“If I was in charge of Starfield, I would have not done it that way at all” – Former Bethesda veteran would’ve handled the RPG’s 1,000 planets very differently
Nate Purkeypile, a senior artist who worked on major Bethesda titles including Fallout 3, Skyrim, and the early development of Starfield, has publicly critiqued the studio's design direction for its latest RPG. In a recent interview, Purkeypile argued that Starfield's approach to populating the game with 1,000 procedurally-generated planets fundamentally contradicts what has historically worked well for Bethesda games, stating he would have pursued an entirely different strategy had he been in charge.
Purkeypile's primary concern centres on the repetitive content players encounter when exploring these procedurally-generated worlds. He noted that throughout the main quest, players encounter similar dungeon layouts and recycled content because the game does not generate sufficiently varied procedural environments. Drawing parallels to Mass Effect 1's procedural planets, which also suffered from repetitive design, Purkeypile advocated for an alternative approach: crafting a smaller number of planets with individually designed, unique layouts that would better leverage Bethesda's strengths in bespoke world-building.
- Nate Purkeypile, a veteran Bethesda artist, criticised Starfield's approach of generating 1,000 explorable planets, arguing it clashes with the studio's traditional design strengths.
- He advocated instead for a handful of handcrafted planets with unique layouts, citing repeated dungeon content and Mass Effect 1's similar procedural approach as cautionary examples.