I hate thinking aboutStarfieldwhen I’m still in Act 1 ofBaldur’s Gate 3, but I don’t have a choice. If gamers want hot takes on Bethesda’s first RPG in nearly a decade, that’s what they’re gonna get, and when the game is finally released I’ll have no choice but to oblige. Besides, as much as I’m loving BG3 (and I am – I’ve written about it perhaps too much at this point), I am an absolute sucker for sci-fi, and I love Bethesda games,though I certainly enjoy some more than others. I wasn’t fantasising about booting up BG3 for the first time, but I’m already creating a headcanon for my character in Starfield despite having very little idea what the final traits I can choose from are going to look like.
That’s why I was delighted to find this transcript of a developer Q&A on Reddit, transcribed by u/ninjabell from a Discord server. In it, lead quest designer Will Shen and lead designer Emil Pagliarulo touch on many topics, including the ability to buy houses or property (you may), whether you can go to jail (you can), whether you can be a double agent (you can), and whether you can do a full pacifist run (you can’t). What caught my eye, though, was a brief discussion of the religions in the universe and which you can join.
Related:Starfield’s Companions Finally Have Me Interested
There is the Sanctum Universum, whose members call themselves Universals and believe that God exists somewhere in the universe and “humanity’s ability to travel the stars brings us closer to God”, in Shen’s words. There is House Va’ruun, which began when during a grav jump, a passenger claimed time stretched for him and he had been “communing with a celestial entity known as the Great Serpent”, Pagliarulo says. Whether this is true or not, this passenger said the Great Serpent had a mandate, which was more or less to worship him or be devoured “when the Great Serpent encircles the universe”, which to be fair, is pretty metal. They end up as an enemy group at times, which is understandable.
My favourite though, is the one that seems normal and sane and good, because like my colleague Quinton O’Connor,I always wanna play the good guy. I will immediately be gunning to join The Enlightened, a group of organised atheists who don’t actually believe in a higher power but believe that human beings have to take care of each other. They do this by focusing on humanitarian and community work, and “believe that life is something every person has to take responsibility for” and that it’s our job to make the world a better place, as Shen explains.
Of course, this is the one that resonates most with me, as a lifelong atheist as well as a person who believes humanitarian work and community outreach is crucial in protecting our communities. But then again, this is Bethesda – very often, not everything is what it seems on its face. If the good religion isn’t really good, that gives me the opportunity to be the ultimate good guy and clean up a dirty operation. And if these people are what they say they are… even better, no ethical quandary for me!
I know, I know. I could just not join any of them, or I could joinallof them – apparently, every faction storyline can be completed separately, which means I’m gonna play it like Skyrim. To be specific, I’ll create a character, start roleplaying as a good guy, drop the pretence after 30 hours so I can do absolutely everything the game has to offer, feel guilty about betraying my morals and try to do the right thing in every situation, and eventually decide I’m really bad at roleplaying. Either way, I’m going to have a hell of a lot of fun. But first, I’m going to help as many people as I can, because I love playing the hero.
