For anyone who pre-ordered the Premium Edition, the Starfield release date has come and gone a few days early - but you'll have to wait a little longer if you're planning to play it via Xbox Game Pass.

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Its launch time in the UK has now been confirmed.

If you can't wait that little bit longer, the Starfield early access allows players to jump into the game prior to its global launch across Xbox Series X/S and PC.

The massive Bethesda RPG is potentially the biggest new Xbox exclusive, and Game Pass members can play it at no extra cost very soon.

It's nearly time to find out whether all that hype has been worth it as the Starfield Game Pass launch time in the UK is right around the corner.

The Starfield Constellation Edition, with lots of cool space trinkets and tie-ins to the game, is available to purchase if you want to play it before it releases on Xbox and PC Game Pass.

Considering we likely won't see the next Bethesda Game Studios title until The Elder Scrolls 6 (and that's easily five years minimum away), it might be worth taking advantage of if you have the Credits to spare.

Here's everything you need to know about the Starfield release date on Xbox Game Pass, its launch time here in the UK and much, much more. We've even thrown a few trailers in for your viewing pleasure!

Starfield release date for Xbox Game Pass

The Starfield release date is Wednesday 6th September 2023 for Xbox Game Pass members, as confirmed by the developer, Bethesda.

Note: players that pre-order the Premium Edition are entitled to Starfield early access from Friday 1st September. So if you're itching to play now, you can, if you're willing to pay for the privilege.

Read more on Starfield:

Starfield launch time: When does it go live on Game Pass in the UK?

The Starfield launch time on Game Pass here in the UK is 1am on Wednesday 6th September 2023. If you don't need to get up early on the morning of 6th September, you can start playing Starfield from one in the morning as soon as the game unlocks.

Make sure you get that preload finished in time on either (or both) the Xbox Series X/S or PC to play Starfield as soon as you can when its launch time takes off here in the UK.

Starfield pre-order bonus and different versions explained

Starfield key art, showing an astronaut looking out over a snowy planet
Starfield will be limited to 30fps. Bethesda

Pre-orders are now open!

You can pre-order your copy of Starfield now at Amazon or CD Keys. It's also worth noting that Starfield will be available on day one of its release for Xbox Game Pass subscribers at no extra cost.

All pre-orders of the game grant you the Old Mars skin pack, which includes a laser cutter, deep mining helmet and deep mining pack.

Along with the Standard Edition, you can also pre-order the Premium Upgrade (an extra £34.99 on top of the base game).

This gives you early access to the game starting Friday 1st September 2023 (Xbox Game Pass players only), the Shattered Space story expansion (when it launches), Constellation skin pack - Equinox laser rifle, spacesuit, helmet and boost pack, access to a digital artbook and soundtrack, a steelbook, and Constellation patch.

Finally, we have £249.99 Constellation Edition. This comes with everything in the Premium upgrade as well as some extra goodies which you can check out here.

Is Starfield an Xbox exclusive?

Yes, Starfield is an Xbox exclusive. Now that Bethesda is owned by Xbox, it should come as no surprise that Starfield will be available via Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows PC.

The Xbox blog states that Starfield is dedicated to "harnessing the power of next-gen technology", which makes it sound very unlikely that it will come to the older Xbox One consoles.

And here's some bad news for Sony loyalists: Starfield will not be available on PS5 or PS4. And don't expect to see it on Nintendo Switch, either.

What is Starfield about?

Starfield key art - a close-up of a space man looking out into the distance
Starfield is coming in September. Bethesda

For quite some time, we knew very little about Starfield. It's a Bethesda single-player RPG set in space – and that was just about everything we had on the title, until very recently.

Thanks to the Starfield trailers, we now know that players will join an organisation called Constellation, a faction that wants to uncover the mysteries of the galaxy.

The latest trailer for Starfield revealed a key part of Starfield’s lore: the Colony War, a battle fought 20 years prior between the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective.

The United Colonies and the Freestar Collective will be two of the factions you can join and perform quests for - with other factions such as Ryujin Industries, the Crimson Fleet and House Va'Ruun all having their own philosophies about the future of humanity.

Faction fans will be pleased to hear that a lot of quests seem to be on offer, as Bethesda Games Studios head Todd Howard has commented that the game will be even bigger than previous games such as Skyrim.

"This one’s ending up a little bit longer [than our previous games] and we may tune that some still," Howard told IGN. "It’s more quests, so it might be 20 per cent more than our previous ones."

Starfield gameplay

The Starfield Direct at the Xbox Showcase gave us the longest example of Starfield's gameplay to date.

We're pretty blown away by how ambitious the whole thing is - from the ship and base-building to the varying combat to the character creation. The skill trees, too, are bound to excite any RPG fan.

We could talk about it all day, so you can check out the whole thing below:

In June 2022, Bethesda gave players their best look yet at Starfield in action, sharing the official gameplay reveal trailer that you can watch below.

Based on the gameplay footage, comparisons were immediately made between Starfield and the planet-hopping No Man's Sky game, with the mushed-together name 'No Man's Skyrim' becoming a recurrent joke on the web. (Skyrim, of course, is one of the games that Bethesda is best loved for.)

Make up your own mind, though, and check out the footage here:

As this is a Bethesda RPG, you will, naturally, be doing faction quests - though it seems increased player influence means you won't necessarily become the head of every group like in previous Bethesda games.

"You don't necessarily end up as the head of every single faction of the game," said lead quest designer Will Shen in a Bethesda YouTube video. "But obviously all the major characters and every faction questline will be reflecting on your choices. But it can have far-reaching consequences for what that faction is and what it cares about."

Starfield mods

During an AMA hosted by Bethesda’s director Todd Howard in November 2021, more information about Starfield was revealed.

Talking about mod support, which featured heavily in Bethesda’s Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises, Howard said: "Our plan [is to] have full mod support like our previous games. Our modding community has been with us for 20 years. We love what they do and hope to see more make a career out of it."

Starfield art, with a space man looking out over supernatural-looking trees
Starfield gameplay has been revealed.

Starfield character customisation

More of the customisation options have recently been revealed, and it looks to be more detailed than we've ever seen in a Bethesda game - you can even choose the way they walk. It's also the most inclusive, with various facial and body type options.

Check out the tweet from Bethesda below:

A while back, talking about character customisation in Starfield, Howard revealed in the aforementioned AMA that players will get to pick their pronouns and tinker with their in-game avatars in numerous ways.

Howard said: "Really excited about what the team has done with character creation here. Including choosing background, skills, etc. You also can pick your pronoun (he, she, they) and we’ve recorded all the relevant dialogue to support that choice."

Starfield trailer

While you wait for the Starfield release date on 6th September, you can check out the latest trailers below. The first teaser trailer was officially uploaded in June 2021, accumulating over 18 million views since. It's fair to say this is where the excitement began.

The next promo video provided us with our best look yet at the actual world and story of the game, so feast your eyes here!

One of the latest videos ahead of launch is actually a live-action trailer featuring Dave Bautista (best known for Guardians of the Galaxy) venturing into space while being accompanied by a version of Elton John's Rocket Man. It's pretty cool. Check it out:

Now, here's one nobody expected. To celebrate the launch of Starfield, Bethesda partnered with US pop rock band Imagine Dragons to release an original song called Children of the Sky, inspired by the game. The song utilises Starfield gameplay with many typical sweeping shots you would see in a music video. Give it a listen/watch below:

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