Phil Spencer Says Starfield Is "More Oblivion Than Skyrim"

24.08.2023 - 13:01 / thegamer.com / Phil Spencer / Jerret West / Phil Spencer Says

In a new interview with IGN during Gamescom, Xbox boss Phil Spencer revealed that Starfield is "more Oblivion than Skyrim", a conclusion he came to during his 200 hours of playing.

"So I think I'm on my 15th playthrough," Spencer said. "I start, we change save game formats, blah blah blah, all that stuff. So I started in November, but I'm playing - I think - my final character playthrough. Total space pirate. I'm a total space pirate. I think it's more Oblivion than Skyrim - for people who've played, maybe they'll get that. It is an epic, epic game."

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How it's more Oblivion than Skyrim, Spencer didn't say. Maybe it's camper, maybe there are dynamic NPC interactions that lay the groundwork for memes that last decades, or maybe big demonic portals open up in cities that release little imps who kill everyone on sight. Who knows? We'll find out soon enough when it launches on September 6.

There is one distinctly Oblivion-like feature we know about already, and that's the return of the Adoring Fan. Once you'd conquered the arena in Oblivion, this excitable little irritant would follow you everywhere, excitedly showing up at random. Most people just killed him.

Now, he's back! This time, as something you can choose to have at the very start of the game if for some reason you fancy reliving that grating experience. All thanks to a perk. You could also shove him off a cliff again... this time in space.

The Adoring Fan is immortal, mind. Killing him just causes him to return at your heel, so I'm convinced he's either A) a curse from one of the other combatants in the arena, or B) a Daedric Prince's idea of a funny joke. Probably Sanguine. And he can't even fight, so he's just a tedious nuisance. But in Starfield, he can help out in combat and even brings you gifts like a Minecraft cat.

But I doubt Spencer means it's more like Oblivion than Skyrim because of one NPC, given that it's a gargantuan game with 1,000 planets and ambition like no other Bethesda title. The Adoring Fan does point to a much camper world, though, so perhaps it really is just a cheesier and more light-hearted experience than the grittier world of Skyrim.

Spencer isn't the only one at Xbox spilling details. Chief marketing officer Jerret West also claims that Starfield is the beginning of "a multi-year relay race of first-party titles", i.e. it's the beginning of far more exclusive Xbox games being launched in rapid succession. Maybe they'll all be like Oblivion, wouldn't that be nice?

Next: Baldur's Gate 3 Has Given Starfield So Much More To Prove