Starfield Dev Explains Why They Nerfed Planetary Afflictions

Starfield is easily one of the biggest video game releases of 2023. The title was highly anticipated for years, and it was the first new RPG from the Bethesda team in quite some time. So, a lot of interest was built around the gameplay experience, and with so much pressure, it’s likely that there were several changes made along the way. This game is now available, and players can go through the various quests and explore planets while we wait for some post-launch content to come out. However, looking back, the game director behind Starfield offered an example of a feature that got dialed back during development.

Todd Howard is the game director behind Starfield, and recently, he was featured on the Game Maker’s Notebook. Thanks to PCGamesN, we’re finding out that Todd Howard spoke about cuts during the conversation. In particular, it looks like cuts for the Bethesda team are more about dialing certain features back rather than outright omitting them. At the very least, that’s what happened with planetary afflictions. It looks like planets were made to provide a bit more damage to the player.

I’m sure you can still see indicators show up when you’re in a badly radiated area or something along those lines. But it’s made now to be more annoying that you have it than actually seeing something hurting the player. Todd noted that the system initially crafted was complex. There was the idea that every player required a particular suit to equip when venturing out that could fend off issues that the planet is known for. 

This system was found just too complicated to explain to players, and the developers opted to nerf it quite a bit. Instead, you’re just getting a slight flavor of what was initially planned. Likewise, this resulted in the developers getting to spend more time in other areas of the game. Now, with mod support coming, we could very well see this feature come back to fruition with the modding community. There may be a mod that launches, which forces players to equip certain items and suits when exploring a planet. We might even see additional afflictions come into play. 

Currently, Starfield is available to pick up and play today. The game was released for the PC and Xbox Series X/S platforms. However, you will also find that the game is available through the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. If you have yet to try this game out, then check out our Before You Buy video coverage below.