Comparisons between Starfield and Mass Effect don’t fully capture Bethesda’s unique game concept.
Recently, Bethesda’s Lead Artist, Istvan Pely, spoke with GamesRadar+ about the distinct development approach used for Starfield.
“We never set out to make a Mass Effect game and create nine beautiful, fully-fledged planets, because that’s not the game we were building. We could never fill the space between them with all that content. It’s impossible.”
Instead, the developer explained that Bethesda focused on enhancing systems “to deliver content directly to the player.” For fans who are genuinely drawn to Starfield, this approach works because “they understand that space is vast — that’s part of its appeal and charm.”
Bethesda’s objective wasn’t to present players with a limited selection of perfectly crafted planets, but rather to discover how to empower them in exploring the vast galaxy that Starfield is built around.