Starfield developer diary discusses Bethesda’s ambitions, shows off new concept art

Bethesda released a developer diary on Tuesday that explored the studio’s vision for Starfield, also unveiling concept art for the upcoming space RPG. The video, titled “The Endless Pursuit,” is seemingly the first in a series of developer diaries known as “Into the Starfield.”

Hosted by Starfield director Todd Howard, studio director Angela Browder, and art director Matt Carofano, the trio discussed how central exploration is to Bethesda’s library. “Our games sort of have two lives,” said Carofano. “We create this game […] and tell the stories we want to tell, [and] then we hand it off to the players, [who] make their own stories with our tools.”

Carofano then touched on how Starfield’s core premise — exploring outer space — lends itself well to Bethesda’s aforementioned skillset, describing venturing beyond Earth as “the ultimate exploration.” The team expressed optimism that this new setting to explore would be able to match the experiences offered by previous Bethesda titles.

The developers also noted that Starfield’s setting carries a “more realistic, science-based” aesthetic, which was reflected in the numerous pieces of concept art shown off. Barren wastelands, ship interiors, and neon-lit cities look to be a few of the locales being considered for Starfield, but as this is just concept art, it remains to be seen how much of this makes it into the game when it launches next year.