Starfield was the most successful and anticipated launch of Bethesda in 2023. The game devoted the attention of gamers by hitting the mark of 10 million players within the month of its release. In my personal opinion, Bethesda has always been remarkable in terms of developing open-world games. Following this, my review of Starfield is no exception.
Key Takeaways
- Starfield came out on PC (Steam/Windows store) and Xbox Series X/S.
- Starfield’s main storyline extends approximately to 40 hours of gameplay.
- After spending 70+ hours in the game, I examined its flaws and perfection. Based on this, I believe that Starfield falls on the positive side.
- Gameplay 9/10
- Visuals 10/10
- Combat 7/10
- Story 8/10
- Audio 9/10
What Playerbase Starfield Attracts?
Now, the question I believe most of us have is, “Does a single-player game stand any chance in times where multi-player games are dominant?”Here, I would like first to consider the fact that games should be entertaining rather than onerous dynamics to go through. Starfield offers a calm, soothing, thrilling gameplay experience with tremendous content.
Following this, Starfield intends to set the players to venture out on a massive space exploration. Flying around in your spaceship and landing on different planets is pretty enthralling. This concept follows the self-generating planets, including random event encounters or seeing wildlife.
Overall, players with a high affection for mindless roaming and countless possibilities of world exploration will experience much enticing gameplay.
Is Starfield Any Different From Fallout?
By a whole lot of factors, Starfield differs from Fallout. I consider Starfield to have no similarity to the Fallout series. It is an entirely original concept of an open-world shooting game presented by Bethesda.
Some mechanics may seem to replicate previous Bethesda titles. Explicitly, the Powers concept appears to be the replica of Shouts from TESV: Skyrim.
The V.A.T.S mechanic from Fallout seems applicable during space battles by unlocking a particular (Target Control System) skill. Also, the concept of Companions remains the same, which I believe bothers no one.
Overall, I have observed many changes in Starfield, which are marked improvements compared to previous Bethesda projects. These include better ragdoll animations, improved weapon animations for first-person perspective, facial expressions of NPCs during dialogues, and much more. Above all, I appreciate that Bethesda did exceptionally well in handling their bugs-related issue during the release of Starfield.
Despite the better animations, I still find the interaction with NPCs entirely deserted. The interactive dialogue options are still blank; the purpose is to either abbreviate the conversation or receive extensive details about current events.
I found this feature much more annoying in Skyrim and Fallout. Unfortunately, Starfield also intends to pursue this kooky intercommunication of player and NPC.
Yet, what fascinated me is that Starfield was the most tested game on its release, with version 1.7.23. Meanwhile, Fallout 4 came out with version 1.1.21 and comprised several bugs. This implies that Starfield was well-tested before its release to make it as bug-free as possible.
How Massive Is Starfield Map
Starfield sets the exploration on a galactic scale, meaning no pre-defined map on a particular land mesh exists. Its exploration scale is gigantic, following its multiple-planet systems. What kept me most captivated was its self-generating biomes for most planets.
The self-generating factor helps maintain the overall performance of the game. Any planet will prevent from loading its structures, land, and vegetation as long as the player lands on its surface. Still, some planets’ textures and environments are pre-defined, which covers a high proportion of the game following its main storyline.
The exact figure for Starfield’s number of planets is hard to track. Nonetheless, a rough estimate determines that more than 1000 planets are in the game.
This count includes the moons and stars alike. However, not all worlds are explorable.
Will Starfield Receive Frequent Updates?
By the end of 2023, Starfield has received constant updates regarding bug fixes, gameplay improvements, and minor visual enhancements. This fact proves that developers are eager to deliver a smooth and steady gameplay experience to the players.
The news that kept me elated was the announcement of “All new ways of traveling.” A Reddit post from SuperTerram highlighted the topic and guessed that Starfield might add driving vehicles in future updates.
Other than that, developers tend to introduce official mod support. Following this, the modding community went active the day Starfield was released.
I know that Bethesda games are bound to get extensive mods over a long period. Therefore, this secures the query with future-proof content for Starfield.
Starfield Side Content Is Vastly Immersive
One thing I always admire about Bethesda games is that they are comparatively immersive with their open-world vastness. There will always be random encounters on land and space to keep the players engaged in some significant activity.
Apart from random encounters, Starfield side quests are a significant improvement. The fact that they have impacted player’s dialogue choices is far more compelling. Some side quests reflect a vital aspect of the game, relating to history, faction conflicts, race dominance, etc.
Following such questlines often results in decisions that can heavily impact the result. Regarding this, the side quest I enjoyed playing the most was Legacy’s End. The quest was rewarding at many levels based on your decisions.
My Verdict
In my opinion, Starfield is a rewarding game based on player progress. The concept of grinding for exceptional rewards in any RPG game is something I truly relish. Moreover, Starfield even benefits the player by simply exploring their surroundings.
I recommend Starfield to players who enjoy exploring slow-paced, shooting, and massive open-world games. The game’s questlines are more intriguing and interactive than those of previous Bethesda games.
Starfield still implements the exhausted scenario of NPC dialogue interaction. Even with appealing facial expressions, the dialogue interaction seems to display NPCs in tranquility regardless of what situation they are currently facing.
Above all, the graphics and visuals of Starfield are stunning. It is mind-boggling how well the atmosphere and the wildlife of the planets complement each other in accordance. The draw distance of Starfield is also quite splendid and behaves correspondingly with the density of air and extreme temperatures.
Overall, I have enjoyed playing Starfield as it has fascinated my fantasy of mindlessly roaming around in the vastness of land and sky.
- Stunning texture and visual quality.
- Stirring combat dynamics.
- Official mod support.
- Highly rewarding and engaging story outline.
- Ample resource gathering for crafting.
- Incompetent HUD.
- Numerous annoying debuffs.
Remarks
The core theme of Starfield is based on players exploring their surroundings in the game. This massive universe-exploration game intends to draw the attention of players toward its appealing and breath-taking environment.
The game is perfect for players who seek entertainment by wandering around aimlessly in a never-ending, limitless sight of a world map.
In terms of story content, its not as engaging and thrilling as any other single-player, story-driven RPG games tend to be. However, Starfield is most certainly a high reward-yielding game based on the story progress.
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Shaheer has been obsessed with gaming since EA used to create fun-driven concept games. He joined Gamesual in 2023 to wishfully share his gameplay experience throughout the gaming community. Now, he writes guides on the latest releases, which are spoiler-free (maybe). He usually likes to test his mettle in games like card, strategy, RPG, and, most of all, the E-Sports titles. Other than playing Dota 2, he loves to watch TV shows. Feel free to hit him up on Steam: BUtteRfLy
