Microsoft desperately needed a win after all the negative press surrounding its Xbox gaming brand in 2023 and the year before. 2022, in particular, needed major first-party releases as many titles were pushed further into the future. When one of those much-anticipated games finally arrived, it was a stake in the heart of a vampire. Redfall’s release in May was a disaster, and all eyes were now on Starfield, Bethesda Game Studio’s space opera and first new IP in ages. “Skyrim in space “was the most succinct description that was even given by the game’s director.

I like Skyrim, and I enjoy science fiction in space. The more Bethesda revealed about the game, especially in its Starfield Direct presentation, the more my interest was piqued. It went so far that I took advantage of AMD’s sponsorship deal that bundled a Radeon graphics card with the game’s Premium edition. It was actually the only way for any of the current-gen GPUs to be a sensible purchase. Based on early benchmarks, it also was a necessary upgrade from the RTX 3060 to get an enjoyable performance in this game. Although the performance at launch was still imperfect, it ran well most of the time outside major cities.

The game itself was, in many aspects, a typical Bethesda title, offering more of the gameplay loop that we all have come to enjoy. But Bethesda’s ambitions have been grand, vast as the depths of space, so they have added 1000 planets for players to explore. Could we be talking about illusions of grandeur instead?

Regarding scope, Bethesda’s games have always offered the player an enormous amount of content worth several hundreds of hours if you wanted to. Starfield’s 1000 planets certainly have that potential, although I doubt it would be exhilarating. Worlds only contained a low, curated (maybe randomized) number of locations of interest, and traveling between them was… a perfect opportunity to listen to space podcasts. And even those locations existed primarily for looting purposes. If you love the gameplay loop, all the power to you. If I remember correctly, I have only visited and explored planets during the events of a quest. Therefore, take my words with a grain of salt.

The big story questlines were where Starfield shined, not the number of planets or auxiliary game systems. Combined with the addictive Bethesda storytelling, looting, fantastic art design, and entertaining combat, I had a delightful time. However, it is essential to know what to expect from Starfield. It could have been a better space exploration game. But it was a terrific story-based first-person shooter with RPG elements Bethesda-style.

Performance was a mixed bag, and it still depends on the hardware. Starfield prefers AMD graphics cards and Intel processors. Big cities like New Atlantis or Akila will murder low-end CPUs, and performance dips must be expected. Indoor areas ran well, whereas outdoor regions varied based on the location (dense forest vs. barren planet surface). However, not all graphics options must be cranked to eleven to enjoy the artwork.

The Nerdy Bits

I have outsourced this section to its own blog post to streamline this review. If you are interested in more details, please read that.

The TLDR version is as follows:

• I admired the art design and how it helped create the illusion of a futuristic science fiction world. The game was beautiful but not a technological marvel.
• Performance was wonky, and Starfield played best on an Intel CPU and AMD GPU. Low-end systems will struggle. I have Windows and Linux benchmarks in my tech discussion.
• The game played great, sometimes best, with a controller. It was a solid shooter.
• The music was on point and worked great within the game. The soundtrack is not worth the extra money for the premium edition, though. It is boring on its own. The sound design was impeccable overall.
• All the voice acting was of high quality – and there was an unbelievable amount of dialogue.

Gameplay, Story & Characters

Starfield played similarly to Skyrim or Fallout 4. Bethesda’s core game loop has not changed at all. Entering large structures loaded the new area, and exiting did the same. It was quick, though, which also applied to fast travel between planets. I’ve never been one to cross vast distances in any game without fast travel, only for the sake of immersion. As such, I would want to avoid flying a spaceship across light-years of space. I have better things to do with my time.

I get the fundamental discussion about the general weakness of this space exploration gameplay system, and these are valid points. I’m no game designer and do not know how titles like No Man’s Sky handle the travel mechanics. Unless mission design forced me to travel back and forth for fetch quests, which a few do, I did not care. I only wished the menu had not been as clunky.

On top of the typical Bethesda game design, they have added a few more systems to make it a space combat action shooter and resource management simulation. Ship modifications or building your own flying saucer were cool things – had the shipbuilder not controlled like a giant brick. Outpost management to gather resources for crafting was also a thing. However, I cannot comment on how it controls or how fun it is. I never engaged with this aspect of Starfield. I would turn to the Anno franchise if I wanted to build a city. Crafting required many different resources, so many that I gave up after a while because it was hard to keep track of.

Your mileage may vary, of course, and it depends heavily on how invested you are to fully immerse yourself in a game’s world and its various systems. I focused primarily on the essential elements: exploration and looting, gunplay, storytelling, and the space combat you cannot avoid. Let me continue with that and boost-pack myself up the list to the more enjoyable parts of this title.

The space combat was as entertaining as the naval battles in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. It existed, worked, and was not horrible, and I preferred to avoid it when possible. Spaceship shootouts always started off with me and my adversaries playing chicken. We flew toward each other while shooting with everything mounted to the ships. At some point, the enemies would swerve to fly past me, and I followed, like the last gunslinger after the man in black, continuing to shoot, chasing after my foe until they were eliminated. Battles with multiple ships were won mainly by the vessel with stronger shields, punchier weapons, and a bit of luck selecting the order of targets. I never thought that skill was the main component to emerging victorious. My biggest issue with space combat was the lack of agility, turning it into a boring slugfest. It was a necessary addition to a space exploration game that lets you travel between planets, and it was functional enough not to get in the way. But it was never a standout feature I looked forward to doing more of.

That sentiment did not apply to exploration, looting, and gunplay in and around space and ground facilities. Many of the main-quest locations were outstanding, downright gorgeous at times, and incredibly interesting to explore. Have you ever wondered how exploring a derelict NASA launch station would feel? Bethesda has this one nailed down to perfection. Starfield also played great as a shooter, making the combat fun and engaging. This was the best part of all gameplay systems. It was so addicting that I still enjoy walking through abandoned factories and outposts from time to time to eliminate space pirates after 100 hours on the clock. There was something about exploring these futuristic rundown places that still has its hook in me. I only wished there had been more tailored environmental storytelling. In the end, everything was just overrun by some form of space scum. The most exciting discoveries are part of the many primary and side story arcs, which is why I had so much fun for such a long time.

Bethesda’s writers cooked up an interesting universe with several different main storylines or faction quests if you want to call it that. The gamut ranged from corporate espionage and intrigue focusing on stealth and persuasion to space exterminator, space ranger, and undercover operative trying to take down the dangerous Crimson Fleet. There were various styles of story and approaches to solving the respective goal. What made all these adventures more interesting were the companions that now deserve the name “companion”. Everyone had their own beliefs and personalities and, therefore, their opinions on current events. They actively participated in conversations and voiced their opinions. This added so much more depth to the story and the companions. Did Lydia in Skyrim ever interject her thoughts about anything? Did she do anything other than spouting phrases in combat? Starfield was so much more personal because of this, and companion quests helped to form a closer bond with the newfound friends. The world and lore are deep and very close to Mass Effect in many aspects, excluding the alien races. And that is a good thing.

Famous Last Words

Starfield was and still is a contentious title. Bethesda wanted too much, and as a result, some aspects of the gameplay suffered. Delivering 1000 remotely interesting planets is an insane proposition and should have been discarded immediately. I would have preferred a smaller scope and more meat on the side quests. After all, I only focused on the big quests and their scope. And it still got me to 100 hours of gameplay.

The most significant improvement over previous titles was how companions were incorporated into the gameplay. It was much closer to Dragon Age or Mass Effect. They were more than unpaid mercenaries that turned on you if you accidentally inflicted damage because they happened to run into your attacks. They had opinions and reacted to your decisions. Companions had a personality and were intriguing to get to know. This made for a few very emotional moments I was not prepared for.

I experienced the space opera I wanted by focusing on the stories with a few random side quests here and there. The gunplay was excellent, and the sound and visual design were incredibly immersive and in support of the game’s vision.

Despite the 100 hours of playtime mentioned above, the skill system did not allow me to build a powerful character not 100% focused on a single purpose. Branching out to learn some additional valuable skills, like lockpicking, piloting, or crafting, diverted the scarce number of skill points from my target build. Either there needed to be more skill points per level up or fewer skills to learn, or the game wanted me to farm hours on end. Luckily, Starfield was not particularly challenging, and I got by easily as a jack-of-all-trades.

(Bow tied, mic dropped.)

Thank you for reading.