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Starfield Review: Worth The Hype-R-Space?
Credit: Leonardo/MyTechPiece
Starfield is more than a game, it’s an event. It’s the first new original IP we’ve had from Bethesda in 25 years, and it’s an ambitious project. Bethesda and Todd Howard promised a thousand planets to explore, and a fully immersive experience. We’ve dreamed about it with games like No Man’s Sky, and Star Citizen, but is Starfield the game we’ve been waiting for?
Disclaimer: We haven’t finished the game yet (it’s massive, and we have a life). However, we’ve progressed enough to give you our impressions on it. We’ll avoid spoiling things that we think players should discover for themselves.
It’s not Skyrim or Fallout in Space, but It’s a Bethesda Game
Before diving into the gameplay and graphics, it’s important to remind you that this isn’t just Skryrim or Fallout in a space opera setting. The gun feel is close to Fallout in some regards, but that’s a very different experience overall. It’s still a Bethesda RPG, so you’ll have the usual skill tree, and character creation system, but from the start you can feel it’s a new generation of games.
Credit: Bethesda/MyTechPiece
A Solid Foundation For Modders
“It’s not a bug, it’s a feature”. The infamous Todd Howard quote is surprisingly not very applicable here. Starfield has its fair share of bugs and funny situations (try to steal an enemy ship). However, it’s not as bad as it was in Fallout games or in Skyrim, and we didn’t get any game breaking experience during our playthrough. However, the issues are here, and like any Bethesda games, it’s clear that it’s the modding community that will fix most of it.
One of the funniest one we want to share with you is related to the NPCs. In Starfield, you’ll get to explore space stations and cities with people going about their day. Their day is nothing like yours. Every time you come close to an NPC, he’s forced to look you in the eyes, which creates this uneasy feeling when groups of people just stare at you with empty eyes and follow your every movement. Some NPCs also start talking to you and decide to walk back while staring at you. All of these are hilarious, and even though they break immersion, we had a great time with it.
Credit: Leonardo/MyTechPiece
The Unfortunate Feeling of Emptiness
Starfield does a lot of things well, but unfortunately the exploration isn’t one of them. You do have 1,000 planets to visit, but you can’t explore them freely. You don’t really pilot your ship, except when there’s a dogfight. Furthermore, you can only choose where you land and watch a cinematic disguising a loading time. In this regard, No Man’s Sky trick worked better because you felt in control and could roam around in your spaceship on the planet.
Then you land to complete an objective, and only that. Even though the planets are procedurally generated, there are invisible walls everywhere. Given the emptiness of the planets, it’s understandable, but in this case, maybe crafting more of them manually to make them unique would have helped swallow the pill.
With such a vast galaxy, the second feeling of emptiness hits you when you end up in one of the futuristic cities. We didn’t expect Cyberpunk 2077’s level of immersion, but having only 2 or 3 NPCs roaming around in such vast cities is ridiculous. It looks like every lived city has been decimated by a deadly virus, when they’re presented as lively places. Again, something we could have let slide if the game was more beautiful.
Credit: Bethesda/MyTechPiece
It’s All About Possibilities
Starfield has a strength which can also be a flaw to some. It does many things, and lets you do many things. However, it never specialized in one field. So, you have a bit of everything, but nothing is really in-depth. It can be overwhelming to see the possibilities, but you end up not caring about most of it.
For instance, you can craft your ship, which requires buying the right parts, and you can favor weaponry, speed or cargo. You’ll have to balance your weight and thrust power to be able to fly. Even though it’s amusing at first, you’ll quickly get a powerful enough ship to stop caring and using the system. There are other systems to improve your weapons, and abilities, it’s serviceable but nothing to write home about.
Credit: Leonardo/MyTechPiece
Is Starfield Worth Playing?
We spoke about a lot of negative aspects here, because they stand out in a mostly great game. Starfield is an immersive RPG with a lot going for it. The story isn’t revolutionary, but it’s engaging, and it tracks better than in Skyrim, where you quickly forget about it and just slash monsters. It’s not a beautiful game technically, but it has a vertiginous scale, and it does present well when it wants to. Moreover, the gunfights are excellent, especially when you start getting more powerful.
So, yes, it’s a Bethesda game. It’s a game you want to try vanilla, and wait for the mods to create new experiences and fix the issues. It’s what Bethesda always does, and it works.
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