I just typed out a few notes during the showcase so I will put them here for discussion.
- There are over 1000 world. These are procedurally generated but have handcrafted content placed randomly on them.
- Every you see exists and all planetary objects can be visited.
- Illumination is changing based on the atmosphere and the sun type/proximity.
- Animation system and combat system has been reworked from the ground up.
- You can play in 1st or 3rd person.
- Resources exist and are collectable
- You can find enemy camps on planets and/or other random things/locations.
- You can fast travel to your ship.
- You can have companions that aid you on the ship or on ground.
- Visual style for the tech was called by devs as Nasa-Punk as in advanced but worn
- You can choose landing spots on a planet or fast travel to an existing one.
- You jump drive to other systems and can upgrade drive for longer jumps.
New Atlantis
is the biggest city Bethesda ever created. There are more cities:- Akila city: Western style. Looked like RDR2.
- Cydonia city: Mining city built for resources.
- Neon: Known as Pleasure city. Cyberpunk style.
- There is a mythical group called Constellation. They are the last explorers of humanity and are looking for answers to long lasting humanity’s questions. Your main story revolves around them I think.
- Character creation is vastly improved and it’s extensive. Mocap used for the making.
- You choose one of 40 (employee) presets and then put more details from there.
- You choose your background and skills. Chef was an example. Your skills affect interactions in the game.
- You can have up to 3 traits and each has pros and cons.
- You get 1 skill per level and you can rank up skills.
- 5 skill trees with 4 ranks per skill. Jetpack, mind-control and Neurostrikes(heavy strikes) shown. Great build diversity.
- They studied data from NASA to strike balance between realism and fun.
- There is dogfighting in space
- Ships are highly customizable and upgradable down to rearranging modules around.
- Can hire crew members with different skills
- Ship has a power allocation system(think of an Equalizer style thingie). You can reallocate power according to situation. Shields and weapons for combat or engine for escaping, etc.
- There’s a trait that lets you target specific subsystems on an enemy ship.
- You can destroy ships and loot them or board them and capture them for your fleet.
- You can commit piracy on friendly ships.
- You can build a outpost and produce resources from animals.
- You can build outposts, assign companions to them and keep producing resources. You can decorate outposts and live there.
- Guns are highly customizable down to type of ammo. Melee weapons exist. Miniguns shown.
- Gravity changes with each planet.
- Firing in 0g can push you back.
- Photo mode exists.
Please feel free to add any details I missed.
edit: Here is the full showcase(45 minutes) for people who want to watch it.
I am super excited seeing the game in motion. But procedurally generated content just really bums me out.
I just don’t see it turning out any other way except as hollow weirdly disjointed planets.