Jetpacks are the ultimate fantasy. Many a feat in human history would’ve been easier had there been jetpacks. So, the question is what jetpack or boost pack will do for 2023’s biggest release – Starfield. From what has been revealed about Starfield boost pack at the gameplay deep dive, it looks like an impressive mechanic with tons of possibilities. However, its only aspect revealed in the showcase was the fascinating combat application.
As incredible as the gameplay trailer’s reveal of the boost pack mechanic was, it seems to work the same way as Fallout’s jetpack, albeit with some major upgrades. Instead of consuming action points like in Fallout 4 and 76, the counterpart in Starfield seems to consume something simply named ‘Boost’ which works in a similar manner. The boost however replenishes almost as quickly as it is consumed, which of course means that it is devised for short space jumps as shown in the trailer.
That is not all though. In an interview on the Kinda Funny Xcast, Todd Howard revealed (at 23:30 in the video below) that Starfield will not have any land-based vehicles, and instead the boost pack will fill the niche of vehicles to traverse the open world. Now this opens up a slew of possibilities — some really great and some not so much.
How would Bethesda implement their Starfield Boost Pack as a Vehicle?
Those of you who are old enough to remember the golden age of cartoons (through reruns of course) will immediately associate Todd Howard’s statement with the Jetsons. But you don’t need to go to cartoons of yesteryear to imagine a world where jetpacks are the primary means of transport. Several games have implemented this mechanic before, with the most seamless one being Star Wars Battlefront. George Lucas’s classic video game space venture arguably made the best use of jetpacks. From hardcore combat to casual perambulation, Battlefront is a great example of how to implement jetpacks for various situations.
Now Bethesda clearly has a vision on what each mechanic should look like and have invested a lot of time in developing Starfield. But, the regular use of words likes ‘ambitious’ and ‘risk’ to describe new features by Bethesda officials raises doubts on how exactly they plan on implementing them. Such doubts are warranted given Bethesda’s track record with overly ambitious projects (case in point, Fallout 76).
Furthermore, the Starfield Direct gameplay teaser revealed several boost pack scenes, which had mechanics eerily similar to the Fallout jetpacks, with some improved physics of course. Despite having some useful features for combat, vertical movement was restricted. We can only hope that Bethesda hasn’t made that oversight of using their boost pack like a pogo stick. After all the game is set to feature a thousand planets which can be explored. So, these tiny jumps aren’t going to cut it.
In fact, anything short of a free roaming boost pack can make traversal tedious in what is going to be the largest map in the history of video games. People who have played Morrowind can affirm the hardships of exploring everything on foot, despite covering a portion of the journey on stilt riders.
What about Space Walking?
With all the hype about what can be done on the 1000 planets, people seem to have forgotten that Starfield is a space exploration RPG. There is bound to be a lot of gameplay set around the black nothingness of space. To add to all the expectations, Bethesda has also bragged about their zero-gravity mechanic. Furthermore, shortly after the Direct Showcase in an interview with IGN, Todd Howard and Pete Hines mentioned that Starfield will allow players to board ships in space. If there is going to be combat in space, then surely it should involve space walking as well.
This is one aspect where the gameplay trailers show a lot of promise. From what has been revealed about the boost pack’s abilities, it seems to have been optimized for navigation in space. Although there is no footage or statement that confirms spacewalk as a feature, the prospects of including such a mechanic are worth speculating. Even if docking is a primary means of boarding ships, it wouldn’t be that easy. So, there should be an incentive to venture into open space to manually interact with the enemy ship.
Prey’s Artax Propulsion System is a great example of how space walks can be implemented with ample adherence to realism and a fair bit of challenge. It has also been confirmed that Starfield spaceships can take damage and will need repairs. It would be quite impressive if Bethesda allowed players to make these repairs while in space using similar mechanics.
At this point though, all we can do is speculate on what features may or may not look good in Starfield. However, one thing we can confirm for now is that the combat on land with the aid of boost packs is going to look great. And with the huge modding community, the prospects of the experience are endless.
