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Starfield has been described by Bethesda’s Todd Howard as “more of a hardcore roleplaying game” than some of the studio’s recent RPGs. One the more traditional RPG features confirmed in the same interview with The Telegraph was that the game’s character creation would include “choosing your background.”
Despite the detail being confirmed back in June, now that more Starfield concept art and videos explaining some of the concepts so far have been released by Bethesda, fans are finally starting to get an inkling of what some of those background options could be. Here are some of the Starfield background options that seem likely to be included in the game, and why.
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The Scientist
Starfield’s marketing so far has presented its fictional future as extremely optimistic. Although there are still dangers, humanity has spread to the stars, and can now embark upon its “final journey” to discover the truth behind “life’s greatest mystery.” What exactly that mystery is has yet to be revealed, but with scientific endeavor at the heart of Starfield’s ethos, it seems quite likely that one of the player’s background options will be a scientist.
One piece of concept art showing two figures entering a cave is reminiscent of the science expeditions in movies like Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, and likely just as hazardous. The scientists of Starfield’s setting are likely both theorists and explorers, and it could be interesting to see whether background options like the scientist have implications for characters stats like intelligence, playing into Bethesda’s claims that Starfield will be a more traditional RPG. It’s even possible that the scientist background could be split up between different specialties, each with their own implications for the players stats.
The Outlaw
If Starfield’s background options are going to be compelling, they’ll need to cover a wide range of possibilities with their own implications for the player character’s motives and morals. While most of the armor seen in the game’s marketing so far has been designed after NASA and SpaceX spacesuits, some concept art shows an outfit that’s more form than function. The long coats and skull decals point to this being the armor of an outlaw-type, and hopefully that background isn’t just limited to NPCs.
While Starfield’s trailer makes it clear that the player will be aligning themself with the space exploration faction Constellation for at least part of the main quest, it says little about their background. In fact, it implies that the player will make a discovery which could lead Constellation to them, which could work just as well if the player starts off as an outlaw. The player’s journey from space pirate to explorer could be one of the more satisfying arcs to play through in a story likely to prescribe little about the main character’s personality.
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The Corpo
The Corpo was one of the lifepath options in Cyberpunk 2077, but it could be making a comeback in a similar form with Starfield as well. One of the three videos posted to Bethesda’s YouTube channel at the end of last month focused on the pleasure city of Neon, run by the Xenofresh corporation.
With entire cities and likely whole worlds under the control of star-spanning corporations, a corporate background could be one of the more morally ambiguous choices, lending itself well to some interesting character development and roleplaying flexibility. For players more inclined to make a quick buck than pursue profound truths about the universe, playing as a character who works for a corporation like Xenofresh could be a great option.
The Gambler
Being a corporate agent might be one angle to approach a faction like Xenofresh, but you can’t have a pleasure city without people down on their luck paying the house. Starting out a game like Starfield as a gambler or otherwise luckless character in a seemingly utopian world could open up some interesting opportunities, as well as the same potential for character arcs that don’t impede the player’s roleplaying freedom.
Starfield's protagonist going from a down and out drifter to an explorer for Constellation could allow players to imagine their character’s personal transformation, while letting them roleplay the occasional lapse into old habits. This could make each of the game’s major decisions feel like a choice between the character’s past and their possible future.
The Colonist
The latest batch of Starfield videos suggests colonization is a major part of its universe. The government overseeing New Atlantis is named the United Colonies, while descriptions of the Freestar Collective evoke romanticized ideas of frontier living.
Starting out as a simple farmer could be a great way for Starfield’s main character to have their very own Star Wars-style hero’s journey. It also helps as a more generic background for players who don’t want to feel pigeonholed into any particular role in Starfield’s universe without getting to know it first.
The Contractor
It’s already clear from some of the documents briefly shown in Bethesda’s Into the Starfield video that the game’s galaxy will have a pirate faction. What it also mentions, however, are some of the United Colonies forces fighting back against piracy, with the UC now officially confirmed in the video focusing on the concept art of its capital, New Atlantis.
The two factions mentioned in the document are SysDef — presumably standing for Systems Defense — and Vanguard, which speaks for itself. Judging by the fact that there are two of them both in service to the UC, it seems likely that they are private military contractors, which certainly helps set up a more morally ambiguous universe than some of Starfield’s marketing might suggest so far. It could be interesting to start off as one of those contractors, fighting for money, and over the course of the main quest becoming more driven by ideals and the pursuit of knowledge than cold hard cash.
Starfield is set to release on November 11, 2022, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.