What you need to know
- Starfield is an upcoming epic sci-fi RPG from Bethesda, the creators of The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 3 and 4.
- Starfield boasts somewhat unprecedented player freedom, spanning a galaxy-wide sandbox crammed with all sorts of systems and features.
- Thanks to a recent interview with Kinda Funny XCast, I had the opportunity to sneak in a very important question about Starfield.
- Will Starfield have fishing? Read on to find out ...
Starfield is an upcoming sci-fi sandbox RPG from the creators of the legendary Elder Scrolls series. Known for games like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4, Bethesda Softworks is gearing up to launch their latest game exclusively on Xbox and Windows PC, also straight into Xbox and PC Game Pass.
Somewhat unprecedented in scope and complexity, Starfield will allow players to embark on a role-playing adventure across a galaxy-sized sandbox, with around 1000 planets to explore. Many of those planets will also feature hand-crafted quests, with the main campaign looking to take anywhere up to 50 hours to complete. Much like Skyrim and Fallout, completionists are likely looking at hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours to truly experience everything Starfield has to offer when it launches on September 6, 2023.
Despite boasting base building, ship construction, thousands upon thousands of lines of dialogue, hundreds of enemies, quests, weapons, and other systems, there is one feature that no self-respecting game should be without in 2023.
You guessed it: fishing. Space fishing, no less.
All the greatest games in history have a fishing system. From Minecraft, to World of Warcraft, to Zelda, and even Fortnite. Fishing adds at least 1-2 points on every 10 point review scale for video games, so I resolved to find out whether or not Starfield would have this utterly critical feature.
Thanks to Kinda Funny XCast, and a big interview with Starfield's Todd Howard, we now have our answer. And it isn't what any of you want to hear. Prepare yourselves.
"Can we get Jez Corden's stupid question out of the way?" Kinda Funny's Gary Whitta remarks. Indeed, upon learning that XCast had an interview with the legendary Todd Howard, I sent out numerous messages to the staff over there to ask this very important question on behalf of fishing enthusiasts everywhere. Gary might have had some reservations about my great question, indeed, XCast's Parris Lilly groaned at the mere mention — but Whitta conceded that in fact, my question was very smart. Whitta elaborated that the general scientific consensus is that we may first discover alien life in oceanic worlds. Whitta made my question sound pretty intelligent, although I openly concede I wasn't thinking of such philosophical scientific musings when I asked. I just wanted to create a giant space fishing ship and grab some slimy alien ocean dwellers to sell on the illicit interplanetary fishing black market. As you do. Whether or not my question was wholly pertinent is indeed, up for debate. Either way, Whitta, and Todd Howard delivered.
"Will Starfield have fishing?" Gary Whitta asked, to which Todd replies "It depends on your definition of fishing ..." Whitta elaborated, "Do you have a system where I can put a rod in the water, pull out an alien fish, and sell it or cook it or something?" Visibly pained, Todd Howard begrudgingly admitted, "That's something we do not have." As the XCast crew realized that I had derailed their prestigious interview with one of the world's most celebrated game developers, Todd remarked, "I'm really here to lower expectations on that."
Really though, you should watch the entire XCast interview above, and consider subscribing. Kinda Funny and the XCast crew have been delivering some big-name interviews of late, also recently talking to Microsoft's gaming chief Phil Spencer about a range of Xbox topics. We also recently got to speak to Kinda Funny's Parris Lilly about the future of Xbox on my own podcast.
Starfield is shaping up to be an incredible event in gaming history and could be Xbox's most important upcoming game when it launches this September.
Starfield is available for preorder now exclusively on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC, and launches on September 6, also directly into Xbox Game Pass.
