Starfield is pretty stingy with blood – but there are reasons for that.
Role-playing games from Bethesda are actually known, among other things, for their excessive brutality. In the Fallout series, for example, the VATS system ensures impressive slow-motion action sequences in which many limbs sail through the air.
In Starfield, however, such gimmicks have been dispensed with and instead rely on straightforward shooter gameplay. Why is that so? Bethesda's former character artist Dennis Mejillones now reveals in an interview.
“It became a huge rat's nest”
Mejillones, the former lead character artist for Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Starfield, presented himself on the YouTube-Kanal KIWI TALKZ some questions about his work at Bethesda. In the Q&A part he discusses various aspects of the development of the space role-playing game, for example the lack of brutality.
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However, Starfield is not lacking in other physics effects.
According to him, there are various reasons why Starfield doesn't have the same level of gore as Fallout 4. On the one hand, it's not that easy technically implemented:
This has many effects on the different suits. From a technical point of view, there are a few things to consider. You have to cut the helmets in different ways or they have to fall off. You need meat caps on the severed areas.
The development team already had systems for all of these aspects, but they became an increasingly larger and more extensive “rat’s nest”.
In addition, Starfield is significantly less stylized compared to Fallout. The latter thrives on its extreme humor, which goes much better with exaggerated brutality. Starfield, on the other hand, is more reserved and realistic. Important sci-fi role models were The Expanse and Star Trek, which is why a high level of gore simply wouldn't have fit thematically.
Many players don't necessarily consider Starfield to be a high flyer, but from our Peter Bathges' point of view, they were able to score points with one thing in particular. You can read more about this in his column, which we linked above.
If you want to get even more out of the space adventure yourself, you will also find an article about an impressive Jedi mod and a guide on how to install modifications like this.