Skyrim is one of the best RPG games in recent times, giving players the freedom to explore the world the way they want to. It also has numerous characters that will accompany players as companions, helping them defeat enemies, carrying loot, and taking any commands issued by the player. This is a standard in Bethesda games, so it is easy to ascertain that Starfield will undoubtedly have companions within the game. However, Bethesda has an opportunity to make this aspect much more compelling by improving how the players can interact with their companions, and how the companions will interact with the world and the enemies.
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Deeper Companion Lore
One of the major downfalls in the companion system of Skyrim is the lack of conversations that players can have with them after they have been employed. Looking at Faendal, the first available companion in the game, not a lot is known about him outside his quarrel with Sven and his love for Camilla. This is an aspect that is true for most of the companions, as they are portrayed as blank slates with their only real lore seemingly being that they were companions of the Dragonborn.
Starfield has already borrowed a lot of elements from Skyrim, including the multiple factions that players can join. For the companions in Starfield to truly stand out, they need to have more in-depth backstories that can be flushed out through conversation after employing them as companions. There are numerous games that do this well, such as the Mass Effect series, that lets the player interact with each of the companions and give a lot of lore about the character and the world in general.
Companion Quests
Skyrim often requires players to complete certain quests to gain a companion, except for the mercenaries. These quests are usually straightforward, and many of them are tied in some way to different plot lines. Those companions that have longer quests are given some more lore and backstory, but the others lack the depth that can be truly fleshed out through quests.
Starfield could introduce unique quests that are only unlocked after joining up with a companion to improve relations and deepen the overall lore within the world. These quests will also add more things for players to do, and could have consequences such as losing the companion or trading them for another NPC within the questline.
Companion Classes
The companions in Skyrim are known for being extremely versatile, ensuring that players do not have to worry about companions like Lydia not being able to sneak around if they decide to go down a stealth build. This means that rather than seeking out companions to suit the player’s combat style, the companions can be tailored to fit the combat style that would best complement the player’s preferred gameplay.
For Starfield to take the companion system a step further, they would need to give each of the companions a place within combat. Companion classes would mean that companions would only use certain types of weapons and equipment, and will react to various scenarios in different ways. This could not only improve the overall gameplay, but adds more role-playing elements in the game to ensure that the companions will not forgo their ethics or morals.
Idle Companions
Skyrim’s companion system does not allow players to have more than one companion traveling with them, which means that many of the game’s companions are rarely utilized, and only really live at the locations where they can be called upon again. Moreover, while companions are resting at the home base, they do not have a dynamic life as the other NPCs in the game. In a way, this ruins the immersive feeling, and is especially noticeable for mercenary companions that are always at the same tavern, or companions that return to the player’s house like Lydia.
Starfield has a chance to ensure that its world immersion is not broken by these small details, and can have the companions carry on with their daily routines. This will force players to look around and explore more of the world to locate their idle companions. These companions could even be employed to work on certain quests or assigned to one of the factions to serve as another member, and act as a form of passive income for the player, which would be especially beneficial for players who would opt not to have a companion following them around.
Starfield will be Bethesda’s newest IP in decades, and will usher in a new type of RPG game into its star-studded lineup. While it already has a lot of hype to live up to, Starfield also has all the possibilities to leave an impact in the gaming world akin to Skyrim’s release in 2011. There are many facets of Skyrim’s gameplay that Starfield will try to emulate, however, improving on and tweaking these facets is as important as including them as it shows a sense of progress in creating these games.
Starfield releases on November 11, 2022, for PC and Xbox Series X|S.
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