Starfield review

I, like many, pre-ordered Starfield with a lot of excitement. Bethsidia has made some fantastic games over the years, with my personal favourite being Skyrim. I was expecting a lot of Starfield.

At the time of writing, I had played 104.5 hours, and I seem to have only scratched the surface of the game. But 104 hours is enough for me to discover what I have enjoyed and what could be better.

What is Starfield

Starfield is an immersive role-playing game (RPG) set in space. Humanity was forced to leave the Earth due to an ecological disaster, which forced us to colonise nearby systems such as Alpha Centauri.

As you would expect from a Bethesda game, there are a number of fractions your character can join, each having its own storyline, which is as epic as the game’s main storyline.

You start the game as a miner in a mining colony where you find an artefact; when you touch it, you experience a vision of some type, and your adventure begins.

As you would expect from a Bethesda game, the settled systems contain a number of playable fractions.

• The United Colonies appear to be based on the United Nations
• The Freestar collective. Think space cowboys with corruption issues
• The Crimson fleet. Space pirates
• Ryujin Corporation is the largest corporation in settled space.

If you are considering buying Starfield as a space exploration game, don’t! As you will be sorely disappointed. That isn’t to say Starfield is a great game. If you are looking at an immersive RPG sandbox set in space, then it’s a winner. 

Starfield Storyline

As I write this, I haven’t quite finished the main storyline, but I have finished most of the other fraction stories, and just like other Bethsidia games, the fraction storylines are just as big in scope as the main storyline.

Take your time exploring the game Universe; don’t fast-travel between destinations; you miss out on many interactions. One of the early side missions gives you the opportunity to gain the ship of a famed vigilante, and if you run into spacers and pirates while flying that ship, they will get scared and attempt to flee.

The story is really good, and I have to admit I got upset at one plot turn. It pushes you on to complete the mission as you feel you are under time pressure even though you are not.

The only problem I have encountered, and I’m going to have a good moan, is the missions for the Camerson fleet plot doesn’t warn you it’s a stealth mission, and you take along your companion for support, and it takes away one of the endings. 

I wanted to do the ending from an RPG perspective. This is another storyline in which you are advised to go alone, as stealth is required in missions that wouldn’t have been quite as critical.

Throw in the many side quests and stories; there is much to bite your teeth into.

Starfield Gameplay and Visuals

I have to admit to being a bit disappointed with the graphics. They are not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but they are not as good as I had expected.

After saying that, there is something about standing on the moon and seeing the planet rise as the gas giant the moon is orbiting appears in the sky, especially if you have built a fundamental base with glass walls on the moon.

As I mentioned earlier, Starfield isn’t a space exploration game, and if that is what you are after, then you shouldn’t consider buying Starfield. That isn’t to say that there is no exploration in the game. But it is much more controlled than an exploration game like No Man’s Sky with a smaller number of explorable planets, and when you do, only a small map around your ship is created. But the illusion of being able to explore a whole planet is maintained most of the time.

Starfield can be played in both first and third perspectives, and it works well. This perspective extends to space combat as well.

I did find the controls using the keyboard and mouse a bit awkward for space combat, but it does improve with practice. It could still be better. Hopefully, Bethsidia will look at it before they release the sequel sometime in the 2030s.

Starfield performance and technical issues

I have had a few issues with bugs while playing Starfield. Yesterday, I was unable to access my own ship, but a quick reload fixed the problem.

There have been a number of incidents of people getting stuck during conversations. But nothing that has really broken.

This is an improvement over previous Bethesda games, but there is still room for improvement, and I hope fixes will be implemented shortly. 

For me, at least the problems I have experienced weren’t enough to put me off buying the game.

Last updated 21/09/2024.