Starfield is Bethesda's first new IP in decades, though not much has been announced about the upcoming title. However, it is known that the game will be a space-set RPG and will feature a large in-game world spanning multiple planets that Bethesda will create with the use of procedural generation.

Based on some leaked screenshots, it seems likely that Starfield will include settlement building mechanics. A system like this was first introduced into a Bethesda RPG in Fallout 4. However, Fallout 4's settlement system left a lot to be desired. Starfield has an opportunity to completely redefine Bethesda's settlement building mechanics and to truly take them to the next level in the upcoming RPG.

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Fallout 4's settlement building system had some key problems. First, it had very little impact on the power of any of the factions in Fallout 4's wasteland. If players ally with the Minutemen, for example, the faction receives no notable upgrades to their weapons or armor when the player builds settlements and expands their control over the Commonwealth.

The Brotherhood of Steel will not defend settlements that the player builds, which means that players who side with the Brotherhood alone have little motivation to build towns at all. Similarly, the Institute does not help or get involved in settlement building or defense, despite establishing bases and infrastructure on the surface aligning with their goals in the main quest.

The Fallout games are all set in the ruins of American civilization, but most of Fallout 4's settlement building involved constructing new modular buildings instead of renovating and restoring some of the buildings players can find across the Commonwealth. At times, there was even junk which could not be cleared away and turned into scrap parts, making building in certain otherwise-convenient locations impossible. This is particularly noticeable in the Castle, where much of the rubble can't be cleared away without mods.

There were almost no acknowledgements of the new towns springing up across the Commonwealth in in-game dialogue, or the Lone Survivor's role in restoring post-War Boston. Even the NPCs in towns had dialogue which felt limited, and without mods, NPCs rarely engaged in immersive activities like farming, instead wandering around their settlements waiting for raiders to attack.

When it came to raider attacks, Fallout 4's settlement system also came up short. Raiders would just spawn right by or within a settlement's borders. There was no way to predict or prevent raider attacks in advance, only set up increasingly robust defense systems. Ultimately, Fallout 4's settlement system became one of the game's most heavily modded features, both indicating its lackluster execution in the main game and showing some of the ways Bethesda could improve a similar system in future titles.

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It seems likely that Starfield will have some form of settlement building mechanic. Leaked Starfield screenshots show structures which do not resemble the spaceship image leaked, making it likely that these are building modules similar to the ones found in Fallout 4. If Starfield does include a settlement building mechanic it already has one advantage over Fallout 4's.

A lot of the structures players could build in Fallout 4 looked unnaturally modular for Fallout's setting, but that could be far more immersive in Starfield where the buildings are likely to be literal modules designed for easy construction and flexibility while travelling the galaxy. There are also some key ways Starfield could rework and improve the settlement building mechanics found in Fallout 4.

First, the system could be far more necessary than it was in the Commonwealth. The UI revealed in the leaked Starfield screenshots shows a compass which also contains several interesting meters. These include CO2 and Oxygen levels, as well as what looks like a meter for measuring gravity. This makes it seem likely that Starfield will include some survival mechanics. With The Elder Scrolls 6 rumored to include survival mechanics as well, Starfield may be an opportunity for Bethesda to start experimenting with integrating aspects of survival games into its RPGs' base games.

While players could ignore settlements entirely in Fallout 4, they could be absolutely necessary for survival in Starfield. Settlements could provide food on planets that can't sustain plant-life, and Oxygen and stable gravity on worlds very different to Earth. Requiring players to engage with settlement building to some degree may be risky; it will require the system to be far more robust this time around.

At Brighton Digital 2020, Todd Howard indicated that both Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6's worlds would make use of extensive procedural generation, potentially making them far larger than the worlds seen in previous Bethesda RPGs. Procedural generation creates a landscape which developers can then add detail to. Unlike older Bethesda games like Daggerfall, the world still remains consistent across every player's experience.

A larger world could allow players to build truly expansive towns and cities in Starfield in a way they could not in Fallout 4. For this to be immersive, Starfield's NPCs would need to act more naturally in settlements than NPCs do in Fallout 4. At the moment, however, it's unknown just how many NPCs will be included in Starfield and whether they will resemble the NPCs found in other Bethesda RPGs. If nothing else, the greater use of procedural generation may present players with landscapes where they can set up huge systems providing them with food, water, and other necessary resources.

Starfield is a new IP and its universe is a blank slate. While Bethesda began experimenting with settlement building in Fallout 4, it was harder to expand the system to its full potential without potentially compromising the features already required for a Fallout game. Starfield has no such limitations, and could allow for Bethesda to completely redefine its settlement system by integrating that system far more naturally into the core mechanics of the game.

The opportunity to truly experiment with such a system in Starfield could even allow for a more robust settlement system to emerge in The Elder Scrolls 6. For now, fans will have to wait and see what Starfield has in store, and which elements of past Bethesda RPGs will be returning in the new IP.

Starfield is in development.

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