Starfield Direct live – the latest news, leaks, and gameplay details
Come and watch today's Starfield Showcase live with us and find details on how to watch the Starfield Direct
It's almost time
The Xbox Games Showcase is set to go live in 50 minutes: 10AM PDT time / 1PM ET time / 6PM BST time /7PM CET time. Remember, the Starfield Direct will air immediately after the Xbox presentation finishes.
Be sure to watch the Xbox Games Showcase live with GamesRadar+ or stick around here for the highlights and the latest on Starfield as soon as its showcase begins.
Are you prepared?
The Starfield Direct start time is now just 90 minutes away, and I'm starting to get a little concerned that I'm not properly prepared. Somebody just reminded me that an Xbox exec said last week that we should "bring an extra pair of underwear" to watch the Starfield Showcase. And... no, we still don't know what that means either.
Bethesda should go bigger on the RPG systems
Given the natural complications inherent in trying to showcase the scale of this game, I think it would do Bethesda well to lean further on the RPG aspects underpinning the adventure.
I want more details on the Starfield romance options and Starfield companions we'll likely meet. I think it would be good to get a better sense of the persuasion mechanics in Starfield – which appear to be heavily inspired by Oblivion – and a better sense of the story which will tie all of this space-faring action together.
Starfield is designed to be many things, but at its heart its an RPG – so let's hope for a look at how exactly it will let us live out the fantasy of exploring a new frontier.
In case you're just joining me here, we are currently looking back across everything we know so far about Starfield and what we hope to see. It's good to get aboard the hype train, isn't it?
If you're just looking for the latest leaks, I've got you covered:
Combat is my biggest unanswered question
Starfield could live or die on the strength of its combat. I think this is the area of play where I need the most convincing. Bethesda may have been making first-person RPG for two decades, but combat has never been its strongest hand – let alone FPS action.
Sure, Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 are technically shooters, but wielding weapons was always a little weightless – it's why the V.A.T.S. system is such a stroke of genius, allowing us to effectively pause play while allowing for pinpoint precision. Starfield will feature real-time shooting (in first- and third-person perspectives) and I'm keen to see more of this from the Starfield Direct.
I'm expecting that Starfield will consume hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of my life in the years between release and The Elder Scrolls 6, but that'll only happen if the weapons feel good in my hands. I trust Bethesda can deliver here, but it needs to put a good combat scenario forward today.
A question of scale
One of the most challenging tasks ahead for Bethesda at the Starfield Direct will be not only justifying the scale, but in demonstrating that the 100 star systems which make up the game world will be appropriately populated. There's over 1000 planets to explore, and no chance in hell that it'll be as densely packed as, say, Tamriel.
We've only seen nine of the Starfield Star Systems so far, so hopefully we'll get a look at more of them. Additionally, it would be good for Bethesda to clarify how exploration gating work. Todd Howard has suggested that star systems will be tied to in-game levels – but we're yet to get any real clarity on this aspect of play so far.
"It'll be like when you look at a map on a game, it'll be like 'this is the area for low-level players, this is level one.' So we do this on a star system basis."
Todd Howard
I'm not done talking about the ships!
The great thing about running this liveblog is that I can talk about whatever Starfield gameplay details you want me to talk about at length, and a few of you on Twitter have asked some questions about Starfield ship customization. So let's get into it!
Something I really love about what Bethesda is putting forward here is how expansive the featureset appears to be. The system to design your own ship is entirely modular, meaning you should have freedom to insert different cockpits, engines, fuel tanks, control systems, landers, cannons, reactors, and more – with each of these elements coming quipped with their own statistics.
This means you'll have freedom to design your ship to fit specific purposes, be it combat, exploration, or something else entirely. This is something I want to see more of from the Direct – how weird can we take this system?
I'm going to lose sleep over the ship stats
Something I'm not quite mentally equipped for right now is just how much depth we're going to be able to go into with these ships. While you'll be free to piece together a vessel, you'll also need to ensure that the damn thing can be powered and actually fly.
From what we can tell so far, ship customization will cover the following areas of design:
- LAS (Laser damage)
- BAL (Ballistic damage)
- MSL (Missile damage)
- Hull
- Shield
- Cargo
- Crew
- Jump Range (Light Years)
- Mobility
- Top Speed
- Mass
There might be thousands of planets to explore, a massive storyline to follow, and countless hours of distractions to find, but I can see ship management and customization swallowing the rest of the year once Starfield launches in September.
Starfield ship customization
There's a lot to get excited over in Starfield, but I think it's space flight that I'm most interested in. I bloody love just cruising the stars in Elite Dangerous and No Man's Sky, but given Bethesda's track record when it comes to boundless exploration and emergent storytelling I'm pretty psyched by the possibilities here.
The funny thing is, despite Bethesda showing very little about Starfield space flight, there is quite a bit of information out there... well, there is if you look closely enough. We made our long-suffering Guides Writer Joel Franey crawl through all of the gameplay footage to put together this massive guide on everything we know so far about Starfield ship customization and stats – it's pretty illuminating!
Starfield gameplay predictions
The reason Bethesda is running a Starfield Direct, rather than folding gameplay into the Xbox Games Showcase live event? Because there's just so much to damn show!
We already went into detail on 10 Starfield gameplay features we want to see at the showcase, and we barely even scratched the surface. As far as I'm concerned, I want to see how tight the combat is and I want to see more of the space exploration, but over the next couple of hours we'll dive into each area of play in detail – what we know, and what we need to see more of today.
Skyrim in Space
Starfield is going to be massive. Bethesda's space-faring RPG is going to let us explore a vast universe – there's apparently over 1,000 planets to explore, which is wild. I'm excited, but I do hope that Starfield is more than Skyrim in space.
Bethesda head Todd Howard has been quick to draw comparisons between the two, but that's inevitable; Skyrim may be over a decade old, but it remains one of the most-ported, most-played, and most-beloved RPGs of the modern era.
For me though, I hope Starfield offers something distinctly different. Capturing the same sense of boundless adventure, sure, but given that this is Bethesda's first new IP in 20 years I want to see the studio really push against expectation. Because if we're being honest, if all I wanted to play was a Skyrim in Space... well, there's probably already a mod for that.
More Starfield leaks
The Collector's Edition pricing isn't the only leak that Starfield has suffered this week. In fact, it's becoming a bit of a running joke over here at GR+ about the potential for a limited-edition Starfield controller for Xbox Series X.
This thing hasn't just leaked, it's fully out there in the wild. Microsoft and Bethesda is yet to say anything about it, but we've seen pictures of the controller from every conceivable angle now. Which is all to say, I expect Bethesda to take at least a little bit of time to outline a series of special releases.
Starfield-themed controller and headset seem like they are coming for certain, but I would quite like to see the studio confirm a limited-edition Xbox Series X and a new Starfield-themed Dynamic Theme for the XSX dashboard.
Starfield Collector's Edition price leaked
Here's something that I can guarantee will be a part of the Starfield showcase later today: The official Starfield price structures for a variety of different pre-order editions. How do I know? No, I'm not some sort of sage – part of the news has already leaked!
So it would appear that there will be a limited 'Starfield: Constellation Editon' package that is going to be priced at €299.99. The leaks from billbil-kun on Dealabs suggest that this will be a physical edition, so expect it to come with some nice collectible items – although you'd expect nothing less, given that this is potentially going to run you $300 / £300.
We'll get the confirmed pricing of the Constellation Edition later, as well as more info on what's inside. We're also expecting to have details of a Starfield Premium Edition too.
In fact, I've just been watching this thing on a loop and getting a little nostalgic. Join me, won't you!
Do you remember what your hopes and expectations were for Starfield back then, and has that changed over the years now that you've seen more of it? Let me know over on Twitter or via the GamesRadar+ socials.
I've been five years since Starfield was first teased. A 68 second announcement trailer set our imaginations into overdrive, as Bethesda Game Studios announced that it was setting its sights on the stars as it took a well deserved break from The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.
While it often feels like there's not a lot of info out there, Bethesda has detailed a surprising amount about Starfield and what we should expect from it. We're going to cover a lot of that here today while we wait for the Starfield Direct to kick off.
Good morning, folks! GamesRadar's UK Managing Editor Josh here. I've had three mugs of coffee, I've rewatched all of the Starfield trailers, and now I'm ready to get you ready for today's Starfield Direct!
