When you think of space, your mind probably goes to something John Williams composed – maybe the theme from E.T. or one of Star Wars’ big pieces. Films and TV have filled the soundless void with specific styles that shaped the genre, from sweeping orchestral arrangements for epic tales and synth-fueled punk in harder sci-fi stories. Starfield composer Inon Zur wanted something different for Bethesda’s space game, however, and he tasked himself with creating a new kind of soundscape representative of a future that’s not so out of reach. The journey took him on a space odyssey of his own that lasted the better part of a decade and produced one of the more ambitious soundtracks of 2023, and Zur spoke with GLHF about the process of bringing it all to life.
Zur tells GLHF that Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard approached him in 2016 during Starfield’s earliest stages and had just a single idea in mind: He wanted to make a space game that tried answering some of life’s big questions, or failing that, to at least explore them in some meaningful way. That was all Howard had for Zur at the time, but it was enough.
