Bethesda’s potential RPG hit will be released in early September and is expected to be an extensive gaming experience with many planets, companions and spaceships. A feature that some role-playing fans like will probably not be available in its entirety, namely the possibility to get through the new space game from the creators of Skyrim and Fallout without violence.
In a recent Discord Q&A transcribed via Reddit, designer Emil Pagliarulo and design director Will Shen were asked if you could play through the entire game without killing anyone or anything. Shen then “couldn’t guarantee that every mission can be completed in pacifist mode, but we have a few systems that will help with that. One system is our speech challenge game, where you can persuade someone to do something, for example not to fight one.”
“The game is built into certain scripted moments and we try to build it into most of the quests where you encounter important characters.” According to Pagliarulo, there was talk very early on in pre-production about fully supporting a “non-lethal” playthrough, but it quickly became clear that this wasn’t entirely feasible for a variety of reasons.
Starfield: dialogues and non-lethal weapons
However, there are still some “good” options for pacifist players, from dialogue to non-lethal weapons. “These can be used in certain situations, many situations frankly, although I can’t say you can beat the entire game without any killing whatsoever. The settlement systems are mostly civilized, but it can get dangerous if you stray off the beaten track Paths moved. And you go absolutely off the beaten path!”
So given the overall scope, it’s obviously difficult to design Starfield in such a way that the players can get by without killing. As Gamingbolt reports, given the creativity of the fans and the possibilities of modders, it remains exciting to see whether a pacifistic gameplay of some kind will still be possible.