Starfield developed by Bethesda is available in early access on PC and Xbox Series X and S and will be fully playable for everyone on Wednesday the 6th of September.
The Starfield launch is a pretty huge deal right now in video games, Bethesda launching its first new IP in 25 years and under their new bosses Microsoft. Does it hold up though after Fallout 76’s rough launch?
Starfield starts on a mining facility with nothing unusual going on until you discover a mysterious artefact, when you touch the artefact something strange happens, and in true Bethesda fashion it kicks off the story. The introduction segment does go on for quite a while but it gives you your first look into the Starfield universe, introduces you to its many systems and then lets you decide who you are going to be. I don’t want to go too deeply into the story purely for spoiler reasons but for a Bethesda story, it’s honestly the same as expected in Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Skyrim, It has a story, and it is okay but it’s the side content, the exploring, and the many locations that are much better and you’ll be most likely trying to make your way round the galaxy as you see fit. You will also be introduced to many companions who are very deeply developed and will react to almost every choice you make, start conversations, and react to the world around them. Bethesda did a great job in making these characters all likeable in their very own ways and differences. Again with Bethesda, it really shines with the sidequests, I do feel like some sidequests on the planets or outposts are simple fetch quests go here, do this, but some of the side quests you’ll find are just incredibly written and leave you so immersed within the universe wanting to know more.
Starfield is a game that is absolutely full of lore and history and every location I went to had a story, whether it was an abandoned space station or a science facility that pirates had raided on a planet, every location really feels so alive, and also thanks to the developer who originally designed the lived in mods for Bethesda’s previous games, they were hired as a developer to do a similar thing in Starfield and I’ve never seen such lived in environments in a game ever, props to them for that. Every part of the story, the side quests and the universe itself has been exciting for me and I still can’t get enough.
Starfield is a game that is being talked about both positively and negatively and I feel that the gameplay part of the review is a great place to talk about the controversy on Planet Exploration. Going into the game I was very sceptical, I was burnt badly by Fallout 76 on launch, I love Bethesda games especially Fallout so with Fallout 76’s release I was quite excited about it, and while it had some positives, let’s face it, it launched awfully. I refused to get excited for Starfield I believed it would release and it would be another Fallout 76 situation, especially since Microsoft had a lot of stakes relying on this game I was worried it would be rushed.
Previously Todd Howard and Pete Hines were saying planets would be fully explorable so a lot of gamers took that as walking around Planets, and it’s understandable as to why many thought that was the case. I was sceptical again as Bethesda has seemed to use the same engine since Morrowind and just updates it rather than start a new one and I thought there is no way we can explore a full Planet it has to be a system where you can explore bits at a time, or the Planets were simple just a Skyrim sized map on each Planet to make you feel you can explore a good portion of it. The way it all works is that when your ship lands on a certain part, the environment is procedurally generated around you in tiles which sometimes spawns in handcrafted points of interest I don’t mind this myself, as a huge fan of No Man’s Sky since launch and walking around a whole planet is not something I would imagine being enjoyable, especially since procedural generation never truly creates anything incredible in my eyes. While No Man’s Sky landing on the Planet is an epic moment what you see in the first part is enjoyable it never really changes until you get to another Planet. I imagine Starfield would be the same thing I don’t think the Bethesda engine can handle what No Man’s Sky has masterfully pulled off. Some may think I am sticking up here for Bethesda’s choices simply because I don’t mind the tile system no, Todd Howard and Pete Hines should have been clear and it’s understandable why people might be angry.
In Starfield the gameplay does feel similar to Skyrim and Fallout, though to me it feels like they have enhanced it in many ways, the combat especially feels more impactful than ever, both on the ground and in space. The dialogue options feel even more fleshed out than what we got in Fallout 4 from the talking protagonist and while that was good, it really limited the typical Bethesda dialogue options. Exploration is another thing I love, I’ve accidentally come across such unique and amazing places full of stories to tell and things to do. The amount of items in the game is quite incredible, so many weapons, food items, space suits and apparel it is just an overwhelmingly great amount of stuff but sadly encumbrance is a really annoying issue right now, hopefully, it will be fixed soon or at least a mod will sort that.
In Starfield the most exciting thing is not following orders or objectives it’s exploring the Universe for yourself and realising that there is so much to do and it all feels so alive, despite some of the opinions on Planet Exploration. If you’re going into Starfield expecting Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous or a No Man’s Sky experience you might be disappointed. The economies aren’t really affected by anything you do, and space travelling is split up into fast travel screens which at first I didn’t mind but you’ll get to points where all you’re doing is fast travelling to sections you need to go to, while it saves time, also breaks some of the space immersion. I’m not entirely sure why they couldn’t do the travel system No Man’s Sky established with the warp speed, I imagine it’s engine-related. I went into this expecting basically Skyrim and Fallout in Space, another typical RPG from Bethesda which is what I got it has a few flaws, but I am loving it.
I do really feel they’ve learnt from mistakes in the past, especially with Fallout 76 though there are still some issues. In Starfield it might be the least buggy launch they’ve had but it still isn’t really great that even with my PC that can run anything on 1440p on ultra. I still get some FPS drops now and again in many areas. Other gamers and streamers have had nothing but issues with performance. For people paying more for early access, this isn’t really acceptable in any way, yes as I mentioned earlier a mod could fix it that isn’t acceptable either it isn’t a mod creator’s job to fix their mistakes. I have run into a few bugs and crashes though not as many as expected there have been a few issues where I’ve gotten stuck or the AI has gotten stuck it does need a fix ready for launch.
Starfield looks and sounds fantastic No it isn’t exactly groundbreaking or anything special it is good-looking for the most part However, the lighting and clutter around the many environments you’ll see are just nothing short of great even little writings on whiteboards are just so unique and fun to see. Starfield is a game that does little details great, but Sadly some of the Planets don’t look amazing, but others do. It is the interiors of ships and stations, or planetary outposts that got me the most excited due to the detail and differences the NASA punk approach they took paid off so well. I truly felt like I was exploring a living and breathing universe and the developers should be proud of that. The food, good lord, we have to talk about the food in this game who designed such detailed foods? I oddly find myself looking around the foods and being in awe of it, never has a slice of toast looked so realistic in a game! Yes, I am on a toast quest! Starfield definitely has its ups and downs when it comes to the graphical design but I really don’t have many complaints I wish they’d fix the performance a little. The sound design is top tier, the ship engines roaring past you, the unique gun sounds and the atmospherics are just a chef’s kiss to me. They really put so much detail into all of these little things and it paid off. The voice acting is great, especially in the main storyline, It’s as expected from a Bethesda title and it offers a lot of life-like qualities to the characters.
Verdict
I refused to fall for the hype of Starfield due to Fallout 76 as mentioned above, It’s only because they did the Starfield Direct that got me thinking, have they learnt? In a lot of ways Bethesda has learnt, It is a solid IP and a very exciting one at that, however, a few design choices may leave some feeling duped and understandably so with some of the statements from Todd Howard and Pete Hines. For me though it is everything I had set my expectations to, and while some issues definitely need fixing, it also shouldn’t need modders taking it on themselves, Bethesda needs to get on that. However the design still amazes me now, I will still be playing this for years into the future and I can’t wait to see how the game evolves with its community. It feels like a game that is worth multiple playthroughs with the amount of decisions and directions you can take and with such amazing cities, outposts and more, I just want to keep going. Starfield is a great time, one I think RPG fans should experience and go in with an open mind, though the score is affected by some of the drawbacks I have seen on my journey.
8/10
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