Starfield game size amounts to more than 100 systems and "over 1,000 planets"

Starfield gameplay
(Image credit: Bethesda)

There will be more than 100 Starfield star systems and 1,000 planets to explore across the Starfield map when it releases sometime next year. 

During the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase 2022, Todd Howard focused in on a single planet, telling players that they could land in one of its major Starfield cities, New Atlantis, but also explore the rest of the planet in its entirety. But beyond that, you could land on all the planets in that system - a solar group of what appears to be four main planets and a total of eight other celestial bodies such as moons.

It was a busy show for Starfield fans. During the Starfield gameplay reveal (showing off some distinct No Man's Sky vibes), we learned that Starfield will have its very own lockpicking minigame (as any Skyrim fan might have expected), that you'll be able to build, customise, and fly your own Starfield spaceships, and that the Starfield character creator will be Bethesda's most flexible yet.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any update on the Starfield release date beyond what we knew of its 2023 window. While Bethesda previously said it was putting the "finishing touches" on Starfield amid the suggestion of an early 2023 launch, there's still no word on whether we'll be playing its massive space adventure this time next year.

Check out our Xbox and Bethesda showcase live blog for all the news as it happened.

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.