It would be fair to say that none of Bethesda’s games would have anywhere near their legendary longevity if it weren’t for their active and dedicated modding community. Starfield, however, has come without the usual packed-in set of developer tools that accompanies their releases, making modding possibilities limited. Less than a week after Starfield‘s wide release, the game’s director (and face of the studio) Todd Howard has officially addressed the modding situation.
Bethesda’s in-house Creation Engine, modular and versatile as it is, has allowed modders to do truly amazing things—we’re not just talking about turning every dragon in Skyrim into Macho Man Randy Savage here. The caveat is that for transformative mods, such as altering core game systems or adding long, intricate questlines, access to the same developer tools Bethesda itself uses is required. Typically, these tools, dubbed the “Creation Kit,” have come with every copy of their corresponding game, but the Starfield version has been noticeably absent.
All is not lost, however. In a recent interview with Famitsu, machine-translated from its original Japanese, Howard confirmed that official mod support is on the horizon for next year, that players would be able to do “almost anything,” and most interestingly of all, that mod support would be implemented in a “big way.”
Next year is only three months away, so players likely won’t have all that long to wait. What’s more intriguing, however, is Howard’s promise of going above and beyond with mod support for this game. Publishing the Creation Kit is a given, but Fallout 4 and Skyrim: Special Edition also featured a mod menu to let players browse, download and play with them directly from within the game. Implementing even more comprehensive support than that seems an impossible task—maybe it’ll just automatically download the top 20 mods on Nexus every time you start a new game or something. I personally can’t wait for the Macho Man Randy Savage Terrormorph mod.
It may be true that what exactly Starfield‘s mod support will entail is up in the air for now, but modders have already put together an impressive catalog. Once the proverbial floodgates are open, there’s no telling what adventures you’ll be able to have—I suspect there will be a Skyrim planet within a month. Now is the perfect time to play through the game without mods so you’ll have something to compare it to… or brush up on how to install them so you’ll be prepared for the future.
