The Starfield gameplay trailer must be feeling pretty exhausted. Picked at and pored over since its reveal at Summer Games Fest, it continues offering up tiny details on Bethesda’s upcoming space RPG, hoping, perhaps, fans might eventually leave it alone and go back to Fallout and Skyrim. But until we get that precious Starfield release date, the first gameplay trailer is all we have, and it’s still, surprisingly hiding a few choice secrets, including a hint at what it might be like to be a space pirate.
If you check out all the information we have on the Starfield release date, rumours, and news you’ll know the Bethesda RPG sadly does not support direct space-to-planet travel: if you’ve been exploring the cosmos and want to touch down on terra firma again, it’s probable you’ll need to go through a loading screen, rather than a seamless transition. Docking with other ships, however, seems to be much different. If you want to converge with a fellow space traveller, or, more likely than not, plunder their ship for whatever you can get your oxygen-suited hands on, all the information you need will be right at your fingertips.
As spotted over on the highly dedicated and eagle-eyed Starfield subreddit, when you commence docking, your ship’s computer presents an overview of all the dockee ship’s systems. You can see if their engines work, if they have live weapons, and if there is a functioning life-support system. This will allow you to know in advance whether or not the ship you intend to board is worth the effort, a helpful kind of preview before you load up your guns and go full pirate mode.
If an opposing ship has a decent weapons system, you might want to think twice. On the contrary, if the life support is down, it’s likely you’ll be able to take what you want, provided you’re prepared to step over a few dead bodies. Especially given the survival mechanics already hinted at in the Starfield gameplay trailer, robbing from other vessels is likely to be an essential part of the RPG’s gameplay, so it follows that Bethesda has added this welcome little tweak to make it simpler.
There’s still a lot we don’t know, but we have a thorough idea about all the Starfield cities, as well as Starfield’s character creation, and the Starfield guns. Whether Bethesda will unveil more at Gamescom remains uncertain, as the Elder Scrolls and Fallout creator continues to change its plans, but PCGamesN will be live from the show floor to bring you any new details on that precious Starfield gameplay and release date.