Ex-Starfield Artist Explains Cut of Graphic Violence

Summary

• Starfield's lack of graphic violence was an intentional choice, driven by both technical issues and the game's intended tone.
• Dennis Mejillones, a character artist who worked at Bethesda on Starfield and Fallout 4, highlighted that the decision was made to maintain the game's immersive and realistic atmosphere.

Starfield, Bethesda's latest sci-fi adventure, was initially planned to include more graphic violence, such as decapitations and elaborate kill animations. However, these elements were ultimately omitted due to both technical challenges and a desire to preserve the game's tone.

Bethesda's history with first-person shooters like Fallout is marked by graphic gore, but Starfield takes a different approach. While combat remains a central feature, with many players praising the improvements in gunplay and melee combat over Fallout 4, the studio chose to dial back the violence.

In an interview with the Kiwi Talkz podcast on YouTube, Dennis Mejillones, a character artist who contributed to both Starfield and Fallout 4, discussed these decisions. He noted that the diverse array of suits and helmets in Starfield made animating violent scenes like decapitations technically challenging. Such animations risked looking unrealistic or buggy, especially given the persistent technical issues Starfield faced even after several large updates.

Starfield Cut Decapitations for Technical and Tonal Reasons

Beyond technical considerations, Mejillones pointed out that the humor and gore characteristic of Fallout did not align with Starfield's more serious and grounded sci-fi narrative. While Starfield does include nods to Bethesda's more light-hearted and violent games, such as the recent addition of Doom-inspired content, it generally strives for a more realistic and immersive experience. Over-the-top executions, while potentially thrilling, might have disrupted this immersion.

Fan feedback has highlighted a desire for greater realism in Starfield, with some criticizing the game's nightclubs as feeling tame compared to other gritty sci-fi titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Mass Effect. Including tongue-in-cheek violence could have exacerbated these concerns, further distancing the game from the grounded experience players seek. Ultimately, Bethesda's decision to tone down the gore appears to align well with the game's intended atmosphere, even if it deviates from the studio's traditional approach to violence in its shooters.