Bethesda Game Studios’ newest IP could have been much gorier, as Starfield almost had decapitations, according to a former developer. Sadly, players chasing the Starfield achievements ultimately couldn’t behead their enemies in the Xbox RPG for a couple of reasons, namely helmets.Bethesda had planned for Starfield to be far gorierBethesda had planned to add more gore and animations to StarfieldTechnical limitations would have made it a costly feature to add to the gameIncreased gore wouldn’t have “fit thematically” in StarfieldWhen recently speaking on the Kiwi Talkz podcast, former Bethesda character artist Dennis Mejillones revealed that Bethesda had systems in place for more gore in Starfield, similar to Fallout. The team had planned on adding more visceral animations like decapitations, but technical complications with space suits and helmets put an end to their plans.When discussing Starfield on the podcast, Mejillones was asked why Bethesda decided not to add decapitations and kill animations to the space RPG in the end — features that have been included in past Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. “That has a lot of implications with the different suits,” Mejillones said. “From a technical perspective, there’s a lot that has to go with it. You have to cut the helmet in a certain way, and it’s got to come off, and you’ve got to have meat caps at the bottom where the flesh is.“You know, we had systems for all of that, and it turned into a big rat’s nest of all these things you had to account for now, with all those crazy hoses on the helmets and all that kind of stuff that we added, and now you could change the body size significantly. The character creator had evolved quite a bit – so I think that was part of it.”Mejillones highlighted Fallout’s Bloody Mess perk, which increases the chance of enemies exploding into a fountain of gore when killed, as an example of over-the-top gore — something the team felt wouldn’t fit thematically with Starfield. “Fallout is very stylized in that regard. It’s meant to be… that’s part of the tongue-in-cheek humor. You know, that perk you get where you can make a mess out of somebody, they just blow up into goo; it’s part of the fun,” Mejillones said. “It’s like those old-school animes like Fist of the North Star – they punch each other, and gushes of blood would forever come out. It’s just, nobody can hold that much blood but you’re like ‘oh man, that’s cool.’ It adds to that style.”According to Mejillones, Bethesda was inspired by franchises like Star Trek and The Expanse, and so Starfield was “definitely meant to be more low-key and realistic.” While not fitting thematically, Mejillones also points out that “You have the technical overhead cost to get it to work, so we were kind of like ‘it’s probably better not to include it in this game.”We really enjoyed Starfield, and as such, it’s found a place on our list of the best Game Pass games — with or without the gore. Would you have liked to have the ability to lop off the heads of your enemies while exploring its many planets? Drop a comment below and let us know!
Source link
