It would seem that the recent rumors that id Software was helping Bethesda out with combat inStarfieldaren’t true after all. Todd Howard discussed the rumors in a recent interview, where he explained what exactly the studio behindDoomandWolfensteinwas assisting theSkyrimandFalloutdeveloper with.
The curious bit is that the leak aboutid Software helping withStarfield’s combatseemed promising for the game’s core gameplay loop, and the recent Xbox Games Showcase did feature substantially improved combat gameplay, which underlined the idea that the partnership was bearing fruit. According to Howard, however, this isn’t the case, and his studio was instead getting help in an entirely different department.
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Specifically, Howard pointed out that id Software assisted Bethesda withFallout 4’s combat but not withStarfield’s. Instead, id’s expertise with motion blur and the visual side of moment-to-moment gameplay was leveraged for the upcoming space exploration RPG. Howard also mentioned that there were “some other things that they do in id Tech” that got brought over intoStarfield’s Creation Engine 2, though he didn’t go into any further details on exactly what these features might be.
SinceStarfieldis capped at 30 FPSon Xbox Series consoles, the game’s handling of post-processing effects, such as motion blur, is crucial for the player’s perception of smoothness. It makes perfect sense that a studio with id Software’s tenure would be leveraged to optimize the game in this respect, and though it remains to be seen what else id has been helping out with, it’s clear that combat isn’t on the list.
This is still good news, though. While it wouldn’t have been surprising to haveid Software working on the combat elements ofStarfield, the fact that the studio didn’t chime in on this aspect of gameplay suggests good things about Bethesda Game Studios’s internal combat development. The things shown off during the Xbox Showcase suggested that big upgrades had been made since last year’s gameplay demo, and the developer appears to have it figured out on that front.
Given the game’s burgeoning popularity following the Xbox Game Showcase, it’s not a big surprise to see that somedevelopers have begun mockingStarfieldahead of its September release, but this doesn’t seem to have panned out for them. The community is largely happy with what Bethesda has shown off, and the only thing that remains is for Todd Howard’s team to deliver on its promises.
Starfieldreleases September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
