What does that mean to him, and how has it informed this game specifically? Previously Howard has spoken about Starfield being infused with Bethesda Game Studios’ DNA. So I think when you see it being played, you would recognise it as something we made.” We’re going back to some things that we used to do in games long ago that we felt have really let players express the character they want to be. It's got some really great character systems – choosing your background, things like that.

“It's also a bit more hardcore of a role playing game than we've done. So you can see the world and touch all those things. First person for us is still our prime way of playing. “But I will say this: it is a first person and third person game, like our other ones. “Well it's coming out next year so there'll be a lot of time to show actual gameplay – and we'll do that closer to release, like we usually do,” he explains with impeccably practiced patience. So, Todd Howard, what do you do in the game? The arty trailer starring a naked Norman Reedus and a bunch of dead whales was all well and good but the main question everyone wanted to know was: what do you do in the game?

Watching it, I was very reminded of interviewing Hideo Kojima at 2016’s E3 following his equally opaque unveiling of Death Stranding.

The E3 2021 reveal, given the opening slot at Xbox’s virtual showcase, comprised a two-minute teaser trailer which, while packed with easter eggs and obscure clues to the wider Starfield world ( handily explained by Howard himself, here), gives very little away about the actual game itself.

And they don’t come much bigger than Starfield, a sprawling and completely new IP set in space and which, save for an announcement at E3 2018 comprising of little more than its name, we know absolutely nothing about – until now. He might not have quite the rock star profile of Hideo Kojima, or the auteur aura of Tim Schafer, but his body of work is easily their equal.Īs such a new Todd Howard game is a big deal. Howard is one of gaming’s greats, the creative genius responsible for groundbreaking fantasy role playing games like Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, and equally influential post-apocalyptic adventures Fallout 3 and 4.

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