Bethesda showed 15 minutes of Starfield gameplay

Todd Howard, the director of Bethesda Game Studios, presented the gameplay footage at the conclusion of Microsoft and Bethesda's big games presentation today. It had a No Man's Sky vibe right away with a person in a space suit exploring an alien planet and mining for minerals using a laser weapon. Combat was fast, however; the explorer came upon a colony of space pirates, after which it was on firefights.

Howard then showed off portions of the story and character development systems, such as skill trees and crafting. Players will be able to establish outposts on foreign planets and hire people to staff them, as well as build ships, staff, and personalize them. It appears that ship customization will be a big part of Starfield, with interstellar battles sure to follow.

There will be more than 1,000 planets in Starfield when it launches. In early 2023, Starfield will be released for Xbox consoles and PCs. It's one of the most anticipated games on Microsoft's list, so the delay was a major disappointment to the company. Starfield now has a lot to live up to.