Bethesda Removes Gore and Dismemberment from Starfield

Bethesda had initially planned to incorporate gore and dismemberment mechanics into Starfield, but these features were ultimately removed due to technical challenges related to the game's space suits. Dennis Mejillones, a former character artist who worked on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield, explained to Kiwi Talkz that the complexity of interacting with various space suits led to the feature's exclusion. "There was a lot of implications with the different suits from a technical perspective," Mejillones stated. "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, you have meat caps to the bottom where the flesh is."

He further elaborated on the technical difficulties: "We had systems for all of that and it turned into a big rat's nest. All these things you have to count for now with all these crazy hoses on the helmets and all that kind of stuff that we added. Or now you could change the body size significantly. The character creator had evolved quite a bit."

Some fans expressed disappointment that Starfield, Bethesda's first full single-player role-playing game in eight years, did not feature the gore and dismemberment mechanics seen in Fallout 4. Mejillones noted that these mechanics fit better within Fallout's "tongue in cheek" humor, adding, "It's part of the fun."

Starfield was released in September 2023 and has since attracted over 15 million players. IGN's review praised the game's expansive roleplaying quests and solid combat, awarding it a 7/10 score and noting, "Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist."

In recent developments, another former Bethesda developer expressed surprise at the extensive loading times in Starfield, particularly in the city of Neon. Since its launch, Bethesda has made efforts to enhance the game, including the introduction of a 60fps performance mode. The expansion, Shattered Space, was released in September.