Science & Tech

Starfield's incredible commitment to realism captured in single screenshot

Starfield's incredible commitment to realism captured in single screenshot
Starfield director Todd Howard says the main story will take 30-40 hours ...
Indy

Eagle-eyed gamers awaiting the 2023 release of Starfield have noticed the game's incredible commitment to realism.

And no, that's not from the ability to enter space travel direct from a planet's floor, or gravity settings related to the game's '1000 planets', or even the kickback in weapons or realistic conversations.

It's actually about a trait you can add to your player character at the start of a game.

In the manner of its ancestors - The Elder Scrolls and Fallout - Bethesda's upcoming RPG will allow users to pick a set of pre-defined traits to mould their character in the extreme-early stages of the game. Right from the outset, you'll be asked to add three traits to your character. From 'Kid Stuff' to 'Empath' to 'Neon Street Rat', you can define your character's backstory from the get-go.

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One is called 'Starter Home'.

Starter Home is a trait which offers you a small house from the beginning - but in a true nod to realism, it will also clamp down your financial power with a 50,000 credit mortgage to GalBank.

Starfield's trait selector shows a number of early perk selections including introvert and starter homeStarfield's trait selector allows for the 'Starter Home' perkBethesda Games

So while you'll get your safehouse on a tidy little moon somewhere in a solar system, you'll also be on the hook for 50 grand. Nice. For fellow millennials, you'll note that the 'Introvert' trait is also in existence. Now, that's what I call representation.

This would also hint at Starfield's designs on player creation. The most recent single-player additions to the TES and Fallout series allowed for players to create houses, and settlements - and the same seems to follow for Starfield. Unless of course, it is limited to pre-defined houses on the intergalactic real-estate market, but Starfield's trailer showed a fairly in-depth outpost builder, so there's some hope.

As for the traits, it's a pity you can't add 'Avocado Muncher' or 'Netflix Subscriber' to those beginning selections, but there is time yet.

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