Starfield is a game that was highly anticipated from the day it was announced as it is the first new IP Bethesda Game Studios made since the Elder Scrolls in the 90s (Fallout was bought from Interplay). After the disaster that was Fallout 76 and the Microsoft acquisition of Bethesda, Starfield was poised to be one of the first big next generation titles and basically Bethesda's shot at redemption over their prior disasters. Does the game live up to that status?
I'll get through the good parts first. I think the gunplay of this game is pretty good and an evolution from Fallout 4 and 76 as it feels like the weapons have weight to them when they shoot, there is a large variety of weapons and I really feel this game out of all of the games would have benefitted from a VATS system. The shipbuilding is a thing I didn't dabble with so much neither did I with outposts but from what I've seen, the creations that people made up are just incredible. I think they nailed the freedom of choice they gave to create what they wanted to create. This game's physics engine is also crazy impressive and the powers in this game showcase this physics engine perfectly in my opinion. I do also really like the questlines in this game, they're cool in my opinion. There are also a few cool characters here and there but honestly... not a lot.
As for the bad stuff this game does, I feel like this game just doesn't utilise almost everything mentioned above almost at all in this game. Due to the procedural generation, most locations in these 1000 planets are copy and paste which just disincentives you to explore as why would you want to explore 1000 planets with copy and paste? The game's story takes a lot of time to get going and get interesting (I do really like the last third of the game and it does get interesting and meta though). The game also has inconveniences like for example, no vehicles, travelling also sucks and fucks up the pacing, the fact that it feels genuinely ancient in comparison to other AAA titles and other things that make this game just feel so.... dated.
In conclusion, I don't think Starfield is the game people wanted it to be. It's not the messiah game Phil Spencer and Xbox wanted it to be to rejuvenate the Xbox brand. It's solid but it's a master of none. It doesn't mean that Bethesda can't salvage this though through mod support and DLC and I hope that in a year or two time, the game does become something special as the whole premise of this game is super cool and has a lot of potential, but I really should not be here hoping a game becomes great and something special after a year or two, I thought we've learned that lesson with Cyberpunk 2077
I'll get through the good parts first. I think the gunplay of this game is pretty good and an evolution from Fallout 4 and 76 as it feels like the weapons have weight to them when they shoot, there is a large variety of weapons and I really feel this game out of all of the games would have benefitted from a VATS system. The shipbuilding is a thing I didn't dabble with so much neither did I with outposts but from what I've seen, the creations that people made up are just incredible. I think they nailed the freedom of choice they gave to create what they wanted to create. This game's physics engine is also crazy impressive and the powers in this game showcase this physics engine perfectly in my opinion. I do also really like the questlines in this game, they're cool in my opinion. There are also a few cool characters here and there but honestly... not a lot.
As for the bad stuff this game does, I feel like this game just doesn't utilise almost everything mentioned above almost at all in this game. Due to the procedural generation, most locations in these 1000 planets are copy and paste which just disincentives you to explore as why would you want to explore 1000 planets with copy and paste? The game's story takes a lot of time to get going and get interesting (I do really like the last third of the game and it does get interesting and meta though). The game also has inconveniences like for example, no vehicles, travelling also sucks and fucks up the pacing, the fact that it feels genuinely ancient in comparison to other AAA titles and other things that make this game just feel so.... dated.
In conclusion, I don't think Starfield is the game people wanted it to be. It's not the messiah game Phil Spencer and Xbox wanted it to be to rejuvenate the Xbox brand. It's solid but it's a master of none. It doesn't mean that Bethesda can't salvage this though through mod support and DLC and I hope that in a year or two time, the game does become something special as the whole premise of this game is super cool and has a lot of potential, but I really should not be here hoping a game becomes great and something special after a year or two, I thought we've learned that lesson with Cyberpunk 2077