Starfield and my favourite childhood game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, have a few things in common. They’re both set in space, are narrative-heavy RPGs, ⛦and have you recruiting companions that follow you on your jo🐻urney, fight alongside you, and help you out with their skills. You have a spaceship in both that shuttles you between different planets and systems. You can choose to ally with different factions, which, at least in one of these games, affects your final ending (I am nowhere near Starfield’s ending and I refuse to spoil it for myself). Similar DNA runs through these games, and it makes sense since they’re both influenced by a long history of groundbreaking, genre-defining RPGs.
One similarity I didn’t expect, though, was how similar the first planet you travel to is. In Knights of the Old Republic, your character gets into an escape pod amidst a burning ship under siege and crashes on Taris. At first glance, Taris is a bustling, sparkling metropolis, full of people going about their business. You can visit a clinic, people’s apartments, a Cantina where citizens relax, and more. Likewise, after leaving the moon you find yourself on in Starfield, you land on the planet Jemison i🐬n New Atlantis City. New Atlantis is also a metropolis, though given the game’s much bigger scope, there’s lots more to see. There are stores, restaurants, cafes, multiple districts, and tons of people to talk to, most of whom will just spout random exposition at you if you interact with them. There’s some degree of luxury and wealth on display in both.
Look deeper though, and the similarities get more obvious. Taris has a Lower City,🃏 accessed by a lift🍰, where illegal activity thrives, and citizens suffer. Gang violence between the warring groups Hidden Beks and Black Vulcans is rampant, leading to shootouts in the streets and innocent people getting their asses kicked for no reason. Illegal betting and swoop races take place here, too, and there’s very little police attention. Interestingly, New Atlantis City has an easily accessible lift you can take to its lower city too, here called The Well.
There isn’t nearly as much obvious crime here, though it’s made clear there’s little helpful UC Vanguard presence. People struggle to find work, housing, and pay for food. The community band together to protect each oth💃er, and are reluctant to involve cops unless they’re absolutely sure they have to. Both areas are run down, underserved and lacking resources that seem to be funnelled to the richer citizens up top. Instead of gangs, you have the corrupt Trade Authority dealing in smuggled and stolen goods, while thieves can be found sprawled out dead next to ill-gotten, remote-activated robotics.
It’s not just the similarities that I find interesting, but what they’re trying to express. Both are a commentary on how shiny, wealthy, metropolitan cities often have an underprivileged underclass that has to fight for the same resources and rights that upper-city residents take for granted. Knights of the Old Republic was one of the first games to teach me, at the tender age of eight, that my actions have conseq🐽uences and that I can directly help people or make them suffer. Running little errands for people in these games, helping them however I could, and giving whatever credits I could spare had a material impact on their lives, and that in itself is a political statement. Sorry to break it to you all, but Starfield is just a little bit woke, in exactly the way that I love.