Starfield launch live coverage - all the news as it happens

We're still a little while out from both launch and those Starfield reviews dropping, so  it feels like the best place to start is with the Starfield Direct. Back in June, Bethesda well and truly lifted the lid with what's since been described as a feature film-length documentary about the game.

A huge amount of information dropped during that broadcast, from evidence of the first Starfield expansion, Shattered Space, to a massive pile of sandwiches that helps explain the game's 30fps cap. 

If you're trying to while away the hours before Starfield arrives, it might be worth re-watching the Direct a couple of times. On the one hand, it's an excuse to bed down in all the hype again. And on the other, it's 45 minutes long, and that's 45 fewer minutes that you'll have to wait for the game to come out.

Todd Howard made his first ever appearance at Gamescom last week ahead of Starfield's release, so we've learned quite a lot about the game over the past few days. Most recently, design director Emil Pagliarulo revealed a couple of interesting details in an interview - firstly, that a former Bethesda writer-turned-trainee priest had helped the team flesh out one of the in-game religions.

Elsewhere, Pagliarulo discussed the transition to Starfield from the likes of Skyrim and Fallout, revealing how writers found it difficult to move from the stylized, established tones of those worlds to the brand-new horizons that Starfield had to offer.

As we reach launch, the interest in Starfield seems to be kicking up yet another gear. Yesterday, with just a few days to go before the full release, Starfield claimed Steam's top-seller spot from Baldur's Gate 3. While it's not a direct competition, it's certainly interesting to see the two big RPGs of the summer sitting right at the top of the pile.

To go with all that hype, the Starfield marketing machine has also kicked things up a notch, with a partnership with Imagine Dragons in the year of Our Lord 2023.

As a League of Legends fan, I am not equipped to talk smack about musical video game partnerships with this particular band, and as a teenager of the early 2010s, I would be a hypocrite if I did so. So without further ado, here's 'Children of the Sky'.

The arrival of Starfield means that Bethesda is preparing for another important event - full production on The Elder Scrolls 6. Unveiled five years ago, it's been on the backburner as Bethesda focused on its sci-fi efforts, but now that Starfield is nearing the finish line, it's starting to take on a bigger role at the studio.

It's worth noting that even once Starfield is out, several developers will remain on the game to provide post-launch updates, and prepare for that Starfield expansion. But studio head Pete Hines himself has confirmed that some degree of work has started on The Elder Scrolls 6 - let's just hope we're not waiting quite as long for this one...

We're not the only Starfield countdown out there, and at least one of them is far more creative than anything you're going to get out of me once the game is finally in my hands. Last week, one spacefaring genius created a sandwich-inspired Starfield countdown that adds a new bready treat to the table every five minutes until launch. 

As of right now - more than a day before the game launches - the screen is entirely filled with a dazzlingly wobbly pile of sandwiches, and the famously irritating Annoying Fan lurking in the background.

Before we get too lost in the waves of excitement heading our way over the next day, it's worth getting some of the details out of the way. Remember that the August 31/September 1 is only for those who have purchased Starfield early access.

If you don't have that, you can find out more about how to get it at the link above, but the short version if that you'll need to have either purchased the Starfield Premium Edition or the Starfield Constellation Edition. Given that the latter is physical only and costs $300, you'll probably struggle to get your hands on it in time for release, but you should still have time tog et the Premium Edition and lock in five extra days with the game.

And before you try and dive into one of those expensive editions, it's probably worth checking the Starfield system requirements. The recommended specs aren't massively demanding, but you'll want a decently powerful machine to make the most of Starfield. Crucially, Bethesda has made it pretty clear that you'll want an SSD to help with those loading times, and you'll also be looking at an install of more than 120GB - so there's a good chance you'll want to be searching out an external hard drive before you blast off.

Returning a little closer to the game itself, if you're still trying to decide how you want to play, this Starfield build planner should help. Using information gleaned from various trailers, it's a comprehensive skill tree that should let you make informed decisions about where you want to take your character.

Going back to Gamescom, one particular detail caught our eye; Todd Howard said that he's still not sure how Starfield will land, because exploration is so different to Bethesda's previous games.

"It's not the same as dropping you in a world like Skyrim. You wander totally differently," Howard says, noting that the moment of stepping out onto a new planet "works almost every time" - a marked change between the single 'leaving the Vault' moment that the Fallout games have become famous for; "when you're looking over the landscape and the star is setting. That's all somewhat simulated. In this game it just happens."

Interestingly, it seems like we might get a slightly earlier look at Starfield than we thought. Streamer DansGaming tweeted yesterday to say that they had permission to stream the game from noon ET time tomorrow (after a three-hour countdown starting at 9am ET).

For those of you keeping count, that's an eight-hour headstart, as Starfield won't unlock until 8pm ET for the vast majority of players. This is probably a broader streaming embargo that means several big streamers will be working under the same rules, but that also means that we'll get to vicariously blast off a few hours early.

Another interesting detail from the Gamescom interview blitz was, as Todd Howard put it, how long it took for Starfield to come together in a fun, playable state. It wasn't until the seventh year of its eight-year development cycle that the RPG really "clicked" for the team. Games often coalesce toward the end of development, but the sheer scope of this project really stresses this. 

"I thought we would find the answers faster," Howard said of Starfield's long development. 

In a pre-launch thank you to fans, Todd Howard admits he's a long-time Reddit lurker and reckons Bethesda has the smartest fans in gaming. 

"We like to say we have gaming’s smartest fans, and you certainly are," he said, adding, "Starfield has been a labor of love for us and the fact that all of you care enough to build a community around it means the world to us. We can’t wait for you to play."

Todd Howard sent a heartfelt message to the Starfield dev team congratulating them on the game's impending launch. "It’s an incredible blessing to be surrounded by so many talented and inspirational people every day. Moments like this make you reflect back. Some of us have been together for decades, some joined more recently, but everyone has the same passion. I could not be prouder of their continued dedication to create something truly special."

Howard was also willing to crack a few jokes about just how many times Skyrim has re-launched during Starfield's development.

That just about wraps up our coverage for today, but keep a bookmark here as we head into Starfield's early access launch and beyond! Oh, and how stinkin' cute is the new Starfield Funko Pop?!

We're back! Depending on where you are in the world, the Starfield launch day is technically upon us. While it might be several hours before you can actually get your hands on the game, the wait is now only just over the double-digit hours.

As a reminder, the Starfield review embargo drops later today, so you'll get a sense of the critical consensus around the game a few hours before you're able to play it for yourself. Keep your eyes peeled!

One to keep an eye on later is the acclaimed NoClip team, which will be publishing a two hour podcast tomorrow, September 1, at 09:00 PT/12:00 ET/17:00 BST. Host Danny o'Dwyer appears to be teasing an appearance from Todd Howard himself, so this'll likely be one to watch as you cruise the Settled Systems.

As the hours tick down, it's worth looking back at just how long we've been waiting for this moment. From the 25 years that Todd Howard has been trying to make this game to the 3,800 days since the original Starfield trademark was filed, to the 1,900 days since the original global reveal, or even the couple of months since the Starfield Direct, it's been a very long wait. And it's almost over.

Interestingly, one Starfield developer is using today to look backwards, rather than forwards. Design director Emil Pagliarulo says he's casting his mind back to Oblivion - the game that he was a quest designer on back in 2006 - on the final night before Starfield launches. 

It's going to be an agonising wait regardless, but at least you don't necessarily have to wait all night to get to play Starfield. Xbox fans may well be familiar with a time zone trick that lets you get 'early' access to new games by setting your system location to New Zealand. It's a well-known trick, but it seems to have been directly condoned by Todd Howard in a memo shared among Microsoft staff last night.

If you've been plugged into the Starfield conversation, you might have noticed a bit of a snafu around the exploration limits imposed on the game. According to one spacefaring RPG fan, however, Starfield fans might want to be careful what they wish for.

Heading to the Starfield subreddit earlier this week, a Star Citizen player suggested that without sculpted content, the novelty of exploring an entire planet can wear off pretty quickly: 

"Don't get me wrong: when the game finally progressed to where you can fly from one planet to another and land anywhere without loading screens, it was impressive. I spent a good amount of time flying just over the planet surface.

Then you realize it's pointless without content. Going over endless, mostly unchanging terrain, soon turns monotonous. I get it might be nice to have the option, but for me, it's definitely not a deal breaker."

To clarify a point from yesterday, it does seem that multiple streamers will be going live with Starfield early. Yesterday, we noted that DansGaming said they'd been given permission to stream from noon ET - eight hours before the game's actual launch. Now, CohhCarnage says they'll be doing the same thing.

It's not clear whether that's a full-fledged streaming embargo or whether it's only available for a handful of hand-picked streamers. Either way, you'll be able to get a slightly early look at the game if you tune in.

I'm going to take a brief break, but I'll be back shortly as we get closer to the Starfield review embargo. Engines on...

We're back! And it seems that while the Starfield review embargo is still a couple of hours away, it's not proved completely airtight so far. Over on the r/gamingleaksandrumours subreddit, some players have found a leaked Starfield video review from a Brazilian YouTuber. The original has been taken down, but this being the internet, there's still likely to be evidence existing online, so be careful out there!

With Starfield almost in the wild, so too are the game's Creator Kits. You can get a look at what some lucky fans are unboxing below - and I'm pretty jealous about that jacket.

And here's the much-sought-after Constellation Edition:

It feels a little like the calm before the storm right now - the Starfield review embargo is now less than two hours away, and there's definitely a sense of a collectively-held breath. Personally, I'm distracting myself with the Mario Wonder Nintendo Direct, but that might not work for everyone...

It's getting a little tongue-in-cheek over in the very-excitable Starfield subreddit, as some fans ask early access fans to be wary of spoilers over the next few days. It seems like a reasonable request, but a few people don't seem to be taking it totally seriously.

Don’t play Starfield until I am able to get it myself from r/Starfield

Those early streams have started, and while we're still a little while away from the game actually being playable, streamers have started their pre-shows. Right now, CohhCarnage is going back over Todd Howard's Kinda Funny interview, and it's interesting to see how conversation about the game has changed, even over the past few months. 

With barely 60 minutes to go to the review, it's time to start going back over the Starfield archives, dredging up some of the biggest stories from the run up to release. We'll start with the recent developer Q&A, marked by the immortal words: "Don't get caught with those harvested organs."

If you're looking for some reading material to help while away the hours until launch, Bethesda should have you covered thanks to the 300-year timeline that it released earlier this month, covering everything you need to know about the world of Starfield.

Then there was the economic chaos threatened by Starfield's iconic sandwiches. Bethesda's RPG economies have never been super robust, but some players were worried that the relative price of various food items was too close to that of full-fledged spaceships.

Those spaceships, however, were some of the cheapest models on the market, and I don't know about you, but I know there are some expensive sandwiches out there in the real world. Maybe not the same kind of price as a car, but a decent percentage of what it might cost you to get around on four wheels. Either way, I think it's unlikely to be too much to worry about.

That 300-year timeline was one thing, but earlier this summer, one fan released their 1,000 page Starfield research doc. You'll never have time to read all of that before launch, but if you want to see what true dedication to a video gaming cause looks like, it's there.

We spoke with the creator, Gokamo, to find out more about their project and why they embarked on it. Among a lot of information about the game itself, they told us that a role at Bethesda was their "dream job", so we're keeping our fingers firmly crossed for them.

Much of the wait for Starfield has been marked by conversations around Xbox's acquisition of Bethesda, and the Starfield PS4 and PS5 availability. The short version of the story is that Starfield is an Xbox exclusive, and there are no public plans to bring it to PlayStation.

The longer version is much more interesting, however, as earlier this summer we found out that Sony expected Starfield to launch on its platform, and that while PlayStation chief Jim Ryan didn't like its absence, he didn't think Microsoft was in the wrong to insist on Xbox exclusivity.

Reviews are just ten minutes away, but I'm quite enjoying this trip down Starfield's memory lane. The 30fps cap was a point of significant contention earlier this summer, as Bethesda claimed it was a creative decision rather than the result of a hardware issue. Many, however, remained disappointed that Xbox's flagship game of 2023 - and arguably the entire generation so far - wouldn't be launching with the kind of graphical features that you'd expect from a console approaching the midpoint of its life cycle.

Of course, we can't have a discussion about Starfield's recent history without tackling the three-month delay that brought us here. Supposed to launch in the first half of 2023, that's clearly no longer the case - let's hope those extra three months have been worth it.

Final chance to place your bets on the Starfield Metacritic score, I guess. I'm going with a high 80s/low 90s total when the dust settles...

Just before I share the review score, here's a heartfelt 'thank you' from the Bethesda team.

Our Starfield review is live, with a perfect 5/5 stars. Here's a snippet:

Starfield isn't really a game you play to complete, it's more about living whatever sort of life you want in the literal universe Bethesda has created. Whatever you're thinking of doing, you almost certainly can do it, and the scale is almost a release in a way – you'll probably never see or do it all, so just enjoy the moment. There's months, if not years, of discoveries buried away in here, and even after 80 hours I can't wait to see more. 

And another:

Just another reminder that if you simply can't wait, the Starfield streaming embargo appears to have lifted for some players, which means you can check out the opening of the game right now. CohhCarnage is live right here, but other streamers are likely to have access too, so check for your favourites.

The Starfield MetaCritic score doesn't seem to have pulled through yet, but the other big review tabulation site, Opencritic, currently has a score of 87, with 54 reviews collated.

I'm yet to see anything official, but fans over on the Starfield subreddit are pulling together review round-ups, which you can check out here.

Impressions are starting to come in from around the internet - here's The Washington Post's Gene Park:

Happily, it sounds as though Starfield's performance is pretty good. Digital Foundry's take on how the game holds up - despite its huge scope - is here: 

The Starfield MetaCritic score has finally pulled through, and while there's no Xbox score there just yet, the PC score is sitting at 90. That's likely to fluctuate, but it's currently up there with some of the best games of the year.

To give you a sense of just how much that score is fluctuating back and forth: I saw a 90, but that's now gone. My colleagues have seen 87, 88, 89, and 91, but scores seem to be dipping in and out. This will certainly be a case of waiting for the dust to settle, even if it's a strong start.

According to The Verge reporter Tom Warren, Todd Howard sent Starfield reviewers a letter about the game. You can read it in full below:

The man behind this summer's other big RPG has offered his congratulations to the Starfield team. Swen Vincke, director of Baldur's Gate 3, sent his good wishes to Bethesda in a tweet earlier today:

As I mentioned earlier, the Starfield performance is looking pretty good. According to Digital Foundry, there are few issues with framerate or stuttering, but you might struggle a little in major cities like Akila or New Atlantis. Beyond that, howeve,r it's hitting a "rock solid" 30fps.

I'm going to take a break for a few hours, but there'll still be all of our Starfield coverage from streamers and the broader community filtering through here as it goes live. Catch you later!

Between review feedback and early access streams, Starfield hopefuls are already asking for a proper map. If Bethesda won't add a map itself, this could be prime territory for modders. 

With Starfield reviews being the topic of the day, we thought we'd take a look at how it's currently standing compared to Bethesda games from the past - specifically with regards to its Metacritic rating. Specifically, we're seeing that early Starfield reviews are making its Metascore lower than Skyrim but higher than Fallout 4. Make of that what you will.

Reflecting on Starfield's bumpy development cycle, Todd Howard says there were many times when Bethesda worried Starfield would "never exist, that we had bitten off more than we could chew." 

As we approach the final hours until Starfield's early access launch, here's a very handy PSA for those with the Steam version of the game: even once you've pre-loaded the game, Steam will still need to unpack the files before it's actually playable, and you can take steps now to reduce the amount of time that takes and get into the game ASAP.

Starfield has one extremely believable detail: its Earth is a lifeless, ruined husk that fell to some horrid calamity in the 307 years that separates the game's future from the real 2023. Less than three centuries before the consequences of what we've done to the planet fully take hold? Yeah, sounds about right.

Alright - as the countdown to the Starfield launch drops to just 70 minutes, I have returned to guide you through the final moments before the game is finally in players' hands. After a 25 year journey, we're nearly there, so take your protein pills and strap in.

With reviews out and streamers having been playing since noon, more gameplay details are starting to come to light. My favourite so far is this snippet about the Starfield photo mode, which will occasionally load in your snaps as the game's loading screens.

As with any big RPG, you might be inclined to spend a huge amount of your first few hours with Starfield in the character creator. While it's as robust as you'd expect from a top of the line Bethesda game, however, you might not want to worry too much about getting everything absolutely perfect.

You'll be able to visit an in-universe store that lets you change everything, including name and gender. Some traits can be undone too, but it might be trickier to reverse all of the character ideas that you select at the start of the game.

As is tradition with a big game release, a fake sick note to provide to your teacher/boss/significant other has reared its head for Starfield. Starfield's version comes courtesy of Pete Hines, MD, which suggests that Bethesda's long-serving studio head has been doing some significant extracurricular study to get his medical license.

Earlier, I dropped in Digital Foundry's Starfield performance review, which suggested that it holds steady at its 30fps cap in all but its most densely-packed cities. What's also interesting to note is that a lot of the classic Bethesda launch jank appears to be absent too.

Don't get me wrong - I've had my share of bugs, and some of the Starfield reviews suggest that those definitely isolated to my few hours with the game. But it's definitely a slightly less clunky performance than I was expecting from a big Bethesda game. One post on the Starfield subreddit cites a review that claims that "I could boot up Skyrim or Fallout 4 right now and encounter more bugs than I have in my 120 hours of playing Starfield." That's a pretty glowing impression to offer, especially given the number of times Bethesda has re-released The Elder Scrolls 5.

For any game this big, you'd expect plenty of easter eggs, and it seems that Starfield is no exception. One Reddit post notes a callback to its Bethesda predecessor, as an NPC mentions that they "used to be an explorer too." Thankfully they cut themselves off before making the obvious joke, but we all know what they're going for.

Easter Eggs confirmed. from r/Starfield

If you'll indulge me in a brief but relevant side-note, that reminds me of a fun Skyrim story. Bethesda never actually expected the whole 'arrow to the knee' line to become such a meme, and the story of how it came to be is the result of some classic game development nonsense. 

A little under two years ago, we spoke to several Skyrim developers ahead of the game's tenth anniversary edition. Among them was audio director Mark Lampert, who explained that 'an arrow to the knee' became such a popular refrain because of how the game signposted the players to its NPCs.

In this instance, Lampert explains, "if the player has gone into a specific dungeon, they've cleared it out, they've raided the boss chest at the end of it - we're flipping a switch in the background somewhere that says 'player is an adventurer'." He likens it to an invisible achievement that only the game can see, but that NPCs will react to.

"It's no different than if you collect a full head-to-toe set of, say, Dwarven Armor and you come back to the same city. The guards will comment on that too, but that doesn't happen until you've been playing for a long time. Just about everybody does a little dungeon run before they get to Whiterun, it's simply the geography of where these things are on the map. So everyone has this adventure flag live on their character, and they pass by this guard who says that famous line."

The result is that everybody - every player, every streamer, and everyone who catches a Let's Play on YouTube - heard that line many, many times as they travelled around Whiterun. And the rest is history. Game dev, huh? Wild.

All of that excitement means we've blitzed past the 60 minute mark and are now less than 45 minutes from launch!

This is an interesting sentiment if you're just starting off, and it's one that I've seen a number of times already today. Personally, I've been trying to find ways off the main quest (with mixed success), but there's been a part of me that's wondered whether it would be smarter to really rush through it and see how the galaxy opens up afterwards. Worth considering if you're making a big push through the game this weekend.

I know I just said all the stuff about 'limited jank', but in my defense I did make it clear that the jank was still there, but there was just less of it than in, say , Skyrim. Anyway, here's a ship blasting off and leaving its pilot behind after they clipped through the trunk.

Yep.. It's definitely a Bethesda game and I love it from r/Starfield

Sorry to keep jumping back and forth, but this is another interesting point about that 'main quest' line. Earlier today I shared Todd Howard's comments about exploration and how it's different from other Bethesda games, and I think this tweet does a good job of explaining why.

You won't have that scripted 'step out' moment - like leaving the Vault in Fallout or heading into Rivington in Skyrim - even as you land on your first planet. Instead, the intention is that you'll make those moments for yourself as you explore the galaxy on your own terms. It's an interesting switch, and certainly one that rewards long-term play, but it might not be for everyone.

The 30-minute mark has passed - nearly there. Solidarity with my European pals who are waiting late into the night.

Several reviewers have been praising Starfield's performance on Xbox Series S. The smaller brother of the X gets the short end of the stick for its technical limitations, so to see a big city running as well as this is pretty impressive.

This is something I probably should have mentioned some time ago, but with Starfield out in the wild - streams running, reviews out, and players about to get their hands on it - if you're worried about spoilers you might want to be pretty careful. That's doubly true if you're not playing in early access but are waiting for the next week's full launch instead - if you're not steering well clear of social media, it's probably a good idea to make liberal use of the mute feature.

Just 15 minutes to go - this is true home stretch territory...

It just struck me that I couldn't remember what the first Starfield reveal looked like, so I've dug it out for us all to enjoy. 2018 seems a very long time ago, but it's clear Bethesda knew what it's galaxy was going to look like, even 

I've just looked in on the Starfield launch party happening in the official Bethesda Discord. As you might expect, it's a bit frantic in there...

Lore nuts, keep an eye out. Just five minutes to go!

To get you over the finish line, here's 2021's teaser trailer. If you start it now, by the time it's finished, Starfield will be live.

And there it is. I make it 1am in the UK, which means that Starfield is now live in your (hopefully less late-night) local time across the world! A 25-year journey has finally reached its end.

It's been a weird journey, and I suppose it's not really over yet. It's worth remembering that this is only the early access launch, and that a whole new swathe of fans will be blasting off in five days' time.

One thing I must say before I leave you for tonight, is that if you're playing on Steam and you've pre-loaded, do not restart your installation if you hit an 'unpacking' issue. Pre-loads need to 'un-zip' (for want of a more technical word) before they can be played, but if it's taking you a long time, it's probably a hardware issue. Starfield unpacking times will vary based on the speed and space on your drive, and you won't speed things up by starting over.

One more thing I'll say is that it's probably worth being patient - any big launch like this is going to have a few hiccups, and given the posts I'm already seeing hit the Starfield hashtag about people missing their access to the game, it might be wise to take a few minutes away to let things settle.

Actually, the more I look at it, the more there might be something wrong. There's a lot of "You're too early" error messages popping up, even though the game should be available to anyone with the Premium Edition's early access. Again, patience is probably key, so let's see what happens.

One hero suggests that if you're stuck on that error screen, there might be a relatively simple solution - take a look:

Increasingly, it looks like this was a bottleneck issue, as another user claims that spamming their way through the message was their way Into The Starfield.

Somehow it's already been more than 20 minutes, but here's a nice little launch post from the official Starfield account.

It's starting to look like more and more players are getting in,  but if you're still struggling, there do seem to be some community fixes to the Starfield 'you're too early' messages, based around uninstalling premium add-ons, or simply trying to force your way in. I've seen one message that says server rollouts are gradual, but I'm struggling to find anything from official channels.

To confirm, there's nothing from the Bethesda support channels, but it's pretty clear that more and more people are actually getting into the game, so it's looking like it's time for me to sign off for the night.

It's pretty late here in the UK, but we'll be back in about eight hours to cover the game in even more detail now that players are starting to get their hands on it. And, of course, this is only the first wave - even more players will take their trip Into the Starfield when full access becomes available next week. Have a good night! o7.

Good morning! We're back with today's Starfield launch day coverage. Starting things off on a slightly sombre note, players have noticed Starfield's tribute to a fan that passed away before the game's launch.

Alex Hay spoke about their passion for the game on its subreddit, but said that his lung cancer diagnosis and the game's delay from last November meant that he would likely never get to play for himself. The community rallied around his story, promising to take Alex into the Starfield in their own ways, and it seems like Bethesda took note.

As players start to pick their way through the game, they're starting to find Starfield's easter eggs, including this delightful-yet-inevitable nod to Skyrim's most infamous line.

And it should also come as little surprise that players are starting to work to flex their creative skills. Starfield ship customization is pretty deep if you're prepared to go tinkering with it, and some players are certainly doing this, including one who's created Star Wars and Halo ships within Starfield.

One things that's come out of the opening hours with Starfield is a certain lack of love for its map. In fact, it's not really a map, so much as an array of locations on an empty screen or a bunch of red dots on a minimap. Mod incoming?