Starfield Dev Says Enemy Decapitations Were Removed

Summary

• Starfield's violence is toned down compared to Fallout, with no exploding bodies or decapitations.
• Former Bethesda artist reveals technical complexities in implementing heavy gore systems in Starfield.
• The Starfield team aimed for realism inspired by The Expanse and Star Trek, which led to the removal of heavy gore features.

Compared to other Bethesda franchises, like Fallout, Starfield's violence is relatively tame. There are no exploding bodies, no decapitations, and everything is generally a little more grounded.

I'm Struggling To Go Back To Skyrim After Starfield

Starfield might have just nipped the Bethesda magic in the bud.

In a new interview on the Kiwi Talkz podcast (via VGC), former Bethesda senior artist Dennis Mejilones has revealed that this was by design, with the team looking to create something more "low-key and realistic."

Starfield Originally Had Systems For Decapitations

On the podcast, Mejilones was asked why heavy gore, such as decapitations and kill animations, were removed from Starfield. He shared that there were a variety of reasons for it, including some major technical complications.

"That has a lot of implications with the different suits. From a technical perspective, there’s a lot that has to go with it. You have to cut the helmet in a certain way, and it’s got to come off, and you’ve got to have meat caps at the bottom where the flesh is.

“You know, we had systems for all of that, and it turned into a big rat’s nest of all these things you had to account for now, with all those crazy hoses on the helmets and all that kind of stuff that we added, and now you could change the body size significantly. The character creator had evolved quite a bit – so I think that was part of it,” he said.

We had systems for all of that, and it turned into a big rat’s nest of all these things you had to account for now...

Mejilones says that while technical complications were one of the main reasons for the changes, the Starfield team wanted to create a more realistic world than the likes of Fallout.

“Fallout is very stylized in that regard. It’s meant to be… that’s part of the tongue-in-cheek humor. You know, that perk you get where you can make a mess out of somebody, they just blow up into goo; it’s part of the fun.

“It’s like those old-school anime like Fist of the North Star – they punch each other, and gushes of blood forever would come out, it’s like nobody can hold that much blood, but you’re like ‘oh man, that’s cool,’ and it adds to that style.

“I think for Starfield, it was definitely meant to be more low-key and realistic. We were inspired a lot by things like The Expanse and Star Trek, so I think it just didn’t fit thematically. With it not fitting thematically, and on top of that, you have the technical overhead cost to get it to work, so we were kind of like ‘it’s probably better not to include it in this game,’” he added

It's the second time in the past two weeks a former Starfield dev has been on the Kiwi Talkz Podcast, with lead quest designer Will Shen sharing that he believes players have fatigue towards longer games.

Starfield

WHERE TO PLAY

Starfield is the first new IP from Bethesda in a quarter of a century, launched for the next-gen Xbox Series X|S and PC. Taking place outside our own Solar System, you play a member of the Constellation, a collective of explorers set on discovering new worlds.