed through an asteroid belt or by warping to a completely different system entirely. There are tons of decisions that can be made at any moment during a ship encounter, and each one will test the player’s skills as a pilot.
Having the combat center around a power allocation system, similar to games likeWe Need To Go Deeper, gives complete control over their ship. If a player is confident in their flying, they can temporarily sacrifice weapon damage or shield defense to blast forward and catch an enemy off-guard. Likewise, putting all power towards guns and shields can turnStarfield’s shipsinto flying tanks that can punch through an enemy’s defenses in a heartbeat.
The addition of pinpoint strikes that can take out specific ship systems is also right out of sci-fi media likeStar WarsorStar Trek, allowing players to stop ships in their tracks and send them drifting through space. All of these layers come together to give an immersive, controlled feel to ship combat that helps the player become a sci-fi captain from their favorite media series. As director Todd Howard suggests thatStarfieldis five or six games in one, and the breadth of content shown in the recent direct seems to complement that by giving the player the chance to live out life across a vast system.
Starfieldis set to release September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
