Bethesda lead says Starfield's best quests might not be quests at all

Starfield
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield and Bethesda publishing lead Pete Hines says some of the RPG's best quests might not even be actual quests, but rather amazing individual moments or stories found through exploration and miscellaneous activities.

Speaking earlier today at Gamescom 2023 during Xbox's livestream, Hines discussed his own experience with Starfield. While casually mentioning that he's put around 150 hours into Starfield and still hasn't seen close to everything, Hines also stopped to give fans a bit of helpful advice for when they get their hands on the new game.

"My one piece of advice – do not ignore your activities," Hines said. "It feels like throwaway stuff that the game is giving you, but there is some amazing stuff in there that doesn't even feel like a real quest but will take you to some amazing places, some amazing stories. 

"We encourage you to play this like any [Bethesda Game Studios] game: do what you want, go where you want, be the player you wanna be and test this world and see what happens," Hines concluded, hammering home the importance of player decision and narratives in Starfield.

Ask just about anyone about their memories of games like Skyrim and Fallout 4 and they'll tell you about some batshit moment completely off the beaten path. Bethesda's games are always vast and Starfield is clearly no exception, and it sounds as though the studio's worked extra hard to layer in hidden aspects for players to discover at their own leisure. 

Starfield is finally out next month on September 6, or you can get in a few days earlier on September 1 if you're part of the Starfield early access crew. We've already seen what to expect from Starfield's opening for ourselves at Gamescom, and it's shaping up to be something special.

Check out our Starfield skills guide for a full look over all the skills and abilities we've seen from Bethesda's new game so far, before launch.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.