Starfield developer recently explained why gore features such as dismemberment and decapitation were removed from the game.
During an interview with KIWI TALKZ (via GameSpot), Dennis Mejillones, the character artist for not just Starfield but other Bethesda titles such as Fallout 4 and Skyrim, discussed why gore didn’t make it to the final cut. Mejillones first explained that there’s a lot that goes into gore from a technical perspective, which includes things like designing how the helmets get cut, adding meat caps where the head gets cut, and more.
The team had built a system for this feature, which became a ‘big rat nest’ with many things to account for. One of the hurdles was the advanced character creator, which allowed players to expand the character’s body size, making it more challenging to add gore for Starfield.
Another reason for not adding gore to Starfield was that it didn’t fit thematically. Mejillones explains that this feature is stylised for Fallout 4 and is part of ‘the tongue-in-cheek humour’. On the other hand, Starfield is supposed to be ‘more lo-fi, more realistic. ‘ The former Bethesda developer added that things like The Expanse from Star Trek inspired them.
Mejillones concluded that there were two reasons that gore was cut from Starfield: first, it did not fit thematically, and second, the technical overhead cost to get it to work. Mejillones was also asked whether ID Software was brought on to handle the gore, to which he responded that “they helped out a lot,” but it just wasn’t a good fit for the game.
In other news, a former Bethesda dev has suggested that players are tired of massive games. Also, Starfield crossed 15 million players a few months ago. What are your thoughts on gore being cut from Starfield? Let us know in the comments below or on our community forum!
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