^{Image: Bethesda Game Studios}

Starfield will let players explore thousands of planets, build platypus spaceships and basically do whatever they want in a huge galaxy.

Bethesda held a dedicated Starfield Direct to show off its highly ambitious open-world sci-fi game in full detail. The gameplay we saw showed off character customisation, thousands of exploreable planets, detailed cities and character models, and a main story that has players unearth ancient secrets across the stars. Starfield launches on September 6, 2023.

Here’s a gameplay trailer:

The Direct began with a look at the game's deep character creator system. Bethesda scanned a whole lot of real-life human beings to make their character models as realistic as possible, and that extends to the character creator which aims to be simultaneously deep and easy to grasp. You’ll have lots of options to create a unique character of your very own, but plenty more go beyond the cosmetic.

You can choose between having multiple professions and backgrounds, the former of which can become relevant at random points in the story depending on when they come in handy. If you're a former chef for example, your companions might place bets on which restaurant critic you angered to get you in Constellation to begin with. Your character background might involve supporting your parents, which would then open up the ability to visit them in the open world.

Starfield’s main campaign follows the player as they join the Constellation, a spacefaring organisation dedicated to exploring the galaxy and charting new planets. The story kicks off with the player making a crucial discovery revolving around ancient relics left behind by a long-dead civilisation, which leads to the Constellation sending them on a mission to unearth the secrets of the universe.

The game showed off combat perks such as Neurostrikes which allow the player to punch their enemies to death, or jetpack around environments. Other perks allow you to mind control enemies, stealth around combat scenarios and blow stuff up. Much like Cyberpunk 2077, the game seems to have plenty of options in how players can approach combat.

Bethesda likens the player's ship to a secondary protagonist of sorts, which players can customise and build from scratch depending entirely on their strength of imagination. For example, you'll be able to build spaceships that look like giant mechs or platypuses - though you'll probably need the right parts.

Companions are also scattered across the stars for you to find and befriend, ranging from robots to space cowboys. Romance is an option for most of them, if you choose to add them to your party at all. Other companions can be recruited as crew members who take up space on your ship and various outposts that can be set up across the universe, for the benefit of special bonuses.

With spaceflight comes space combat. You'll be able to dogfight enemy shapes in space and target specific weaknesses, and even hijack their ships if you choose to. You can also dock enemy ships and take them down from the inside out if that's your prerogative, or just hail passing ships to make friends and trade resources. Be a space pirate if you'd like, or just stop by a stranger's ship for a warm meal and companionship.

Bethesda is also making a smartwatch themed after the watch players get in Starfield, which looks like a sci-fi version of Fallout's Pip-boy, to be included in the game’s collector’s edition. Other Collectibles include custom Starfield-themed Xbox controllers and headphones. Starfield will launch on September 6, 2023 on Xbox Series X|S and PC. Check out all the other games Xbox and Bethesda showed off today here.

Bethesda's Starfield Direct shows off thousands of planets, story and combat