Bethesda’s upcoming game Starfield is on track to be one of the biggest releases of 2023. Boasting almost a million lines of dialogue, anticipation has been building ever since the game was first announced in 2018.

Now a firm release date has been set, it is time to get excited. We break down everything you need to know.

What is Starfield about?

Starfield is development studio Bethesda’s first new RPG in 25 years (after Skyrim). It is ambitious in scope: the player will take on the role of an astronaut exploring open space, and will be able to visit (allegedly) a thousand different planets during their adventure.

Bethesda has also teased that players will have nearly unlimited freedom to decide their fate: they can become a hero, a pirate, a villain or merely an explorer (and, yes, there will be the possibility of romancing certain NPCs). Will there be aliens? The team have said not; as far as anything else goes, it’s all up for debate.

What do we know so far?

Fans got a glimpse into the game’s inner workings at the 2022 Xbox convention, and what we know so far looks exciting.

It looks like Bethesda has been at least partially influenced by its work on Skyrim; in a December interview, the game’s lead quest designer, Will Shen, revealed that Starfield’s faction quests worked in a similar way to Skyrim’s guilds. That is, players will be locked out of doing certain quests depending on which storylines they pick.

“We really want to make sure that you can play through all the faction lines independently of each other,” he said. “We really want the stories to be a little more personal, right? You’re influencing the direction of where this faction is going to go.”

In the convention, Bethesda teased a desolate moon, combat with space bandits and clips of some interactions with NPCs. They also shared some of Starfield’s gameplay: players will level up and choose new skills each time they do so (these skills can also be upgraded). As you reach new planets, you’ll also be able to establish “outposts” (we’re guessing these are a way to Fast Travel).

Even more excitingly, customisation seems to be key here, and guns and spaceships can both be modified over the course of the game. And will there be space bandits? You bet.

What do the trailers show?

So far, there have been two main trailers for Starfield. The first, released in 2021, showed an astronaut on a barren planet getting into a spaceship and flicking the switches, ready for take-off.

“What you’ve found is the key to unlocking … everything,” somebody says. “We’ve come to the beginning of humanity’s final journey.”

It’s not much to go on – but after months of waiting, fans were finally treated to a new trailer, which dropped on March 8. In it, we can see clips of a spaceship orbiting a mysterious planet, before being welcomed on board the Constellation Star Station LO868.

We also get snatches of some mysterious dialogue that hints at an underlying mystery, or perhaps even aliens: “Eye’s showing signs over another one of those big anomalies. Maybe you can catch a smile and uncover the source of it all.” This is especially intriguing, given that previously the developers had said that aliens wouldn’t feature in the game.

The footage itself doesn’t show us much. We visit what looks like a ruined city on an empty planet — before it cuts to an astronaut floating against a series of orbiting rings.

Todd Howard, the game’s director, also pops up to deliver a message. “We have poured ourselves into this game and even I’m surprised how much we can pour,” he says. “It is large … there’s so much we have left to show you.”

When is the Starfield release date?

Though Starfield was initially slated for launch in the first half of 2023, it has also been subject to numerous delays, probably due to its sheer size. In May 2022, it was pushed back to 2023 alongside vampire shooter Redfall.

It will now be coming out on September 6, 2023 – months later than initially expected.

Will it be multiplayer?

As far as we know, no. Starfield is currently being described as a single-player story, and currently there have been no whispers of any online multiplayer in the works.

In a 2020 interview, the game’s director, Todd Howard, referred to it as a “single player game” – but that’s no reason that a multiplayer mode can’t be added in future.

When will we get to find out more about Starfield?

Fans keen to hear more about what Starfield has in store will also be able to tune into Xbox’s long-promised, deep-dive streaming event on June 11 – a full sixth months after it was initially teased at the company’s January Xbox Developer_Direct event.

Though the company hasn’t yet said explicitly what the deep dive will contain, we are likely to get a more in-depth look at Starfield’s gameplay and the scope of the universe that the Bethesda team have built.

Will Starfield be available on Game Pass?

The game will be available on PC and Xbox, as well on Xbox’s Game Pass from day one. However, due to Bethesda and Xbox’s working partnership, the game won’t be available on PlayStation for the foreseeable future.

How much will Starfield cost?

The game can be pre-ordered on Game and costs £59.99.