Starfield | Review

Initial Release Date: September 1, 2023

Engine: Creation Engine 2

Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Genres: First and Third Person Shooter, Action Role-playing, Adventure, Nonlinear

Mode: Single Player

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT

Introduction

My history with Bethesda Game Studios’s video games dates back to The Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind which was a great western role playing game to put it bluntly. Fast forward a decade or two later Bethesda Game Studios decided after twenty plus years to creat a new open world not named The Elder Scrolls or Fallout.

My review of Starfield comes complete with all Faction missions, main quest missions and new game plus which is important in and of itself in my opinion. Personally, I love science fiction more-so than high fantasy such as Dungeons & Dragons. You can watch my Starfield gameplay here Starfield Video Playlist.

So yea, I was pumped to play Starfield and see how interconnected the stories, planets, world building of NPC’s quests interconnected throughout Starfield’s universe. Keep reading to find out what I thought of Starfield.

Presentation

Starfield is grand in scope with oodles of content but not without it’s issues mainly being bugs (the funny kind), glitches and quite a few loading screens. Loading screens probably irked me the most as they always happened while entering anything like ships, clubs on Neon, Elevators etc. You enter a lot of things in Starfield.

Starfield at launch did have way fewer bugs and glitches compared to Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 on launch day. Granted, I played Skyrim originally on my Playstation 3 and Starfield on my Xbox Series X. Bethesda presented Starfield as a role playing game set in space where you can visit up to a thousand possible planets.

I personally didn’t get close to visiting a thousand planets more like fifty planets which was more than enough. Exploration on planets are sectioned off into parts. Take Jemison set in the alpha-centauri system home of New Atlantis.

I landed my ship in New Atlantis many times and made an outpost for crew members outside New Atlantis. Basically, loading screens and sections comprise of Starfield’s entire universe when it comes to traveling. Would I have liked a more seamless adventure sure.

Starfield is very ambitious with so much hand crafted and procedurally generated content you can play for hundreds of hours. It seemed like no matter what planet I was on if it was populated you would acquire a quest by a passer-by NPC.

In space many times I would get transmissions from NPCs that featured quests. Bethesda’s western RPG DNA is strong in Starfield. It was difficult for me to focus on the Faction quests due to so many Activity and Mission Board quests at my disposal. Let’s not even talk about the main quests. I did those last.

Influencers, grifters and scammers all chimed in on Starfield either to make a quick buck via the mighty algorithm or give genuine help. There was a debate on how to play Starfield regarding the main quest. Do you rush through the campaign your first go or take your time and enjoy the campaign on your first playthrough?

The reason some people advised rushing through the campaign for your first attempt was to unlock the many Starborn powers, ship and armor sets. I say fuck all that and play Starfield slowly and enjoy everything on your first playthrough which is what I did.

Starfield’s humor comes in the form of NPC bugs. Creepy stares, teleporting, weird funny NPC physics do pop up and I had to laugh out loud a few times. For instance The Adoring fan was hopping up and down on a table inside the Frontier while talking to him.

Starfield did hard crash once during my hundreds of hours of playtime which is a feat of greatness for Bethesda. The latest patch actually made the performance worse as I write this 9/16/2023. I don’t know what the latter was about since the game at launch ran a solid and consistent 4K 30.

Story

Starfield’s main story of was sort a letdown due to me figuring out it’s sci-fi angle early on. I am speaking on the main story not the faction quests which were better than the main story to me.

The main story is about you, a miner who discovers an artifact that you merge with seeing visions of the cosmos or whatnot. Main story sets you on a path with Constellation, a group of intergalactic explorers from all sections of the galaxy who’s goal is to unlock the secrets of the universe.

So you collect said artifacts to build something called the Armillary which let’s you grav jump to the Unity. The Unity is the multiverse of existence which gives any being immeasurable power. As the story progresses you meet The Starborn Hunter who takes the place of dead Constellation member Sam Coe.

You also meet The Starborn Emissary who takes the face of a religious theologian you meet during a main quest. As you guess choices will be made regarding these guys and the Unity. I convinced The Hunter and The Emissary not to fight me and leave while I entered the Unity for myself.

I watched so much sci-fi media over the years I saw the multiverse angle coming a mile away. Still, a decent main story but not as good as the Faction quests or even the much smaller “Activities” type quests. As for the Faction quests their stories and gameplay sequences where more targeted into specific genres.

Take Ryujin set in NEON which is a pure Cyberpunk city set a giant fishing platform on an alien planet. Ryujin missions had me delving into corporate espionage in it’s cyberpunk styled city which I loved.

Next we have the Freestar Collective and Sam Coe’s old stomping ground is Akila City which I lived out my space cowboy fantasy as I helped the local space sheriff deal with ex Freestar patriots.

Next we have UC SysDef and it’s double agent missions infiltrating the Crimson Fleet. The Crimson Fleet is a massive space pirate fleet that roams all star systems creating chaos.

As a SysDef operative I was tasked to infiltrate and destroy the Crimson Fleet from within but it didn’t turn out that way. I ended up siding with Crimson Fleet and taking down SysDef and Their main starship destroyer.

I almost forgot about my UC Vanguard adventure. The Vanguard was like Starship Troopers in my opinion. I had to stop a galaxy-wide threat of alien beings called Terrormorphs which threaten all humanity across all star systems.

Terrormorphs are created by small leeches and can mind control humans. Vanguard was a great Faction Quest. You receive a great Penthouse in New Atlantis for completing all Vanguard side quests. Just saying.

Gameplay

Starfield’s gameplay is centered around guns, grenades and Starborn powers. Starborn powers are Skyrim’s Shouts basically. You unlock most Starborn powers in new game plus along with new missions and dialogue sequences. I look at New Game plus as multiverses with you being the same original miner.

As for boostpacking, shooting, unlocking incorporating skills and Starborn Powers in combat it felt fast, fluid and precise. Starfield has the best feeling combat out of ANY past Bethesda game in my opinion.

Skills I unlocked pertained to Piloting, Persuasion (for dialogue criticals), mule pack, ballistic training and health upgrades. By completing the Faction quests I unlocked a space ship via the Freestar Collective questline.

For Ryujin I unlocked a skill that gave me the power to manipulate certain NPCs to do things like unlock doors, shut off machines etc. If nothing else do the Faction questlines first. For the Crimson Fleet questline I got a legendary Mag Weapon. For completing the UC Vanguard side quests I got legendary armor with a minigun.

I acquired a few starships and tinkered with the modding and upgrading aspects. The ship is your home of sorts although you can buy and rent property all over the universe albeit limitedly. There is a sequence near the end of the game where you have to upgrade your grav drive to reach the Unity.

I’m not the biggest fan on building and modding ships however I did love the space combat in Starfield. It was pure fun taking down cocky bounty hunters and whatnot, Switching between ship systems on the fly made me feel like Han Solo haha.

As for impactful dialogue choices? It’s in Starfield. At times I did notice how NPCs would make a choice regardless of what I picked though. I did enjoy maxing out my Persuasion skill tree to make almost any NPC lose when making deals or getting key info.

The outpost system reminded of the stuff in Fallout 4 and Fallout: 76. All meh to me. I’m not one of those types of gamers. With that said, I did create three outposts across systems.

I placed crew members at said outposts. One Outpost I set to to mine minerals from the planet. The Outpost system is deep. You can chain resourced minerals to your ship if you create the set up.

Starfield’s gameplay systems are robust with nonstop content. The drawback are the loading screens due to so many Interconnected stories, quests, missions and gameplay mechanics like combat, building outposts and ships etc.

Visuals/Graphics

I played Starfield on my Xbox Series X and for the most part thought it looked great overall. Sure I hate the thirty frames per second. As for visual fidelity I was impressed by the plethora of various overall aesthetics within the main cities.

New Atlantis had a sterile Star Trek vibe. Akila City had that Firefly look with it’s space cowboy vibe. Last but not least we have the Cyberpunk themed Neon City which visually comes in second place to Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City.

Bethesda may have a newer engine but I still laughed at the NPC’s faces while reading their lips during dialogue. Granted, the close-ups of NPCs do look much better than Fallout 4 and does the entirety of Starfield.

Starfield was beautiful to look at. I visited dozens and dozens of planets with their own gravity jumpacking around in awe of the moons orbiting and whatnot. Creature designs, weapons and ships all had that NASA Punk look Bethesda touted. I loved the art overall in Starfield.

Sound/Music

Starfield’s music, voiced-lines and sound design were top-notch. I did hate the overlapping sound at times but that had to do more with Starfields true in-game dialogue cutscenes being real-time.

Tips & Tricks

Take your time on your first playthrough. Do the Faction side-quests first to unlock a great ship, a great Penthouse, legendary armors and weapons. just explore the vast universe and gameplay mechanics. There is something for all gamers in Starfield.

Final Thoughts/Score

Starfield is Bethesda’s best game since Skyrim. Sure I got tired of loading screens and goofy NPC bugs but I couldn’t deny myself how great the universe was to explore. People who say Starfield is Skyrim in space is wrong. It’s more than Skyrim.

You can create ships and explore up to a thousand planets (I don’t see why though). The Faction quests were a blast. Gunplay and Starborn powers were fun. Choices could’ve mattered a little bit more though.

I can’t believe this shit’s on Gamepass for gamers to try out. If you own a gaming PC or Xbox Series X or S console buy it and enjoy the universe. Starfield is a GOTY contender in my opinion.