Bethesda has posted an interview with Starfield producer Jamie Mallory, which follows on from her recent scene-stealing intervention during a Starfield Direct. Mallory, you see, is a sandwich pirate. Her ship, designed to look like a platypus, has a cargo hold dedicated to storing these ill-gotten snacks. As someone who collected an absurd amount of skulls in Fallout 3, this is the kind of detail that matters in Bethesda games.
Mallory says the idea for a platypus-based ship design came from a friend who loves the animals, and makes the fair point that "platypuses are just the epitome of adorable weirdness." But we're here for the sandwiches, and in discussing her future ship goals Mallory makes it clear that Starfield is going to deliver some of the daft magic we all love in Bethesda games.
"There are more terrible ideas for ships," said Mallory. "One of which is a colossal sandwich soaring through space, aptly named 'The Griller.' The name itself strikes fear, but when you witness this mammoth sub-like creation gracefully landing in a cutscene or zipping across the cosmos, it's pure comedic gold."
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A footlong spaceship dedicated to sandwich piracy: you can dig it. What becomes clear here though is that Starfield's built to accommodate such nonsense, and indeed trumpet it to the cosmos.
"It reminds me of those moments in games where you unlock these outrageous pre-order outfits or items for your character, only to find them amid a serious cutscene where someone has tragically perished, or the menacing villain makes their grand entrance," said Mallory. "It's absurd, it's hilarious, and it never fails to bring a big ol' grin to my face."
As for the spoils, Mallory prefers to keep them nearby rather than stashed on an outpost. I'm not sure I necessarily agree, as the whole point of skull-collecting for me was to have that one room in Nuketown where, when I entered, hundreds of skulls suddenly transpired in mid-air and fell to the ground. It was delightful. But maybe I'll get that same thrill from a cargo hold full of scran.
"I like to keep my sandwiches or other stolen bounty close at hand on my ship," said Mallory, "It adds a slight element of risk during those thrilling dogfights." Sadly there's no further detail on whether you can actually lose your ill-gotten hoard, which would certainly add a little spice.
You know we're in the home stretch for a big one when the talk is all about space sandwiches (which are surprisingly valuable in-game, so there is method to the madness). Some Starfield fans are being driven to incredible lengths in the run-up to release, such as the various attempts to reverse-engineer whole elements of the game from trailer clips, while anyone working on it is just sick of the endless questions: just ask Todd, OK.
