Starfield is the first bit of original IP from the studio behind Skyrim and Fallout in quite sometime, and its setting is a more grounded future based on many, many years of humanity exploring the stars. In defining the look, the team at Bethesda coined the term ‘NASA-Punk’ to describe Starfield's sci-fi universe.

“Early on in this project when we were trying to establish the overall aesthetic of this game, we sort of coined the term ‘NASA-Punk’ to describe a sci-fi universe that’s a little more grounded and relatable,” says Starfield’s Lead Artist Istvan Pely. “We wanted a very realistic take. You can draw a line from current-day space technology and extrapolate from there into the future so it’s believable and relatable.”

This echoes statements from Todd Howard who has in the past described the look and feel of Starfield as more realistic and in-line with space exploration as we know it today.

“What’s really interesting is how much we all latched onto that concept,” added Lead Animator Rick Vicens. “When you said NASA-Punk, the Art team could instantly take those two words and make them work. It was just the perfect term for our art direction and keeping everyone in same flow and working with a consistent style. For me, it just clicked. At the start of the project, I think that term was critical for us.”

Bethesda and Xbox are offering a high-quality version of Starfield’s “Journey Through Space” art as per the video below too. For your chance to win -- head here for the details.



Starfield is currently on track for a Holiday 2022 release across Xbox on PC and Console. It's expected that we'll get our first proper look and gameplay deep dive at the big Xbox E3 showing in June.