Starfield Players Question Lack of Gore Compared to Fallout 4 and Skyrim

Summary

WithStarfieldnow available, some players are questioning why Bethesda appears to have toned down the game’s gore compared toFallout 4andThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. It’s no secret that Bethesda’s open-world games can be incredibly violent. Whether asSkyrim’s Dragonborn orFallout 4’s Vault Dweller, players will use a diverse selection of weapons, magic, and more to battle increasingly nightmarish enemies.Starfield’s much the same, but don’t expect much in the way of dismemberment while playing.

Extreme violence and gore haven’t necessarily always been a part of Bethesda’s toolkit. For example,The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowindmay have walking skeletons and corpses, but attacks result in little more than puffs of blood. That changed with the release of bothOblivionandFallout 3, in 2006 and 2008, respectively.Oblivion’s gates and the Dark Brotherhood’s questline are rife with dismembered corpses.Fallout 3’s V.A.T.S. systemwent on to allow players to dismember enemies themselves with well-aimed attacks. Gore has been a part of Bethesda’s games since.

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Starfield, in comparison to past Bethesda games, has toned down its more extreme violence in some substantial ways. A post on Reddit highlighted community confusion on the subject. One commenter mentions visiting an apartment with “blood EVERYWHERE,” only to discover a perfectly intact body that looks more like it’s asleep than a victim of murder. Others jokingly mention how Terrormorphs,Starfield’s giant flesh-rending aliens, don’t actually commit violence so much as “boop people to sleep.”

Even the ESRB has recognized thatStarfieldis much tamer thanBethesda’s previous games. WhileStarfielddid receive a Mature rating from the ESRB for reasons including blood and violence, the examples provided in the rating refer to blood-splatter effects, bloodstains, and corpses. For comparison,Fallout 4’s ESRB rating warns of “slow-motion dismemberment and decapitations,” as well as “chunks of flesh,” “severed heads,” and “dismembered corpses,” on display.Starfieldis more akin toMorrowindthan any of Bethesda’s more recent releases.

As for whyStarfieldappears to have toned down its violence compared to previous games, there are some reasonable-sounding answers.Starfielddoes feature a more grounded and realistic tone and setting. NASApunk isn’t necessarily fitting for gratuitous gore. There’s also aStar Trek-esque maturityto the game, perhaps implying Bethesda saw violence as taking away from the game’s bigger themes of wonder and awe at the brilliance of space exploration.

But critics of the decision have a point.Starfieldmay aspire to be a more grounded and mature game, but it is still full of gratuitous violence and scenarios where more visually punchy gore would be appropriate. Players will have to rely onStarfieldmodsto make up for it.

Starfieldis available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.