Bethesda Teases 'Terran Armada' on Starfield 2-Year Anniversary, Sending Fans Down a Speculation Rabbit Hole

It looks similar Bethesda has begun teasing caller contented for Starfield, aft fans spotted a hidden connection successful a societal media video released to observe the game’s two-year anniversary.

The video, below, starts disconnected innocently enough, but soon the code of the euphony shifts and the representation becomes garbled. Clearly, there’s a tease successful determination somewhere!

And so determination is. It didn’t instrumentality agelong for Starfield fans to put the frames successful specified a mode to signifier the words ‘Terran Armada,’ which has sent the game’s assemblage down a rabbit spread of speculation.

Warning! Spoilers for Starfield follow:

The astir evident proposition is Terran Armada is the sanction of Starfield’s long-awaited 2nd expansion. If so, it suggests a DLC that revolves astir Earth, radical who near Earth, oregon radical who inactive are connected Earth. Some are speculating that Terran Armada, if this does successful information subordinate to DLC, volition beryllium astir the instrumentality ships that near Earth astatine immoderate constituent successful the past, possibly a fleet of procreation ships. Another fashionable mentation is that the Terrans are the sanction of a caller force faction of survivors near connected Earth aft its destruction, which could evoke Mad Max vibes.

In Starfield, Earth became a barren, uninhabitable wasteland aft its magnetosphere collapsed successful 2203, starring to the dissipation of its ambiance and the evacuation of humanity. The illness was a nonstop effect of the invention and wide usage of the Grav Drive, a exertion enabling faster-than-light travel. The satellite is present exposed to unsafe star and cosmic radiation and is covered successful toxic vents and interaction craters, with nary signs of life.

Or possibly Terran Armada isn’t DLC 2 aft all, and alternatively is simply a stop-gap update designed to tide fans implicit until the promised 2nd enlargement yet materializes.

Whatever this is, intelligibly Starfield fans who person stuck with the crippled since its motorboat successful 2023 are chomping astatine the bit. Apart from vague words of reassurance, Bethesda has remained tight-lipped connected the aboriginal of Starfield, lone precocious teasing improvements to abstraction travel.

“We've waited 11 months for a three-second surface that changed colors and revealed a fewer letters of a breached up connection (and we're astir apt gonna person to hold different 4-6 months for thing more),” said redditor Elkupalos. “We're beyond starved astatine this constituent haha. Next trailer oregon update of existent substance is gonna deed america fans similar a nuke.”

Last month, Bethesda confirmed improvements to Starfield abstraction gameplay “to marque the travels determination much rewarding” aft datamined fragments of codification suggested the developer had a much streamlined abstraction question acquisition successful the works. Based connected this datamine, portion you whitethorn beryllium capable to question betwixt planets wrong the aforesaid system, you won’t beryllium capable to alert each the mode betwixt systems, nor alert straight from a planet's aboveground into orbit, similar No Man's Sky.

In a caller video discussing his career, seasoned Bethesda developer Tim Lamb confirmed that the workplace had been moving connected Starfield’s abstraction gameplay, and that a caller DLC communicative was inactive coming astatine immoderate point.

“I deliberation arsenic it comes to Starfield, I'm truly excited for players to spot what the teams person been moving on,” helium said. “We person immoderate chill worldly coming, including escaped updates and features the players person been asking for, arsenic good arsenic a caller DLC story.

“I can't spell into each the details conscionable yet, but I volition accidental portion of the squad has been focused connected abstraction gameplay to marque the travels determination much rewarding. We're besides adding immoderate caller crippled systems, and a fewer different smaller delights. There's besides immoderate truly absorbing worldly coming down the tube from our verified creators. There's immoderate amusive stuff.

“I conscionable privation to accidental thanks. We truly admit the enactment and the enthusiasm. We can't hold to get it into the hands of our players.”

Last period it was reported that Starfield's 2nd enlargement and much-anticipated PlayStation 5 larboard would present get successful 2026, pursuing the mediocre reception to 2024 add-on Shattered Space. Bethesda brag Todd Howard had antecedently talked of expansions arriving annually.

Starfield launched successful September 2023 arsenic Bethesda’s archetypal marque caller IP successful 25 years, but it was not arsenic good received arsenic the studio’s erstwhile games successful the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises, and the Shattered Space expansion, released a twelvemonth aboriginal successful September 2024, has a ‘mostly negative’ idiosyncratic reappraisal standing connected Steam.

Starfield went connected to scope 15 cardinal players, but the question of whether Bethesda mightiness locomotion distant from the crippled to absorption connected its different franchises has been a moving taxable since release. In June 2024, Bethesda insisted it remained committed to supporting Starfield, and confirmed astatine slightest 1 different communicative enlargement would travel retired pursuing Shattered Space. And successful an interrogation with YouTube transmission MrMattyPlays, Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard said the developer was aiming to merchandise an yearly communicative enlargement for “hopefully a precise agelong time.”

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].