Starfield has 'a lot of surprises that we haven't talked about,' Todd Howard says at Gamescom

Gamescom's Opening Night Live showcase kicked off with a brand-new live action trailer for Starfield and an appearance by game director Todd Howard, who said that despite everything we've been shown so far, there are still "a lot of surprises" in store.

"We have dreamt of a game where we look at the skies and we can blast off into space and explore," Howard said. "We love to make games where you can explore these worlds. 

"We've done The Elder Scrolls and the Fallout series, but we wanted to do something brand new where you could explore with complete freedom in the galaxy. It's a game we've always wanted to play, that we think a lot of people want to play as well. It's kind of that 'dream game.'"

Howard touched on Starfield's opening, which sees players embark upon a "NASA meets Indiana Jones" adventure after coming into contact with a strange artifact. But while Bethesda has revealed an awful lot about what players can expect from the game in the leadup to release, Howard promised that there's still an awful lot waiting for players to discover.

"The story goes a lot of places," he said. "The game has a lot of surprises that we haven't talked about. I don't want to spoil it here, but we're really really happy with how the story turned out, and where it goes."

Starfield is set to come out on September 1 for people who purchase the Starfield Premium Edition, Premium Edition Upgrade, or Constellation Edition. For everyone else, the game will go live on September 6. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.