How the Starfield factions will shape your adventure in Bethesda’s upcoming RPG – Gamesradar

The Starfield factions are the only element of Bethesda's spacefaring RPG that we have a clear picture of. Even with the Starfield release date set for November 11, 2022, on PC and Xbox Series X, we still know very little about the game although Bethesda is beginning to gradually pull back the curtain. We know that Starfield is set in the year 2330, and that it'll be an adventure across the frontiers of the Settled Systems. As we build a character, set our unique traits and backgrounds, we'll be left to freely navigate fractured alliances in the aftermath of a bloody Colony War that has forever stained this pocket of the Milky Way.

Bethesda has teased the major Starfield factions that we'll meet along the way, and the ways in which our interactions with the various groups will shape our story. Lead quest designer Will Shen says that a key goal for Bethesda is that you come away from Starfield feeling as if "you've had an impact on the world; you really feel like you're there." That's going to really shine through in your interactions with the various Starfield factions.

Factions are a familiar feature for any of you that have played a Bethesda game in the past. They are typically presented as organizations that exist within the world, each of which has a distinct mission objective or goal, not to mention its own unique questlines, perks, and rewards. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has the Dark Brotherhood, the Thieves Guild, the Blades, and 12 other joinable factions. Fallout 4 has four key factions Brotherhood of Steel, The Railroad, The Institute, and Commonwealth Minutemen and your alignment with one of them would ultimately shape the direction of your story and the type of quests you could engage in.

From what we've learned so far, it sounds like Starfield is approaching factions as a mixture of the two. Bethesda wants its sci-fi RPG to be more open-ended than anything it has built before. Design director Emil Pagliarulo presents one example, speaking to how you could interact with a pirate faction in Starfield ostensibly bad guys, but you can decide how you want to play off your interactions with the Crimson Fleet.

"What if you're a good person and you want to be a good player, and you don't want to play as a bad guy? You can side with the pirates or you can report back to your superiors and be this space cop," says Pagliarulo. "So [Starfield will] let you be a good person and still play with the bad guys."

"It's a level of immersion that we really focus on. You're not just playing a game, but you're living in this world, in this universe," adds lead artist Istvan Pely.

You'll begin Starfield as the newest member of the Constellation faction. This group is committed to uncovering the mysteries of the galaxy, known in the game as 'the last group of space explorers'. Constellation is an organization that is perhaps best compared to NASA; its mission objective is to search for answers in the far-reaches of space although the adventure you undertake at the beginning of Starfield is just "the beginning of humanity's final journey."

Given Pagliarulo's comment above, about being able to role-play a space cop who snitches on the Crimson Fleet to their superiors, it sounds as if Constellation membership might be a constant much like you were always a Dragonborn in Skyrim. After all, it's the Constellation faction who help you get into space to begin with, so the group will probably have an ongoing interest in what's going down on the Settled Systems.

The United Colonies is one of the major Starfield factions. This group has been described in a variety of ways by Bethesda; lead quest designer Will Shen says that the U.C. "represents the future of space republic idealized", while design director Emil Pagliarulo is on record saying that it's "the most powerful, established military and political faction in the game."

The United Colonies is based out of the capital city of New Atlantis, a sprawling mecca which Bethesda describes as being "a true reflection of the future of our world." Given the militaristic descriptions attributed to the U.C., it sounds as if this faction has similarities to the way the Brotherhood of Steel has been presented in past-Fallout games albeit working on a much larger scope now. The United Colonies is vying for control over the Settled Systems against the Freestar Collective, with each faction attempting to imprint its way of life on the other after the Colony War some 30 years prior.

The Freestar Collective is another one of the major factions in Starfield. It's a loose confederation of three distinct star systems, with its headquarters based out of Akila City. Bethesda describes The Freestar Collective as being "people that are out there on the frontier", with lead quest designer Will Shen going on to tease that aligning yourself with this faction will let you play out a "space western fantasy".

Interestingly, Akila City is walled-off from the planet that surrounds it, indicating that it might have less military might than the United Colonies or the various pirate factions that are working around the Settled Systems. There's also a non-human threat that The Freestar Collective have to contend with, with those walls also working to protect its citizens from the Ashta "alien predators that are a cross between a wolf and a velociraptor."

While it sounds as if the United Colonies and The Freestar Collective have pretty distinct morals and ethical codes (both can be seen as good, depending on your perspective), the Pirates of the Crimson Fleet are a more overly villainous presence in Starfield. Bethesda has confirmed that you'll be able to join up with the bad guys if you want to "they're not just this foe," teases lead quest designer Will Shen. "Let the player join them, what does that mean?"

The Crimson Fleet isn't a single organized entity, but rather a loose confederation of individual captains coming together under the same banner. While that probably makes plundering the Settled Systems a little easier for the pirates, it has put a target on their back any ships seen flying the 'Jolly Roger' symbol can be "terminated at will" by U.C. forces, so aligning yourself with this faction will cause problems.

The Xenofresh Corporation honestly sounds like a wild time. This faction exists in the 'pleasure city' of Neon, which could well be Starfield's take on Mos Eisley were I to make the obligatory Star Wars reference. The Xenofresh Corporation started life as a fishing company which set up shop on an otherwise quiet aquatic world. However, once the corp started its work it soon discovered that the fish on the planet could produce a chemical called Aurora which can be used as a psychoactive drug. And so the Xenofresh Corporation began selling Aurora to the public for profit, building the city of Neon atop the fishing platform and becoming a party zone that will no doubt be wrought with chaotic questlines.

Little is known about Ryujin Industries, although lead quest designer Will Shen believes it has "one of the best starts out of any of the factions." Additionally, design director Emil Pagliarulo says of that opening: you'll need to pass an entrance exam to do business with the faction that sounds like it would have been comfortable in Cyberpunk 2077's Night City. "It's a megacorp and you get hired, right? Apply for a job and see if you cut the mustard."

These are the major Starfield factions that we have details of so far, although they won't be the only joinable and non-joinable factions in the game. Starfield is all about scope and about choice, or as game director Todd Howard puts it: "You have to ask: What makes the world feel whole? What are the groups that will make it feel whole and believable? Then ask: How will the player interact with them?"

That's what we'll find out when we interact with factions like the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective, and begin to tangle with some of the more secretive Starfield factions listed below, when the game releases later this year.

Starfield is one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox Series X games, but when will we see it in action? There's always a chance Microsoft will give it a big reveal in June, although it is yet to officially book out any time in the E3 2022 schedule.

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How the Starfield factions will shape your adventure in Bethesda's upcoming RPG - Gamesradar