Starfield has a Release Date!

Starfield, Bethesda's next epos finally has a release date. Here are all the details!

While initially being announced for November 11, 2022, it was a little quiet around Bethesda's latest title Starfield. After being delayed and what seems to be again delayed, Starfield is now set to release on September 6, 2023.

There will also be an extended presentation for the title with the upcoming Starfield Direct coming on June 11, 2023, with an extensive presentation and showcase for Starfield and what fans can expect from Bethesda's next big title.

Starfield is set to release on Xbox Series X/S and PC and will also come to Game Pass on day one.

Starfield is burned by a lot of expectations now. Not only do all these delays promise that this might be the first Bethesda notoriously bugged and broken at launch. But it is also positioned as Game Pass' killer app after Halo Infinite failed to pick up the slack after a mediocre single-player campaign and slow patch cycles.

Being the first big next-gen exclusive title for Mircosoft's ecosystem puts Bethesda in a tough position. Being the studio's first big release since the disaster that was Fallout 76 in 2018 and their first new IP in quite some time.

And there is also Bethesda's famed jank that plagues all of their titles. Sure some time has passed since the release of Fallout 76, but even if news of pricked PlayStation 4's and PCs are a distant memory now. Owner Microsoft and Bethesda can't afford Starfield to be barely functional at launch.

It also comes in this weird phase in which Game Pass, Microsoft's subscription service exists in a bit of a limbo. While games keep coming out for the platform, there hasn't been a title that left its mark in the wider gaming sphere.

With the upcoming Red Fall, a new Forza, and now Starfield. 2023 might finally be the year that Game Pass manages to convince with hit titles.

Recently, Game Pass had some great surprises lined up like Pentiment (you can read our review here), High on Life (read our review here), and the surprise release of Hi-Fi Rush. And it has proved that smaller teams within big studios projects can work.

So what is Starfield?

Starfield is the newest installment in Bethesda's Skyrim genre of video games. If you're familiar with their work, you know the broad strokes. A gigantic game with loads of quests and things to do, tied up in an RPG that has a big focus on player freedom.

Instead of braving the magical hi-jinks of Tamriel, or the horrors of Fallout's wasteland, Starfield takes you to the stars. The game promises you an entire galaxy's worth of things to do and mess around with, similar to Obsidian's outing with the Outer Worlds but on a much grander scale.

The game is set in the 2300s, mankind has long expanded into the vast endlessness of the universe. And the player will take control of an explorer while there is a galaxy-wide colonial war going on.

Players will be able to captain their own starship and explore the galaxy to their heart's contents. There'll be quests, survey contracts, and many factions with conflicting interests. We don't know yet what the extent of the roleplaying options will be, but Bethesda's previous titles have always championed themselves as stupendous RPG sandboxes.

And from the promises by Todd Howard, Starfield is set up to be modern Skyrim² in space and then some. And if you want to find out more, tune in to Bethesda's Starfield Direct on June 11, 2023. We'll of course have a summary of the event right here on ESTNN as soon as possible.