Bethesda appears to have a few extra surprises in store for Starfield players after all, even following the lengthy and in-depth gameplay showcase that was featured as part of the recent Xbox Games Showcase. While the studio didn't suggest anything of the type up until now, it seems that the player character may end up having access to some strange, magical-looking abilities before all is said and done.
Though the official 40-minute Starfield Direct showcase went in-depth on the long-awaited sandbox RPG's customization, exploration, progression, and interaction features, the depth and breadth of the game still appear to go far beyond any of these disparate features, in true Bethesda fashion. The most prominent of these mysterious aspects of the game is a single ability that was shown with no additional context.
Notably, towards the end of the big Starfield showcase, Bethesda showed off a strange player ability that looks like it's been taken right out of Star Wars. Seemingly without relying on any type of gadget or technology, the player character lifts their left hand and forcefully levitates an entire hallway's worth of Crimson Pirates, rendering them helpless at a moment's notice. Bethesda did not comment on this particular clip, but it is worth pointing out that every other ability shown so far has been grounded in the game's tech, making this whole sequence particularly notable from a lore perspective.
The ability wouldn't look out of place as part of Cal Kestis' ability kit in Star Wars: Survivor. Odds are good that it's related somehow to Starfield's widely marketed strange alien artifacts that the player will be searching for over the course of the main quest. Mechanically, of course, the obvious comparison is with the Dragonborn Shout abilities from The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. From that point of view, it seems obvious that Bethesda would want to add an extra layer of mechanical complexity to the game's combat, given that such options have been available in the studio's previous outings.
Naturally, it is equally unlikely that Starfield is actually connected either to Star Wars or, perhaps, to The Elder Scrolls' Dragonborn lore, but the mechanical similarities to both of these types of abilities are curious indeed. As Starfield is being built using pretty much the same engine as Skyrim, implementing magical-looking abilities into Starfield may have been relatively easy and straightforward, in fact.
Whatever the case, it will be interesting to see what Bethesda's got in store for players early in September. These strange abilities are sure to come in handy while dealing with Starfield's version of the Adoring Fan from Oblivion, for one, but it's also worth remembering that the game is bound to have a burgeoning modding scene in due time, meaning that a proper Force push from Star Wars is virtually inevitable.
Starfield releases on September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.