Starfield boasts planetary exploration on a grand scale with a range of planets home to varying biomes, but director Todd Howard says exploring the cosmos was originally going to be a lot more complex and “punitive.”
In an interview on the AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook Podcast, Howard said environmental damage incurred while traversing different planets in Starfield was initially designed as a much more complicated system that would have caused afflictions more often. “So the way the environmental damage works in the game on planets and your suit, you have resistances to certain types of atmosphere effects, whether that’s radiation or thermal, etc.,” he said, “and that was a pretty complex system – actually, it was very punitive, where you get these afflictions.”
While fine-tuning the system, Bethesda came to the conclusion that it was just getting too complicated for Starfield players to understand and enjoy. “At the end of the day, it was a complicated system for players to understand…we just nerfed the hell out of it. It matters only a little bit. It matters more in flavour. The affliction you get is more annoying knowing you have it,” Howard elaborated.
The original aim of Starfield’s exploration system was to allow players to have multiple spacesuits that would allow them to more comfortably explore different planets, depending on the hazardous conditions they presented (such as temperature or radiation). “We originally wanted where, okay, I have multiple spacesuits. I have one for high-radiation planets, I have one for really cold planets, I have ones for these environments,” Howard said.
This original setup is reminiscent of a number of survival games such as Rust or Conan Exiles, whereby different gear allows players to access areas that would otherwise be too hostile for their avatar to traverse without gaining status effects (or simply dying). While it didn’t make the cut into the final version of Starfield, which presents a much simpler, more tame version of planetary adventuring, Howard says the system, and exploration more broadly, “might be something we address going forward.”
It’s not clear just what Howard might be suggesting when it comes to addressing Starfield’s planet exploration system “going forward,” although given Fallout 4 received a Survival mode post-launch, it’s possible we could see this more punishing system make an appearance should the space RPG follow suit.
For now, though, Starfield players can continue to make their way across the stars and go planet-hopping with pretty minimal exposure to an onslaught of afflictions – so no need to have a doctor on speed dial just yet.
Lead Image Credit: Bethesda
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