Bethesda’s games have often featured a lot of stylized violence. The Fallout games are a perfect example, featuring a lot of humorous gore. However, the developer went in something of a different direction for Starfield. There were multiple reasons for that decision, from technical challenges, to the game’s overall tone. In a new episode of the Kiwi Talkz podcast, former Bethesda artist Dennis Mejillones offered some insight into ideas that were considered during the game’s development but ultimately scrapped. Decapitations were nearly part of the game, but the team ended up leaving them out of the finished product.

According to Mejillones, the amount of detail involved in the character designs made it difficult to keep decapitations. Each suit featured so many details that had to be accounted for, including things like hoses. Also, “the character creator had evolved quite a bit.” These were cited as potential reasons, but Mejillones also noted that decapitations didn’t really fit from a tonal perspective.
decapitations might have been a weird fit for starfield
“Fallout is very stylized in that regard. It’s meant to be… that’s part of the tongue-in-cheek humor. You know that splatter mess, that perk that you get where you can make a mess out of somebody, just blow up into goop. It’s part of the fun for it,” said Mejillones. “It’s like those old-school animes like Fist of the North Star. They punch each other, just gushes of blood forever would come out. Nobody can hold that much blood, but it’s fun because you’re like ‘oh man that’s cool,’ that kind of a thing, and it adds to that style. And I think for Starfield it was definitely meant to be more lo-fi and realistic. We were inspired a lot by things like The Expanse and Star Trek. Stuff like that. So I think it just didn’t fit thematically, also.”

While some Bethesda fans might be disappointed that Starfield didn’t offer a more significant amount of gore, it makes sense why the developers went in a different direction. While some might have preferred that level of violence, it’s easy to see how that would have been more of a fit for something like Dead Space, as opposed to Starfield. The old-school science fiction approach played a big role in the game’s art direction, and a bunch of over-the-top decapitations or head explosions just wouldn’t have fit.

Hopefully Fallout fans will get their fix of gore and violence when the series makes a comeback. At this time, there has been no word on when we can expect to see Fallout 5, but reports last year suggested that a continuation of the series is seen as a priority for Xbox and Bethesda. The success of the Amazon series has led to a lot of reinvigorated interest in the games, but Bethesda is currently working on The Elder Scrolls 6. How things will play out remains to be seen!

Are you happy Starfield was a little less gory? Do you think it made more sense with the game’s world? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!