Let’s Talk About the Story and Structure of Starfield

Many spoilers ahead!

Starfield starts in this random mining colony, but it’s about so much more…I guess? PC screenshot captured by the author.

Starfield immediately tells you what it is, right out in the open, and right at its very beginning. It has a cheeky little secret buried in its logo design that I’m sure Bethesda’s designers thought was clever, but which made me roll my eyes hard once I was in on the joke.

At its core, this game is about an endless time loop that you happen to be trapped in. The Starfield logo has a prominent circle drawn between the letters “T” and “L” (for time loop), and the circle animates between them in the opening moments of the game to depict its cyclical nature.

This whole concept clearly sprung out of an attempt at good narrative design, blending the game’s story with its raw mechanics. Many RPGs allow for multiple “new game plus” repeat playthroughs, and Starfield tries to justify this within its story. The game’s designers said as much in several interviews. They noticed that people liked to replay their games over and over — wouldn’t it be great if the game itself reacted to that, plot-wise?

In practice, it doesn’t really work out. But they tried. Kind of. Starfield lets you keep playing through it over and over, experiencing the same story with the supposed benefit of increased perspective. When you go back through the plot knowing full well what…