I should probably lay some groundwork before I make a few enemies… I’m not a fan of Starfield – sorry.
Look, Bethesda is undeniably one of the greatest game developers ever, and with a plethora of classics beneath their belt, it’s reasonable that my expectations for Starfield were pretty high.
Fallout is a franchise that I really hold close to my heart, and I was really hoping that Starfield would exceed my expectations and prove to be at least on the same level of quality as their previous works. Alas, I can’t say Starfield comes close to reaching the brilliance of previous masterpieces like Fallout 3 or Skyrim.
It’s like Bethesda has played it offensively safe with this game. The classic Bethesda formula hasn’t evolved or altered in any way since their last big open-world RPG release, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing had the world just not felt so depressing and lifeless at many points during my only playthrough.
The world of Starfield is vast, but planets are often repetitive and soon begin to lack any individuality after a while. At first, it’s exciting being able to explore planets freely and travel through space at your leisure – but the novelty quickly wears-off once you realise that you’re simply opening up another procedurally generated map whenever you land on another desolate rock.
With the endless amounts of planets to roam through – it’s a given that you’ll start to recognise creatures and aliens, or find environmental similarities when you enter into planets with certain biome types. I guess it’s what infinite space exploration would realistically be like if we had the technology – inert and empty.
Don’t get me wrong, the game is great in some aspects, but it’s as though Bethesda has succeeded in creating more of a barren wasteland with the exploration in Starfield than they have with any of their Fallout titles.
Character customisation is superb, as you essentially have every tool at your disposal to create anyone you wish to. Not only can you fine-tune your character’s appearance down to their last nostril – but you can give them a back story or even traits that’ll affect gameplay and how you’ll interact with the world around you; from an attractive, extroverted culinary master with excellent piloting skills – to an introverted, orphaned bounty hunter.
There’s also complete freedom over the appearance of your ship – from the size of your engine to the colour of your cockpit, it’s a nice addition that’ll give many players the ability to truly hone-in on their creativity and build some incredible spacecrafts.
One of my main grievances, though, is that your character doesn’t have a voice. I’ve seen many people praise this as it allows the player to have full dialogue choices rather than the vague, cryptic options that you had to choose from in Fallout 4.
And yes, while it’s nice to know precisely what my character will say and the tone it’ll create in NPC conversations – I personally feel like the absence of a player voice often took away from the immersion whenever an NPC stared blankly at me while partaking in a one-sided dialogue.
Now for the game itself… The first couple hours of Starfield are insanely underwhelming when you compare it to past Bethesda games. With the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games’ opening sequences regularly being dramatic and exciting, the Starfield opening didn’t feel nearly as effective as I think Bethesda were trying to make it with the player’s colourful interstellar vision at the start, or with the introduction to its main premise.
My friend stressed to me that I had to give Starfield a chance, and play for at least 12-15 hours before it “gets good”. But admittedly – 15 hours is a long time for someone to plough through a game in the hopes that it will at some point miraculously become enjoyable – but for the sake of this review I took their word for it.
I can say that they were somewhat right. The main story is fun, and the further in you get, the more enjoyable it does become when you have greater access to equipment and ships. But the base gameplay still remains the same throughout, and if you’re looking for something that you can casually play and be entertained by immediately – I can’t in good conscience recommend this game to you as there’s a lot of content that is painfully dry.
Maybe I’ve been spoilt recently by the insane open worlds or boundless space exploration in games like Elden Ring or No Man’s Sky, but Starfield doesn’t reinvent the wheel or stand out in any way for me.
Starfield feels average, but amidst its filler there’s a game with some excellent RPG content riddled with timeless Bethesda charm that I’m sure many will adore – I just don’t see myself coming back for seconds any time soon.
Rating: 2/5