Bethesda’s second Into the Starfield video is here, this time talking about the game’s factions and companions.
As with the previous Into the Starfield video, it offers a look at the upcoming Bethesda space-RPG, with game director Todd Howard. But this time he’s accompanied by design director Emil Pagliarulo, lead quest designer Will Shen and lead director Istvan Pely. It’s presented as a “conversation” between the four, though after two videos we’re getting a bit annoyed that they won’t look at the camera.
The general focus of the conversation is just how much choice Starfield will offer the player. Howard states that “Seems like no matter what story we write, the one the players tell themselves is the one that they think about and love the most..”
That’s absolutely the case – one problem with Fallout 4‘s story was that, while we were having our own adventure, we’d be reminded that “our” son was out there. Except he wasn’t our son, he was a mewling collection of polygons we’d known for all of two minutes. We’re hoping that Starfield doesn’t try to tell you, the player, what’s important to you.
So, according to Howard and co, you’ll be able to approach the factions as you see fit. Shen explains that there are at least four factions, the nice-guy United Colonies, the western-style Freestar Collective, the corporate Ryujin Industries and the piratical Crimson Fleet.
You can join the latter but as an undercover cop so, in Pagliarulo’s words, you can be a “…good person and still play with the bad guys”. Yes, we can’t quite picture how that’s going to work because, unless the Crimson Fleet are morons, you’re going to have to extreme lengths to camouflage your betrayal.
Companion wise, the video doesn’t reveal which companions you’ll be getting, though it suggest at least one will be a robot. They’ll apparently chip in when you’re wandering around locations, though that doesn’t sound like much of a gamechanger.
You can watch the full video above and get your hands on Starfield when it hits Xbox Series X|S and PC on 11th November 2022.
