Themes of God and religion are teased as being massive parts of the story of Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield. In order to realistically depict the game’s numerous sci-fi religions, Bethesda recruited ex-Skyrim and Fallout writer Shane Liesegang, who just so happens to be a Jesuit Priest.
In an interview with Polygon, Starfield lead designer Emil Pagliarulo explained that they consulted heavily with Liesegang to create all Starfield religions.
Starfield has two main religions that are central to the game’s narrative: The Sanctum Universum and The Enlightened. While the former are devout almighty worshipers searching the stars for proof of divinity, the latter believe in no higher power at all.
Liesegang was integral to the realistic depiction of religions within the game without offending religious groups.
“[Religion] was a way to talk about these big concepts but not dive too far down the rabbit hole,” Pagliarulo told Polygon. “ don't want to offend people… We actually had Shane Liesegang, who was one of our writers [on Skyrim and Fallout 4]... He's now studying to be a Jesuit priest. We talked to him about: If we were to make this real, this religion, what would we do? How would we write it? And so he advised us and did some writing for us, he wrote for the Sanctum Universum, and it really grounded it in the believable."
Starfield religions, like any RPG, are a huge part of the game’s sprawling universe. Just like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, Bethesda’s deep lore surrounding in-universe religions is set to continue with the studio’s first new IP in 25 years.
Starfield is just a day away from release at the time of writing, and fans are already hyped for the sci-fi adventure. While Bethesda is winding down development to focus on The Elder Scrolls VI, new Starfield DLC, patches and more are still in the works.
Starfield launches tomorrow on September 1st for Deluxe Edition owners. Everyone else can play on September 6th via Xbox Series and PC.