A Starfield player dug into the game’s files and discovered evidence of complex exploration and survival features removed during development.
Based on recent data mining results, it appears that Starfield was a much more complex and difficult game during development, with several space travel mechanics removed from the final version. While Starfield has undoubtedly been a success for Microsoft, many players have expressed their disappointment with Bethesda’s latest sandbox game, especially when compared to previous titles like Skyrim or Fallout 4. Starfield’s latest rating on Steam is only 28% and the number of players is constantly decreasing.
While Bethesda should be commended for being bold in introducing procedural generation to Starfield, the game’s discovery loop has been met with lukewarm reception. Many fans praised Starfield’s shipbuilding functionality, but equally many criticized Settled Systems’ monotonous wandering around barren planets, along with unengaging loading screens and a lackluster user interface.
However, it appears that more emphasis was placed on survival elements during Starfield’s development, which Todd Howard confirmed in a previous interview. One fan, redsaltyborger, discovered remnants of Starfield’s old star map in the game’s files, which makes this discovery particularly interesting given that star systems had features and dangers that players had to deal with. This suggests that space travel played a larger role in Starfield prior to release, and the map reinforces discarded mechanisms like fuel consumption and interstellar trade.
The first concept/iteration of the star map found hidden in the data files
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The map depicts Leviathan IV, with a brief lore description stating that it is a mineral-rich system used by pirates to hide valuable items. This feature is missing from Starfield’s current UI, and adding it would have greatly improved the feel and story of Settled Systems. Additionally, Leviathan IV previously had solar flares and micrometeoroids, two hazards that would have made space travel difficult: the former could have caused minor damage to the hull, while the latter could have been fatal to the player’s ship.
We’ve heard from Bethesda that Starfield has become fun to play after seven years of development, so there’s probably a good reason why these mechanics were removed. Starfield’s economy is static, players travel quickly from planet to planet, don’t have to worry about running out of fuel, and there are no dangers in space. While this provides stable gameplay, some players on Reddit forums feel that the final version feels watered down.
With a major Starfield update due in February 2024, Bethesda has already started back-end support for the game. Although the update mainly focuses on bug fixes, the developers suggest that a “new travel mode” could be added to the game in the first half of 2024. After all, it is not yet known whether these cut features will ever reappear in the game.
Source: Gamer
2024-01-14 16:29:12
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