Starfield’s music will be your companion in Bethesda’s new space RPG

Bethesda Softworks’ newest look at its space-exploration role-playing game Starfield is primarily for your ears, but a new discussion between composer Inon Zur and audio director Mark Lampert also has some treats for the eye, in the form of enticing concept art of alien worlds and vast, unexplored space.

In a new episode released Tuesday from Bethesda’s Into the Starfield series — previous episodes have highlighted the game’s visual design and its companions and conversations — Zur and Lampert wax on “the emotional dimension of Starfield.” That’s music, of course, and the latest look at/listen to Starfield offers plenty of it. Zur discusses the challenges of creating the signature and themes, and breaks down how elements of the orchestra represent everything from the particles of space to the journey to and return from the far reaches of space.

Starfield will have its share of interactive and hopefully memorable companions as players embark on their adventure, but Lampert hopes that the game’s music and sound design will serve as a different sort of ever-present companion.

“We don’t have control over how the player chooses to experience the game,” Lampert said. The music is able to play the correct chord change at just the right moment, but a lot of it happens randomly. The right time to look out over the valley is when the one chord change occurs. There are moments like those that seem scripted, but they don’t. And I like that each player has that experience for themselves, personally.”

Starfield will be released Nov. 11 on Windows PC and Xbox Series X, and will be playable at launch through Xbox Game Pass.