Bethesda has confirmed a rather divisive feature in its upcoming sci-fi RPG, Starfield. Starfield looks and sounds very ambitious, and a potential bar setter for open-world games if it makes good on all of its potential and promises. That's a big if though. And if the inclusion of the aforementioned feature is an indicator, the game may be cutting some corners here and there. When Starfield launches in the first half of next year via the PC, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X, it will have a silent protagonist.

As you may know, Bethesda Game Studios has done both voiced and silent protagonists in the past. Many gamers prefer the former, as the latter can be an immersion breaker and definitely stunts cutscenes. However, among hardcore RPG fans, in particular, prefer silent protagonists as it enables deeper role-playing. Further, some fans are relieved to hear it because last time Bethesda Game Studios did it, with Fallout 4, it wasn't very good.

The news comes straight from the Bethesda Game Studios Twitter account, which confirmed the silent protagonist alongside confirming that all dialogue in the game is in first-person. As you would expect, the replies are divided.

"Thank you so much! This is why KOTOR, Skyrim, Oblivion, and Dragon Age: Origins are so immersive to me," reads one of the most popular replies. "That's disappointing honestly and companies should stop doing this. Make it like The Witcher or any other RPG that has voices for characters," reads a conflicting opinion.

Right now, the response is pretty divided down the middle. That said, even if it was mostly negative, Bethesda Game Studios wouldn't change it at this point as the game is too far along in development.

For what it's worth, Bethesda has far more experience making games with silent protagonists, and most of the time, it's done very well. Meanwhile, it has minimal experience with voiced protagonists, and it's not been done very well, so the silent protagonist route was always going to be more likely than a voiced protagonist.

As always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think. Is this the right call by Bethesda Game Studios and Xbox or should they have gone with a voiced protagonist?



Posted: Jun 26, 2022 8:01 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/starfield-bethesda-game-feature-twitter-reaction/