The official rating for Starfield has popped up on the ESRB website, mentioning fictional drugs, blood-splatter effects and fast-paced combat among other things.
Starfield has been officially rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which is a standard practice for games releasing soon. ESRB rated Bethesda's sci-fi RPG M for Mature 17+, specifying the game's strong language, drug usage scenes and more.
Interestingly, the detailed rating description gave us a couple of new details about the gameplay, quests and plot among other things. It's stated that players assume the role of a miner tasked with finding Artifacts across the galaxy.
The combat is described as fast-paced with futuristic guns, lasers and axes. Attacks on enemies can result in blood-splatter effects while several environments will feature blood stains on the ground around corpses.
As for the relationships between the player character and NPCs, the description mentions that players will be able to share a bed with NPCs and take a drug called Aurora, which causes a distortion effect on the screen.
Here is the official description of Starfield's ESRB rating:
This is an open-world role-playing game in which players assume the role of a miner tasked with finding Artifacts across the galaxy rom first-/third-person perspectives, players interact with various characters, complete quests, and search for supplies while battling enemies (e.g., humans, robots, alien creatures). Players use futuristic guns, lasers, axes, and explosives to kill enemies. Combat is fast-paced, with frequent gunfire, cries of pain, and explosions.
Attacks on some enemies can result in blood-splatter effects; several environments depict blood stains on the ground around corpses. The game contains some suggestive material in the dialogue, and after sharing a bed with characters (e.g., “Life is a sexually transmitted disease that's a hundred percent fatal”; “I'm all for getting a little wild, but next time let's try it without the jetpacks”; “Talk about seeing stars, whew… that was amazing.”). A fictional drug (Aurora) is prominent in the game, with a section involving players' characters working in an illicit drug lab; players can also obtain Aurora by stealing or buying it from vendors (consuming Aurora results in a distortion effect on the screen). The words “f**k” and “bullsh*t” appear in the game.
Bethesda
Obviously, this is not unusual for modern RPGs and it's the least we expect from Starfield. Also, players will certainly be happy to see certain features confirmed.
Starfield is officially launching on September 6, 2023, for PC and Xbox Series X|S.
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