Very rarely will I review a game that I haven't completed. I don't think it's fair. But I'm going to make an exception for Starfield.
This game is a testament to Bethesda's refusal to improve. A belief that they don't need to. Perhaps in a year where they've been forced to go toe-to-toe with a competent RPG in Baldur's Gate III (in fairness, not one I've played, but I think I could safely say it trumps Starfield in every capacity) they'll finally see that they can no longer rest on their laurels.
Starfield is by no means a game made incompetently, it's technically impressive, especially by Bethesda's standards. The gunplay is good, the game looks pretty, and the tech aspects are quite cool. But the story and RPG elements are severely lacking.
The game is vapid and empty, it's white noise, it's the video game equivalent of eating flour. I played for twenty hours and not once did I find anything that was remotely engaging. Nothing about the main story engaged me, the "mystery" of the artefacts was completely worthless because all it was just "weird floating rocks", at least until TEN HOURS IN when it was suddenly revealed they give force powers. That's right, in the time it takes to FULLY COMPLETE games that have FAR MORE INTERESTING THINGS TO SAY than Starfield, Starfield is only just getting round to revealing a core mechanic. And the side quests have nothing I was interested in, they just flooded by quest list as I was walking around, assuming that I was tuning in to every conversation happening around me from nameless NPCs.
Ultimately I think that's what it boils down to, Starfield ASSUMES I already care about everything that's happening in the world, and therefore does nothing to try and pull me in. It ASSUMES I care about the artefacts, so doesn't need to actually engage me in a mystery. It ASSUMES I want to join every faction, so doesn't actually tell me anything about these factions. It ASSUMES I'm going to get really invested in the base building mechanics, so never stops to tell me what the value in it is.
One day I will come back to this game, I will finish it, I will write an essay about it, there's plenty here to write about, I didn't even get started on the godforsaken ship combat. But for now, I'm not investing any time in it. For now all I can say is Bethesda need to start learning from their contemporaries and stop assuming they're the gold standard for western RPGs. I'm not sure they ever were.
This game is a testament to Bethesda's refusal to improve. A belief that they don't need to. Perhaps in a year where they've been forced to go toe-to-toe with a competent RPG in Baldur's Gate III (in fairness, not one I've played, but I think I could safely say it trumps Starfield in every capacity) they'll finally see that they can no longer rest on their laurels.
Starfield is by no means a game made incompetently, it's technically impressive, especially by Bethesda's standards. The gunplay is good, the game looks pretty, and the tech aspects are quite cool. But the story and RPG elements are severely lacking.
The game is vapid and empty, it's white noise, it's the video game equivalent of eating flour. I played for twenty hours and not once did I find anything that was remotely engaging. Nothing about the main story engaged me, the "mystery" of the artefacts was completely worthless because all it was just "weird floating rocks", at least until TEN HOURS IN when it was suddenly revealed they give force powers. That's right, in the time it takes to FULLY COMPLETE games that have FAR MORE INTERESTING THINGS TO SAY than Starfield, Starfield is only just getting round to revealing a core mechanic. And the side quests have nothing I was interested in, they just flooded by quest list as I was walking around, assuming that I was tuning in to every conversation happening around me from nameless NPCs.
Ultimately I think that's what it boils down to, Starfield ASSUMES I already care about everything that's happening in the world, and therefore does nothing to try and pull me in. It ASSUMES I care about the artefacts, so doesn't need to actually engage me in a mystery. It ASSUMES I want to join every faction, so doesn't actually tell me anything about these factions. It ASSUMES I'm going to get really invested in the base building mechanics, so never stops to tell me what the value in it is.
One day I will come back to this game, I will finish it, I will write an essay about it, there's plenty here to write about, I didn't even get started on the godforsaken ship combat. But for now, I'm not investing any time in it. For now all I can say is Bethesda need to start learning from their contemporaries and stop assuming they're the gold standard for western RPGs. I'm not sure they ever were.