Starfield Reviews
Playing Starfield makes me want to play games that explore space and games that were made by Bethesda, but it doesn’t make me want to play Starfield. It tries to give us the universe, but it’s so weighed down by its own ambitions and a fundamental lack of inspiration that it can’t even get into orbit.
Despite its occasional bug, unexplained mechanic, or small gripe, Starfield is one of the premiere titles in Xbox's library and adds to Bethesda's storied history.
As unfathomably vast and boundless as the subject matter it covers, Starfield raises the bar for its genre and for the medium as a whole in countless ways - much like the best of its Bethesda-developed forebears did in their time.
Starfield may not be the seamless and faultless persistent open world some may be craving. Though what it does provide is still certainly worthy of elation. Give the title some time to warm up and you'll uncover a vastly refined and picturesque journey of otherworldly proportions. A game of size, scope, and quality all wrapped into one-the beauty of discovery is but a warp drive away.
For the sheer size of it, the beauty of the hundreds of different landscapes you can explore and the always engaging missions, Starfield is a massive technical achievement.
Starfield makes planet side on PS5 and mostly sticks the landing.
Much like a red giant, Starfield is an absolutely massive experience that burns just a bit cooler than one would expect.
Starfield is a game that needs time and I do mean time. Without time, you cannot do the game justice due to the complex story pathways and exploration mechanics. While the game mechanics are sturdy, there are definitely parallels to Skyrim, however it's solely a sci-fi experience that fortunately works well with the Creation Engine that was used to build the Bethesda titles of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 76.
Overall, Starfield is fine. It's a Frankenstein's monster of other sci-fi games and references, and it doesn't do any of those things better than existing products. The battle? Cyberpunk 2077 is smoother. Mining and geological exploration? This is all No Man's Sky. Controlling the ship? FTL still reigns. RPG story? Can't compare to Outer Worlds. But even after all this, the game is good and will keep players engaged for a long, long while.
Bethesda has finally landed another hit. Starfield is the space RPG epic we’ve been wanting for so long. It has the incredible expansiveness and variance in design of No Man’s Sky mixed with the dialogue depth and creative quests of Fallout or even Mass Effect. The only thing that might bother some people is the heavy reliance on fast travel and that many planets only make sense when you build bases and production facilities there.
Starfield is a masterpiece that unites the creativity and experience that Bethesda has built up over the years. Even after hundreds of hours of play, there is still fresh content waiting to be discovered. Just as TESV and Fallout 4 still have players making modules and discussing details, I believe that ten years from now, there will still be a large number of players who will be travelling in the universe created by Starfield.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Starfield aims to be Bethesda Game Studios' magnum opus: it's compelling, entertaining and familiar: it feels like spending time with a longtime friend. This also means that it is inherently old in its structure and in how its universe reacts to the player. It's a shame that it comes with some unforgivable sins, like how dull the planet explorations is, but you will spend tons of hours in the game nonetheless.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Starfield is a magical, if a little clumsy, first journey to the stars for Bethesda, the RPG maker reminding us of the power of player freedom, engaging writing, and just a little jank.
Starfield is a massive game with countless mechanics and features that reach for the stars.
Starfield is an imperfect but grandly immersive voyage into the vastness of the galaxy, rife with immaculate world-building that absorbs you in time. It's a Bethesda game through and through, featuring an immense array of side quests and a quality role-playing system that favours player agency above all else. In the few moments that it tries breaking the mould, it under-delivers through its disjointed space exploration, poor navigation, and the banality of its main campaign. By dialling up the scale, I can't help but feel like Bethesda Game Studios perhaps bit off more than it could chew here, resulting in an experience that at times gets swallowed in the cold, blackness of space. It's an enjoyable ride nonetheless and a seismic achievement that Todd Howard and team can be proud of.
Players that don’t like typical Bethesda RPG tropes like the combat, the skill system, the exploration, or the questing will likely not enjoy Starfield because it’s definitely more of the same. However, if you enjoy Bethesda RPGs and have been itching for them to finally do a sci-fi game, Starfield is quite a fantastic ride.
Figuratively and literally, Starfield is the next evolution for a Bethesda game; taking that framework and that sandbox before applying it 1000 times over.
Do you have what it takes to find the Artifacts before they fall into the wrong hands?
Starfield combines Bethesda’s signature storytelling, full of rich dialogue, moral dilemmas and intricate side quests, with sci-fi elements like exploration, the mysteries of the unknown, questions of legacy, and the search for humanity’s place in the vast cosmos. It’s more grounded and personal than many epic space operas like Warhammer 40K, focusing instead on the industrialisation of humanity and the commodification of life. There's no escaping Bethesda's signature jank. It's still here, and some NPCs can look like they crawled out of a Walmart on a Friday night, but for the most part...it just works!