Bethesda's Todd Howard says Starfield is more like Red Dead Redemption 2 than No Man's Sky

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"Like I'm living the Western fantasy. So in this, you're living this science fiction explorer fantasy"

Starfield
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield has more of a Red Dead Redemption 2 vibe than No Man's Sky or Mass Effect, according to Bethesda's Todd Howard.

Talking to IGN, Howard was asked if games like Elder Scrolls, Fallout, No Man's Sky, and Mass Effect served as any sort of inspiration for Starfield, and Howard instead pointed to Rockstar's open-world Western opus.

"Well, clearly, those other games that are science fiction, I think you might look at and say, 'Okay, this is science fiction. It's like that.' I think the minute to minute, obviously on the ground, it has similarities to Elder Scrolls and Fallout and the things that we've made and how it feels in your hands or some certain mechanics.

"But believe it or not, it's the games that put you in a world, that transport you to a place. So I think it also as a flow, probably has more of a feeling of a [Red Dead Redemption 2], right? Like I'm living the Western fantasy. So in this, you're living this science fiction explorer fantasy, and sometimes that's being on a barren planet and nothing is going on."

This is the second time this week Red Dead Redemption 2 has been invoked in the context of an big upcoming game, with Star Wars Outlaws' creative director saying the comparisons going around online are "great."

It also makes sense from a marketing perspective to compare your game to one of the most acclaimed IPs of all time, but we'll have to wait until Starfield's September 6 release date to see if its massive universe stands up to Rockstar's sandbox.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.