Starfield release date confirmed: Bethesda sci-fi landing on Xbox Game Pass

To commemorate the launch, Bethesda a have shown off their Starfield Constellation Edition, which features some seriously cool exclusive extras.

PC players will also be able to check out the minimum and recommended specs to see if their rigs can handle it. We also took a look at how performance might be on the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally.

With such a huge universe to explore, it’d be great to bring some friends along for the ride. Check out what the developers have had to say about Starfield multiplayer.

With so much going on and expansion packs confirmed, Starfield should keep us going until The Elder Scrolls 6 comes out... eventually.

We’ve got all the details you need on the Starfield release date, pre-order details, gameplay details and trailers. Read on for everything you need to know.

Starfield release date

The Starfield release date is Wednesday 6th September 2023, the developers from Bethesda have promised.

This release date was announced with the eye-catching new trailer below, so take a look at that and start counting down the days.

Starfield pre-order and Xbox Game Pass details

The game might be a way off, but it's not too early to start thinking about how exactly you're going to buy/access Starfield when it does come out. Pre-orders are now open!

To get ahead of the game, you can pre-order your copy of Starfield now at GAME or CD Keys. It's also worth noting that Starfield will be available on day one of its release for Xbox Game Pass subscribers at no extra cost.

All pre-orders of the game grant you the Old Mars skin pack, which includes a laser cutter, deep mining helmet and deep mining pack.

Along with the Standard Edition, you can also pre-order the Premium Upgrade (extra £34.99 on top of the base game).

This gives you early access to the game starting 1st September (Game Pass players only), the Shattered Space story expansion (when it launches), Constellation skin pack - Equinox laser rifle, spacesuit, helmet and boost pack, access to a digital artbook and soundtrack, a steelbook, and Constellation patch.

Finally, we have £249.99 Constellation Edition. This comes with everything in the Premium upgrade some extra goodies which you can check out here.

Is Starfield an Xbox exclusive?

Yes, Starfield is an Xbox exclusive. Now that Bethesda is owned by Xbox, it should come as no surprise that Starfield will be available via Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows PC.

The Xbox blog says that Starfield is dedicated to "harnessing the power of next-gen technology", which makes it sound very unlikely that it will come to the older Xbox One consoles.

And here's some bad news for Sony loyalists: Starfield will not be available on PS4 or PS5. And don't expect to see it on Nintendo Switch, either.

What is Starfield about?

For quite some time, we knew very little about Starfield. It's a Bethesda single-player RPG set in space – and that was just about everything we had on the title, until very recently.

Thanks to the Starfield trailers, we now know that players will join an organisation called Constellation, a faction who want to uncover the mysteries of the galaxy.

The latest trailer for Starfield revealed a key part of Starfield’s lore: the Colony War, a battle fought 20 years prior between the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective.

The United Colonies and the Freestar Collective will be two of the factions you can join and perform quests for - with other factions such as Ryujin Industries, the Crimson Fleet and House Va'Ruun all having their own philosophies about the future of humanity.

Faction fans will be pleased to hear that a lot of quests seem to be on offer, as Bethesda Games Studios head Todd Howard has commented that the game will be even bigger than previous games such as Skyrim.

"This one’s ending up a little bit longer [than our previous games] and we may tune that some still," Howard told IGN. "It’s more quests, so it might be 20 per cent more than our previous ones."

Starfield gameplay

Starfield Direct at the Xbox Showcase gave us the longest example of Starfield's gameplay to date.

We're pretty blown away by how ambitious the whole thing is - from the ship and base-building to the varying combat to the character creation. The skill trees, too, are bound to excite any RPG fan.

We could talk about it all day, so you can check out the whole thing below:

In June 2022, Bethesda gave gamers their best look yet at Starfield in action, sharing the official gameplay reveal trailer that you can watch below.

Based on the gameplay footage, comparisons were immediately made between Starfield and the planet-hopping No Man's Sky game, with the mushed-together name 'No Man's Skyrim' becoming a recurrent joke on the web. (Skyrim, of course, is one of the games that Bethesda is best-loved for.)

Make up your own mind, though, and check out the footage here:

As this is a Bethesda RPG, you will, naturally, be doing faction quests - though it seems increased player influence means you won't necessarily become the head of every group like in previous Bethesda games.

"You don't necessarily end up as the head of every single faction of the game," said lead quest designer Will Shen in a Bethesda YouTube video. "But obviously all the major characters and every faction questline will be reflecting on your choices. But it can have far-reaching consequences for what that faction is and what it cares about."

Starfield mods

During an AMA hosted by Bethesda’s director Todd Howard in November 2021, more information about Starfield was revealed.

Talking about mod support, which featured heavily in Bethesda’s Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises, Howard said: "Our plan [is to] have full mod support like our previous games. Our modding community has been with us for 20 years. We love what they do and hope to see more make a career out of it."

Starfield character customisation

More of the customisation options have recently been revealed, and it looks to be more detailed than we've ever seen in a Bethesda game - you can even choose the way they walk. It's also the most inclusive, with various facial and body type options.

Check out the tweet from Bethesda below:

A while back, talking about character customisation in Starfield, Howard revealed in the aforementioned AMA that players will get to pick their pronouns and tinker with their in-game avatars in numerous ways.

Howard said: "Really excited about what the team has done with character creation here. Including choosing background, skills, etc. You also can pick your pronoun (he, she, they) and we’ve recorded all the relevant dialogue to support that choice."

Starfield trailer

While you wait for the Starfield release date on 6th September, you can check out the latest trailer below. This promo video gave us our best look yet at the actual world and story of the game, so feast your eyes here!

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