Starfield appears to be one of the most ambitious RPGs of the current console generation, and, while there’s a lot we still don’t know about the game, its developers at Bethesda Softworks lifted the curtain on a few small details in a new developer diary video published in mid-March. Beyond waxing poetic about player choice philosophy, Todd Howard and crew also described four of the game’s central factions. Here’s what we know about United Colonies, Freestar Collective, Ryujin Industries, and more.
Starfield Factions
In the five-minute video, called “Made for Wanderers,” Director Todd Howard, Design Director Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Quest Designer Will Shen and Lead Artist Istvan Pely discuss four very different groups space citizens will be able to interact with in the wider Starfield experience.
United Colonies: The future of the space republic idealized.
Freestar Collective: Space western fantasy.
Ryujin Industries: Corporate life. Players enter this faction by applying for a job and embarking on a “test” quest to see if they have the mettle to succeed.
Crimson Fleet: A pirate class players can actually join. You can side with them or report their activities to the authorities.
While not mentioned in this particular video, Howard also told The Washington Post about one more potential faction.
Constellation: Described as “the last group of space explorers.”
Much like the factions featured in the Fallout franchise, the organizations in Starfield can be joined to unlock specific mission paths that can help define your character’s individual experience. In a lot of ways, these groupings mirror the starting paths featured in immersive RPGs like Cyberpunk 2077. Will you be a good government soldier, a sleazy corporatist or a vagabond living by their own free will? These aren’t necessarily original archetypes to establish, but hopefully, these base choices expand into something that feels wholly original once the dust settles.
We expect there will be more factions to join beyond these listed five, and logic suggests all of them can be joined provided the right conditions are met.
Beyond factions, the video also features a sneak peek at the first companion NPC and hints at a persuasion minigame that will help make character dialogue feel spicier. When it works as it should, Howard says the mechanic feels natural to how someone might manipulate another person in real life.
There’s still a lot left to discover when it comes to unpacking the infinite space of Starfield, but dev diaries like this one suggest a finished product is finally coming into focus.
