The scale of Starfield is nothing to sneeze at, but among all of its varied planets and ecosystems, one particular feature doesn’t crop up very often. Rather than featuring a smaller number of bespoke planet designs, Starfield uses procedural generation to handle most of its environments, taking a similar tack to the space-faring adventure game No Man’s Sky. Some aspects of this system are ultimately impressive, while others can feel repetitive or underwhelming after exploring enough planets that share similar elements and lack stand-out charms.
Unlike some more far-flung sci-fi games, Starfield centers its aesthetic and ideas around an overall sense of realism, drawing from the actual history of space flight and knowledge of the universe to render a believable galaxy. Consequently, most planets aren’t going to be lush green paradises or showcase the variety of biomes represented by Earth, as the conditions to produce robust life aren’t exactly common. That doesn’t mean that the game isn’t willing to bend the rules sometimes, but it does explain why certain planetary features are ultimately rare.
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A Lake Is A Rare Starfield Discovery
Water isn’t in common supply across the planets of Starfield, and the overall aquatic representation is poor enough to warrant a Reddit post from user KangDC upon the discovery of a lake. This particular instance appeared in a mountainous region of Hyla II, a planet with an oxygen-rich atmosphere that promotes abundant flora and fauna. Looking out on a huge stretch of water provides a unique vista in Starfield, one that’s much more reminiscent of beautiful scenery on Earth than most alien environments in the game are.
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Hyla II Isn’t The Only Starfield Planet With Water
It’s possible to play an extensive amount of Starfield without ever encountering a lake outside of New Atlantis, Neon, and Paradiso, discrete locations where water features make up a significant portion of their appeal. Hyla II isn’t alone, however, as a minority of planets do feature water as a biological resource. When it does appear, it seems to more frequently come in the form of wetlands — Archimedes III, for example, features an extensive swamp biome that’s quite impressive in its own right — preserving the rarity of a sight like Hyla II’s lake.
The fact that environments like lakes aren’t commonplace in Starfield makes the excitement of discovery even more special, and moments like this help to sustain an overall interest in exploration. The hours in-between, however, aren’t always as compelling as they could be, resulting in a generally imperfect trade-off that will work better for some than for others. Like actual interplanetary travel would be, Starfield highlights incredible heights and a vast sense of exploration complemented by a fair share of the mundane. It might be easy to take water for granted on Earth, but in Starfield, a lake takes on more meaning than ever.
Starfield
- Platform(s):
- PC, Xbox Series X/S
- Released:
- 2023-09-06
- Developer(s):
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s):
- Bethesda Softworks
- Genre(s):
- Open-World, RPG, Sci-Fi
- ESRB:
- M
- Summary:
- Bethesda Game Studios presents Starfield – the first original IP from the studio in twenty-five-plus years. Set in the year 2310, the United Colonies and Freestar Collective are observing a shaky truce after a war set 20 years prior. The player will customize their character as a member of a space exploration team called Constellation while navigating The Settled Systems and the conflicts between the warring factions. According to Bethesda, players can explore over 100 systems and 1000 planets to find resources and build their ships, living out their own sci-fi journeys.
