Bethesda Softworks has announced it is delaying upcoming sci-fi adventure, Starfield from Bethesda Game Studios and open-world vampire-shooter, Redfall from Arkane Austin to the first half of 2023.
Seeing how we haven’t seen any gameplay from either of the two Bethesda games—mostly just cinematic trailers and a lot of concept art from Starfield—well, this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. This does mean, however, that Starfield‘s boldly announced release date on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim‘s 11th anniversary will sadly miss the mark, and Bethesda’s tradition of releasing games around November 11th.
“We’ve made the decision to delay the launches of Redfall and Starfield to the first half of 2023. The teams at Arkane Austin (Redfall) and Bethesda Game Studios (Starfield) have incredible ambitions for their games, and we want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them,” Bethesda said in a statement on Twitter.
Starfield was originally announced back at E3 2018. Following Microsoft’s acquisition of the publisher, the game was finally shown off in a cinematic trailer during the Xbox and Bethesda Game Showcase. While we haven’t gotten a look at gameplay, it’s suggested that the main hook of the game is less on combat and more on exploration. Since then, Bethesda has released several developer diaries featuring concept art which is centered on a roundtable with key staff discussing aspects of the upcoming game.
Similarly, Redfall was also revealed at last year’s game showcase with Arkane Austin taking lead on the project, which is being developed in Unreal Engine 5. Redfall is an open-world shooter set in the titular Massachusetts town, where a failed experiment has gone wrong and vampires have invaded.
Players are trapped and must survive while taking out the game’s vampire and human enemies alike. Redfall‘s four playable characters include cryptozoologist and inventor Devinder Crousley, telekinetic student Layla Ellison, combat engineer Remi de la Rosa, and supernatural sharpshooter, Jacob Boyer. Redfall will also feature co-op multiplayer modes so players can use their unique abilities to take on enemies together, in a more collaborative spirit than Arkane Lyons’ Deathloop.
Starfield and Redfall are both Xbox exclusives and will launch on PC and Xbox Series X|S sometime in the first half of 2023, and will also be included day-and-date on Game Pass.