Starfield Playthrough Time Revealed - Bethesda's Longest
Todd Howard revealed how long it will take to complete the main storyline in Starfield. In this respect, the upcoming production leaves studio's earlier games in the dust.
- Starfield will be (probably) the longest Bethesda's game to date;
- Completing the main storyline is supposed to take up to 40 hours;
- Moreover, Todd Howard assured that the game world is not filled only with procedurally generated content.
The recent Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase provided a lot of information about the upcoming Starfield. Todd Howard shared more details in an interview with IGN.
Thanks to this we already know how long the game's main storyline will be and it looks like we can expect a really extensive adventure.
Starfield is the longest Bethesda game
Howard revealed that the length of the main storyline in Starfield is due to the simple fact that it includes a larger than usual number of quests. Compared to previous Bethesda games, there are supposed to be about 20% more of them.
Of course, this will directly affect the amount of time that will pass from the moment you start playing to seeing the end credits roll.
Taking into account the information from How Long To Beat, completing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition takes at least 25,5 hours. Fallout 4 requires 27 hours.
According to Howard Starfield will keep us at the screens for about 30 hours, although the creator does not exclude that it can be even 40. Of course, we're only talking about the key quests, without which it's impossible to complete the game.
Most likely we will spend much more time in it. Bethesda's games are characterized by huge worlds, which are full of additional activities that distract us from the main tasks.
Todd Howard also revealed that Starfield will have an element known from all previous games of the studio. Every Bethesda game boasts a special moment which is supposed to make us realize how big the game world is. We will experience a similar treatment in Starfield. It's hard to say, however, how the creators are going to show us the vastness of the world, allegedly consisting of a thousand planets, with one scene.
More is not worse
The fact that we have a longer than usual campaign should not surprise anyone. After all, we are talking about the biggest Bethesda game ever.
Todd Howard revealed during the presentation that the world of Starfield will include up to 1000 planets, which we will be able to visit. Of course, this caused disbelief or anxiety among some players.
After the original release of No Man's Sky we know, after all, that creating a huge world is not difficult. Instead, the challenge is to design a huge yet interesting world where there is something to do.
Howard, however, decided to reassure players that Starfield will not be an empty world created by AI. Despite the use of technology for procedural generation of locations, Bethesda also had the opportunity to prepare the most hand-designed content in its history.
Despite appearances, recent games of the studio also used the help of algorithms procedurally filling the virtual world. However, none of them can boast of such a large number of hand-crafted elements as Starfield.
We can only hope that after the premiere we will be able to say that Howard was right about that. For this moment, however, we will have to wait.
Starfield will debut on PC and Xbox Series S/X in 2023.
