I just typed out a few notes during the showcase so I will put them here for discussion.
There are over 1000 world. These are procedurally generated but have handcrafted content placed randomly on them.
Every you see exists and all planetary objects can be visited.
Illumination is changing based on the atmosphere and the sun type/proximity.
Animation system and combat system has been reworked from the ground up.
You can play in 1st or 3rd person.
Resources exist and are collectable
You can find enemy camps on planets and/or other random things/locations.
You can fast travel to your ship.
You can have companions that aid you on the ship or on ground.
Visual style for the tech was called by devs as Nasa-Punk as in advanced but worn
You can choose landing spots on a planet or fast travel to an existing one.
You jump drive to other systems and can upgrade drive for longer jumps.
New Atlantis is the biggest city Bethesda ever created. There are more cities:
Akila city: Western style. Looked like RDR2.
Cydonia city: Mining city built for resources.
Neon: Known as Pleasure city. Cyberpunk style.
There is a mythical group called Constellation. They are the last explorers of humanity and are looking for answers to long lasting humanity's questions. Your main story revolves around them I think.
Character creation is vastly improved and it's extensive. Mocap used for the making.
You choose one of 40 (employee) presets and then put more details from there.
You choose your background and skills. Chef was an example. Your skills affect interactions in the game.
You can have up to 3 traits and each has pros and cons.
You get 1 skill per level and you can rank up skills.
5 skill trees with 4 ranks per skill. Jetpack, mind-control and Neurostrikes(heavy strikes) shown. Great build diversity.
They studied data from NASA to strike balance between realism and fun.
There is dogfighting in space
Ships are highly customizable and upgradable down to rearranging modules around.
Can hire crew members with different skills
Ship has a power allocation system(think of an Equalizer style thingie). You can reallocate power according to situation. Shields and weapons for combat or engine for escaping, etc.
There's a trait that lets you target specific subsystems on an enemy ship.
You can destroy ships and loot them or board them and capture them for your fleet.
You can commit piracy on friendly ships.
You can build a outpost and produce resources from animals.
You can build outposts, assign companions to them and keep producing resources. You can decorate outposts and live there.
Guns are highly customizable down to type of ammo. Melee weapons exist. Miniguns shown.
Im excited as hell tbh! That showcase blew me away! Loved the perks & char creation, I think it will provide some very interesting tweaks on the gameplay!
Also, the fact that there's 1000s planets possibly means the mods in the upcoming years will have an insane sandbox to play with! 🔥 to the stars and beyond!