"You venture, discover, return": How the music in Starfield complements the Bethesda gameplay loop
Starfield is one of the most anticipated games of 2022 right now.
Part of the reason is its sheer novelty. Starfield is Bethesda's first new intellectual property in 25 years, whereas its followers are only used to long-standing franchises and established worlds in Fallout and in The Elder Scrolls.
As Bethesda continues to keep Starfield's gameplay behind closed doors, their monthly dev diary updates convey different aspects of the game. The most recently released episode, 'The Sound of Adventure', touches upon the subject of music and audio design.
While much of the diary is about how the music was composed, the featurette revolves around how the music relates to a diegetic part of the gameplay experience. The way in which audio director Mark Lampert and composer Inon Zur describe it also re-affirms the familiar Bethesda gameplay design.
Bethesda has been making role-playing games since an era where chiptune music was the norm, as well as the technical cap, for their soundtrack. The first two Elder Scrolls games, with music composed by Eric Heberling, can double as a demonstration of how music in adventure games has changed over the years.
What crystalized Bethesda's leanings towards idyllic Zen music that sink into the tapestry of the in-game world was Jeremy Soule's epic orchestral compositions in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.
The Fallout games were different in their music by miles, but very similar in how they were implemented. Composed by Inon Zur, the star behind the soundtracks of Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, Pathfinder, and many other major RPG franchises, the music of Fallout is tailored to accentuate its wasteland atmosphere.
If Fallout's music spells out the utter desolation of an atom-punk nightmare, Starfield's
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