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Starfield reviews have been fairly divided since its release. Some love it, some absolutely hate it, and others are somewhere in between. This love/hate battle comes from the notion that some of Starfield‘s key features feel either underbaked or missing, particularly seamless exploration. While Bethesda Director Todd Howard certainly did his usual upselling ahead of Starfield‘s launch, the game’s unreasonable hype train has contributed to over-expectation. It was billed as the “No Man’s Skyrim,” perhaps unfairly. For those caught up in the torrent of disgruntled fans across the internet, We’re here to explain that instead of focusing on what’s missing in Starfield, there’s plenty it does incredibly to make it absolutely one of the most entertaining games in years.
Be Happy With What Starfield Has
Put simply, Starfield is a one-of-a-kind experience. Few games can rival its overwhelming scope; even the very first planet you land on is capable of swallowing hours of your time. If you’re looking to get lost, Starfield‘s lore, interesting factions, fascinating events, and great characters across an entire universe can consume you in a way that few games do. Dare we say, Bethesda is one of the few developers out there capable of creating a sense of wonder and mystery with their worlds. The feeling of “What’s that?” or “What’s going on here?” is something that many games try to replicate. Yet, for some reason, Bethesda nails it better than any of them. And you can be confident that just like Skyrim and Fallout 4, they’ve done it again.
What is particularly impressive about Starfield is the depth of its role-playing mechanics. There are so many options to build different types of characters and navigate its story as you please. Whether you wish to be a space pirate, intergalactic salesman, space cop, untethered explorer, or cold-blooded murderer, the universe is your oyster. The RPG mechanics are not nearly on the level of an experience like Baldur’s Gate 3, but they are solid, and the game more than makes up for it in many areas.
The dialogue options and possibility of failing speech checks make it feel like you need to pay attention in conversations. You need to understand characters and try to appeal to what you think they would want to hear. It’s a great system that isn’t easy to cheat, so you will be constantly engaged in conversations where the outcome can be life or death. Add to that the choices you make along the way that change who lives or dies and companions who will adapt to your behavior. As a result, you have a ton of ways to replay the game after you finish, not to mention the very different experiences that New Game Plus can offer in Starfield.
Don’t Worry About What’s Not There In Starfield
Fans of Elite Dangerous and No Man’s Sky might’ve been expecting a similar experience with Starfield, but the biggest question is why? In-depth space exploration was specifically said not to be in the game. It is disappointing that we don’t have seamless space travel and exploration when similar titles do. However, what is there makes up for it and gives us the most complete RPG Bethesda has produced in a decade.
There are loading screens that separate space travel and exploration. It’s disappointing at first, but loading screens are fifteen seconds at the most. That’s what has thrown the internet into a complete fit — fifteen seconds here and there to load thousands of entire planets that are packed with content. Of course, each planet isn’t going to blow your mind, and there are a handful that are rather dull. It is not the immersive space exploration we were promised. Still, the hit rate usually is that seven out of ten planets have very engaging areas to explore, quests to find, and unique enemies to fight.
Something that shocked Starfield fans before the release and its reviews was that planets have invisible boundaries. You cannot travel the entirety of a world and frequently will need to use your ship to reland in an area you want to explore. While it is true, for the most part, this is an over-exaggeration. Much like most Bethesda games, if you want to get somewhere, you can usually get there. Also, these are entire planets we’re talking about, meaning it’s unrealistic to travel on foot across a whole world. Of course, it would’ve been amazing to have full control of your ship and fly anywhere on the planet you want. How much would that have improved the gameplay? It’s hard to say, but those craving for a space sim experience would’ve definitely been happier if it was there. But again, this was never promised, and to expect things to appear just because fans want them there can be called “Final Fantasy 16 syndrome.”
The argument extends to space travel itself; many players actually believed at one point that ships are actually static when traveling through space. That has since been debunked, but some would still point to space travel carrying less weight than it should. Well, I’m here to confirm that if you avoid the sequence of menus and loading screens, you’ll find a ton of content you’d miss otherwise. Now, Starfield does not tell you this at all, and you can easily think that space is just an illusion here. Several players have managed to fly the entirety of the distance between planets, taking around seven hours.
If that’s what you’re looking for, you can do it if you want to. After traveling to a system, consider taking the time to travel around a planet’s orbit. You’ll discover tons of random encounters, completely optional quest lines, and unexpected events that will push you to do this every time you enter a new system. Starfield genuinely does convey the vastness of space, despite what you’ll hear on the internet.
Now, is Starfield a perfect game? No, not by a long shot, and there are plenty of areas where other games have done better throughout the years. But much like the best titles in Bethesda’s library, the experience is far more than the sum of its parts. Judged as an overall package, it delivers a thrilling sci-fi role-playing experience that you really can’t find elsewhere. My advice for haters is to stop fussing about small and ultimately irrelevant aspects of that experience and focus instead on getting caught up in its wider adventure.
Starfield is available on Xbox Series X|S and PC.
