Starfield has a jail system more similar to Skyrim's prison than Fallout 4's Commonwealth, Bethesda has revealed.
In a Discord Q&A on Wednesday, Bethesda explained how Starfield deals with criminals, and it does indeed sound pretty similar to Skyrim. If you're caught committing crimes, you'll have the option to surrender and go to jail for an unspecified period of time, or pay a fine. Or, if you really like to live life on the edge, you can try to resist arrest and make a run for it, but consequences for a failed escape would presumably be even more dire than the jail sentence you originally had.
"The Settled Systems is more like Skyrim than Fallout 4's Commonwealth in that regard. Ya bancha criminals!" said lead designer Emil Pagliarulo. "There's civilization, there's government, and there are laws. And in a couple cases, we actually explore the themes of crime and punishment in our futuristic universe."
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At least in Skyrim, doing time affects more than just your morale; depending on how long you spend in prison, you'll lose some or all of the experience you gained toward the next skill level. For example, if you're level 49 and pushing level 50 in pickpocketing, spending time in jail will either bring your progress right down to the beginning of level 49 or somewhere in-between, rather than dropping you into level 48 or below like older Elder Scrolls games. Fallout 4, on the other hand, being set in a lawless post-apocalypse world, has no such legal system.
It remains to be seen how Starfield's jail system will impact your experience, but with Pagliarulo teasing themes of crime and punishment, it's safe to assume there will be penalties for being a criminal, at least sloppy criminals who get caught.
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