Bethesda's Todd Howard Comments on New Game Plus in Starfield

Bethesda Executive Producer Todd Howard has reflected on Starfield‘s New Game Plus mode in a new extensive interview, suggesting that some players did not fully understand what the studio was trying to achieve with it. That apparent disconnect seems to have played a role in Bethesda reversing some of its original design decisions in a recent Starfield update.

Starfield endgame spoilers ahead.

At the end of the game’s story campaign, Starfield players are given a choice between walking into Unity and walking away from it. The former will transport them into an alternate universe at the start of the space-faring RPG’s storyline. They get to keep their level and Starborn powers, but while losing their gear and all the relationships they build over the course of the game’s story. Not going through with becoming a Starborn isn’t an irreversible decision, as players can always go back to Unity.

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Todd Howard Says Starfield’s New Game Plus Idea Was Misread by Some Players

Reflecting on this mechanic in a recent interview with GamesRadar+, Todd Howard opined that Bethesda’s broader design intent may have been misunderstood by some players. “[The Unity] was us asking you this weird, deep question that I actually think got lost on a lot of people,” the executive said. “It asks if you are just this power gamer who wants to get everything, or are you willing to leave this world behind?” While the concept was thematically ambitious, the fact that Starfield is an action RPG where numbers-go-up dopamine hits are a significant motivation for continuing meant a large subset of players simply went through with Unity without much thought.

Bethesda therefore did not completely succeed in its attempt to present the decision as far weightier, pushing players to consider whether pursuing New Game Plus was “a bridge too far” or “a sacrifice too meaningful,” as Starfield lead creative producer Tim Lamb described it during the same interview. The overall concept of Unity is at least partially attributed to Edge of Tomorrow, a Doug Liman-directed 2014 blockbuster starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. The movie, which Howard described as one of his all-time favorites, follows a soldier trapped in a time loop, forced to relive the same deadly conflict until he learns how to alter its outcome.

Starfield’s New Game Plus Mode Went Through Some Big Changes This Month

Starfield‘s Free Lanes update that debuted on April 7 introduced several changes to the way the game handles NG+. Among them is the option of upgrading Starborn powers using Quantum Essence, which essentially serves as an alternative to going through Unity. Another is the newly added Quantum Entanglement Device, which allows players to start New Game Plus without permanently giving up their preferred gear and items, instead letting them recover those possessions after building the device upon reaching the Lodge in New Atlantis again. Both additions lessen the thematic weight of becoming Starborn, but that compromise is not unexpected given Bethesda’s apparent view that the choice did not fully land with much of the audience.

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Fan opinions on Starfield‘s New Game Plus mode shared in response to the new interview appear to be mixed. Some players praised the Free Lanes update, saying its new features finally persuaded them to go through Unity. Others said the thematic weight of becoming Starborn had not been lost on them, but that the decision was either not especially interesting or was weakened by their limited attachment to the characters, which they framed as a failure of the writing.