Bethesda Softworks’ latest look at its space exploration role-playing game Starfield is primarily to your ears, but a new discussion between composer Inon Zur and sound director Mark Lampert also has some delights in mind in the form of enticing concept art of alien worlds and huge, unexplored spaces.
In a new episode released Tuesday from Bethesda’s Into 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“Of course it’s music and the latest to watch / listen to Starfield offers lots of it. Zur discusses the challenges of creating signatures 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 distant rows of space.
Starfield will have its share of interactive and hopefully memorable companions as players embark on their adventures, but Lampert hopes the game’s music and sound design will serve as a different always-present companion.
“We have no control over how the player chooses to experience the game,” Lampert said. “Music has a fun way of playing the right chord change at the right time, and a lot of it just happens at random. You look out over the valley at just the right moment, and it happens to be when this one chord change happens and there are times like what feels written – and they are not. And I like that each player has that experience for himself, personally. “
Starfield will be released on November 11 on Windows PC and Xbox Series X, and will be playable at launch via Xbox Game Pass.