Starfield has a large font mode and deep sci-fi history lore, but no space fishing

eurogamer.net:

Starfield director Todd Howard has revealed that Starfield will have a large font mode and no space fishing.

Howard shared those details and many more in a podcast with Kinda Funny Games, in which he answered questions from the hosts and sent in by fans.

Here's a roundup of everything Howard confirmed for Starfield during the podcast.

On accessibility, Bethesda is «really leaning in on» a large font mode, and it's been considered in relation to various monitor sizes and handheld devices. Steam Deck compatibility will be discussed «later down the road».

The background selected during character creation will add flavour in roleplaying and is not just an effect on numbers and stats. Starfield has no space fishing (defined as using a rod to catch alien fish in a lake and then cooking or selling it), despite it being a big trend in open-world games.

There's a variety of handcrafted locations. Some will be placed on specific planets in a set position, others will be randomly generated or placed when a player lands on a planet. In terms of creating the game's 1000 plus planets, there will be some procedural generation. Around 10 percent of these will have life on.

Some planets players find will be barren. Howard quoted Buzz Aldrin's «magnificent desolation», saying Bethesda wanted to give a sense of beauty to abandoned empty planets for players to feel like they're one of the only people to ever see it. He also said having too many abandoned bases or objects on a planet felt too «game-y».

A single planet can have multiple biomes. Scanning planets for their traits will net players some money, so it's worthwhile to do so. Environmental effects such as temperature and radiation can give the player ailments if they don't properly