Still, it’s worth remembering that Starfield is a decent game overall, and one that PCG magazine editor Robert says is much more fun now that it supports mods. Indeed, it is at least one gore mod is now available for Starfield, so if the lack of elements in Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG was ever a problem, it sort of solved itself.
When I first played Starfield, I wasn’t surprised to find it less brutal than Fallout 4 or Skyrim – Bethesda has long emphasized that it’s trying to achieve a more realistic feel in its space RPG compared to previous games. But I was surprised by how much more staid Starfield was than Bethesda’s previous efforts. Space is a nasty, hostile place before you throw in guns and grenades, so it was strange to find that the rougher edges of Bethesda’s RPGs had been smoothed out so drastically.
As it turns out, Starfield was originally intended to be a bloodier game than the one Bethesda ultimately released, as revealed in an interview with Starfield senior artist Dennis Mejillones. I’m talking to KiwitalkzMejillones explained that many of the gruesome systems seen in Fallout 4 were initially implemented in Starfield but were removed for technical and thematic reasons.
Mejillones points out that Bethesda “had systems in place for all this,” but “it turned into a big Rat’s Nest of all this stuff that had to be reckoned with, now with all these crazy snakes on helmets and everything we added.” The ability to change body proportions also apparently affected the system.
The second reason for Starfield’s less gratuitous violence is more obvious – it simply didn’t fit Starfield’s tone. “Fallout is very stylized in that respect. This is how it was supposed to be. That’s part of the playful humor,” Mejillones says. “For Starfield, it was definitely going to be more lo-fi and realistic. We were very inspired by things like The Expanse and Star Trek, so I think it just didn’t fit thematically.”
I don’t know if additional brutality would necessarily improve Starfield’s combat, although after recently replaying Fallout 4, Starfield definitely lacks something in terms of gunplay. Perhaps the greater variety of weapons and encounter types in Fallout gives it a bit more life, as well as the cinematic feel added by VATS.
