The Reason Behind the Seemingly Unemotional Characters in Starfield

The continuous joke about Bethesda's games, including their latest release Starfield, having characters with amusing, and not quite perfect, facial animations has finally got a possible explanation. This is according to Delaney King, known for her work on games such as Dragon Age and God of War. She theorizes that these unusual character expressions stem from the lack of muscle contractions in the faces, leading to their unnatural and insincere smiles. She refers to András Arató, famously known from the meme 'Hide the Pain Harold' to support her point. In an X thread, King detailed her theory with pictures, specifically pointing out that the improper contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle results in the characters' false smiles.