Starfield Review in Progress: A Journey of Both Space and Time

Bethesda games are always a journey. From the worlds of Elder Scrolls and Fallout. These massive RPG franchises redefined the genre many times over. Many of the biggest RPGs have found inspiration from these classic franchises. With Starfield, Bethesda finally felt like they had the technology to deliver a game they had wanted to make for over two decades. Now, in the year 2023, Starfield is here. Without a doubt, the game is one of the most vast and ambitious projects the studio has undertaken. After spending over 50 hours exploring the Starfield universe, it is time to sit down and delve into this massive RPG.

Please note that this is a review in progress and will be updated in the coming weeks with a final score.

Developer & Publisher // Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks
Platforms // PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
MSRP & Release Date //$59.99, Sep 6, 2023
Reviewed On // Xbox Series X

Creation For Everyone

Like many RPGs before it, you will immediately be faced with creating your character. This character will explore the expansive world of Starfield. It is important to note that I am not particularly picky with character creators in RPGs. As a pretty stereotypical bearded guy, it was quite easy for me to create my avatar. With that said Starfield contains a robust character creator. You will be hard-pressed to not be able to create whatever your heart fancies. You can make your own beautiful self or make a hideous monstrosity to take over the galaxy with. The choice is truly up to you.

Consistent Performance

Perhaps the biggest concerns I had coming into Starfield were bugs and performance issues. I have been playing Bethesda games at launch since the release of Skyrim. I was even there for the launch of Fallout 76 (unfortunately). The studio has a bad track record of having to patch and adjust their games several months after launch. All this in order to smoothen out the performance.

I was pleasantly surprised at how Starfield performed. I had no game-breaking bugs in my 50-hour playthrough. While I did suffer a few “classic” Bethesda bugs such as enemies catapulting into the ground upon death. As well as a weird bug where a coffee mug flew through the bottom of my ship and killed me. Aside from this, I had a bug-free experience. Considering the scale of Starfield that is particularly impressive. I expected a lot more bugs and hiccups than I found here, to be honest, I found fewer issues in Starfield than in other AAA games that were released this year. Most notably Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Starfield does suffer in its smoothness in combat with being capped at 30FPS on Xbox Series X. While I had very few frame rate drops during my time with the game. Most of my handful of framerate hiccups took place during the ship takeoff cinematic. It did not ultimately affect my enjoyment of the game. Especially since the drops never occurred during intense combat moments or important dialogue scenarios. Hopefully, with a few updates, the few hiccups I experienced will be ironed out.

No Room For Rookies in the Starfield Universe

One of the most challenging aspects of Starfield was learning all of the different systems found within the game. From docking and customizing your spaceship, to mining and using resources to upgrade and research gear upgrades. There is a ton to unpack in Starfield, and the game does not hold your hand at all. The first few hours will feel overwhelming even for seasoned Bethesda RPG fans. You are introduced to 80% of the mechanics you will use throughout the entire game in the opening hours. Often times they are poorly explained and sometimes are not even explained at all.

Now while this didn’t bother me. I have to imagine this will be a point of contention for new players. Fundamentally, I understand that exploring is a major focal point for Starfield. Bethesda wants players to dig in and discover things for themselves. However, this does not need to be at the sacrifice of new players. Or perhaps players that are less experienced in massive RPGs. I think there is a very thin line between not holding a player’s hand, while also providing the necessary guidance and Starfield misses the mark here.

Combat Evolved (Sort Of)

One of the heaviest criticisms I have of Bethesda RPGs is generally how the combat mechanics feel. While Fallout 4 sacrificed some of its RPG elements, the combat was a massive step forward compared to previous titles. At first, as I began my adventures in space, I felt like the gunplay felt simply “okay”. Most of the beginning weapons in my arsenal lacked a certain punch. This quickly changed as I began collecting more advanced weapons. Such as the Coachmen shotgun, and other more assault-styled weapons. I could truly feel the impact of those weapons.

Perhaps one of the biggest improvements in weapon reactivity was with the laser weapons. Typically, in a lot of sci-fi games, laser weapons often feel weak. They don’t give you the same feeling of power as a ballistic weapon. This is not the case with Starfield. The first time I picked up an Equinox (a laser assault rifle) I was shocked with how dynamic it felt. Staggering enemies with a constant barrage of energy fire was quite a lot of fun.

Janky Melee Combat and Impressive AI

In most Bethesda titles, and despite the jank, I typically lean into close-range combat. Starfield was no different. I spent a good majority of my combat time cycling between shotguns and melee weapons. Knife-style weapons felt awkward in combat. Especially since hitboxes just didn’t seem right. Now this could be a skill issue on my part but I found when I used a hatchet-style weapon I had a much easier time landing blows on enemies. It was disappointing that the melee combat felt like it didn’t receive the same attention that the gun combat did. The jank of the melee combat had its hilarious moments. Such as spending 5 minutes in zero gravity trying to attack a group of space pirates with a hatchet.  It definitely fell short of what I had hoped for.

Reactivity of enemies adds a great deal to the immersion aspect of a game. Whether it be realistic bullet impact, death screams, or how the enemies respond to your attacks. The more interactive the enemies are, the more drawn in you will feel. In Starfield the first time you will notice this is when you first down an enemy. I used my Coachmen shotgun on an enemy as he ran around a corner with his melee weapon brandished to strike. I blew away almost all of his health in a single blast. Then I watched in relative horror as he cried and groaned as he tried to crawl away from me. I quickly dispatched him with a shotgun blast. This adds a certain level of brutality to combat especially when facing multiple enemies.

Taking To Space

Heading into Starfield, I was not sure how they would tackle space flight. Would they lean into heavy simulation-style games with a wide series of gauges and meters that you have to monitor? Or would they choose to employ a more arcadey fun first experience? Personally, I think they struck a perfect middle ground between these two options.

When you first take to space the overall HUD feels very focused and minimal. In the center of your screen, you have your indicators for all your weapon systems. This means all your missiles, lasers, or weaponry information is around where you focus when aiming. This made quick decisions and keeping up with important information about your weapon systems a breeze.

Then at the bottom of the screen, there is a power allocation mechanic that allows you to change what parts of your ship you can delegate more power to. This gives you immense situational control of your ship. If you find yourself overwhelmed by enemies and need to make a quick getaway you can reallocate your power to your engines and shields to escape. Or if you’re a more aggressive player like myself, you can overpower your ship’s weapons and do devastating damage to your enemy’s crafts.

The Freedom that Space Offers

This is once again the freedom to choose how you want to handle each situation. The beauty of space fighting is that it won’t ever be the same interaction twice. Sometimes you will find yourself outgunned and outnumbered. So you will have to gamble and figure out how you want to tackle the situation.

Flying itself was incredibly smooth, while the first ship you gain in your “garage” is a very clunky ship that does not control well. There will be other ships that will be available to you depending on where you explore and what your playstyle is.

If you are a space pirate you will likely choose a speedy high damage damage-focused ship in order to quickly disable your enemies and board them immediately. Or if you focus more on looting and exploring a massive cargo ship might be a better option for you. No matter what playstyle you choose, you can build or buy a prebuilt ship that will suit your needs.

Setting The Tone

So often in gaming, music can set such a tone through emotional or action-packed moments in a game. Could you imagine games like Doom Eternal or The Last Of Us Part 2 without their legendary soundtracks? It would be hard to imagine. Since Starfield is tackling the world of sci-fi, there is stiff competition in terms of memorable soundtracks. This is likely why Bethesda brought in composer Inon Zur. He has a long history with Bethesda as well as other big RPG titles such as Baldur’s Gate II, and Dragon Age. When you land on a new planet soft orchestrated tones play over as you see a massive new world for the first time. It is bone-chilling almost like when you see Endor for the first time in The Return of The Jedi.

It is not just in those quiet moments that the game’s soundtrack stands out. During intense combat moments, heavy horns and orchestrated percussion crash down around you as you fight off waves of enemies. The soundtrack never overtakes the main game audio. But it is perfectly balanced to enhance every moment throughout the game subtly. I applaud the team for their audio mixing and overall delivery of another bombastic classically influenced soundtrack.

Variety Is The Name Of The Game

The most cherished aspect of Bethesda RPGs is the sheer ability to play and interact with the world in the way that you want to. Some players will choose to be smooth-tongued scoundrels who favor manipulation over violence. While others might find the violent or stealthy approach to be more their speed. Or perhaps you prefer to play as more of an explorer and miner cruising through space finding resources while crafting and building outposts. The beauty of Starfield is that you can do all of this in a massive sci-fi world and you truly make the experience your own.

In my playthrough, I preferred to be a strong-armed enforcer who could pass persuasion dialogue checks. But when push came to shove, violence and gunplay could always end up being the answer. This is the same style of character I played in Fallout 4. While I did enjoy the crafting and outpost building to a degree in Fallout 4. I typically tried to avoid it as much as I could. I just wanted to dive into the world and be in combat as much as I could essentially. This wasn’t the case with Starfield. While I did enjoy chasing the sweet dopamine of fighting. I began to find joy in just exploring random worlds I would find throughout my travels.

The Joys and Risks of Exploration

It was quite easy to get distracted on the way to a quest objective when you find a strange unidentified planet or space station. You never knew what these worlds or stations could hold. Some might be filled with vast treasures and wealth. Others might contain large amounts of very tough enemies. But this was the risk of exploration. This risk even came down to exploring new worlds. You never quite knew what was around every corner.

I was pleasantly surprised how it didn’t always involve a combat scenario. Especially during times when you totally expect a brutal combat encounter. At one point I was exploring a Mars-type planet that was filled with large flaming gas vents. I stumbled across a mine that was filled with a large amount of credits and resources. But the mine also had many dead miners who appeared to have been brutally slaughtered. Every time I turned a corner in the mine shaft I expected a giant alien monster to jump out and attack me. However, it never did, I was just held in suspense for 5 minutes while getting a ton of good resources and loot.

Classic RPG Dialogue Returns

One of the disappointing aspects of Fallout 4 was the simplification of the dialogue options for character interactions. The options often felt lifeless or did not portray the exact tone that you may have wanted to convey in a specific situation. Dialogue is significantly more engaging, and even challenging in Starfield. With a whole new persuasion check system, even the most skilled RPG linguists will need to adapt.

In this new system, you will be faced with a multiple-turned interaction with an NPC when engaging in a verbal disagreement. You will have to pass a certain score in order to get the NPC to see your side of the argument or do what you need them to do.

Explaining the Dialogue Score

So for argument’s sake say you need 5 “points” in order to win the verbal engagement. There will be multiple options that you can choose that will be varied based on your skills, and traits. The more easy options will only earn you a single point. While harder-to-pass skill checks will reward more points, however, they will have a higher chance of failure. You can play it safe with the easy dialogue options but sometimes that won’t be enough to make it pass the dialogue check. This means you have to pick and choose which riskier option you want to pursue. This leads to absolutely intense confrontations that you feel like you do not know how it may end.

These confrontations could have several different outcomes depending on how your character is built, and what skill trees you invest in. To be honest it feels like Bethesda has struck a strong middle ground between simplified dialogue and classic early 2000s RPGs. There is a nuance to dialogue and interactions that was missing in Fallout 4.

Your Companions Will React to Your Choices

Your companions will stand up to you quickly if you make decisions they disagree with, while you may be able to defuse those confrontations. One wrong dialogue choice and create an avalanche of effects to your playthrough. Both Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield have put an intense focus on your decisions and dialogue choices impacting not only the characters around you but the world itself. It is something that has felt strangely missing in many RPGs over the past few years.

Discovering The World One Adventure At A Time

Quite often what separates a good RPG from an amazing RPG is the quality of the side quests. Everyone fell in love with The Witcher 3 not only for its fantastic main story but also for its meaningful side content. With the wide breadth of exploring, and combat to be had the variety found in its side quests is phenomenal. Not only is there a variety of different types of quests for you to engage in, but many of them have side benefits to completion, and are often more engaging than just fetching an item for an NPC.

Sometimes the benefits are not immediately clear as to what bonuses you might receive. But they reveal themselves much further down the road. I was available to recruit some very strong crew members for my ship thanks to completing some quests earlier in my adventures.

The Impressive Array of Sides Quests in Starfield

Side quests were not only gained from talking to random NPCs found throughout the galaxy. An overheard conversation at a bar between two different NPCs can trigger side quests that could have handsome rewards upon completion. Sometimes you will find audio diaries that detail different worlds and star stations that might be worth exploring depending on what you are hunting for. Finding information leading to rare mineral caches or hidden space pirate treasure really implored me to step outside the main storyline and complete side quests.

You are rewarded handsomely for your efforts outside of the main story as well. So if you are looking to upgrade or purchase a new ship, a lot of these side activities are a great place to start. Filled with dark and serious missions as well as some utterly wild and wacky adventures, Starfield’s world will engage you endlessly to explore.

A Journey That Will Continue On…

After 50 hours in the world of Starfield, I still have not completed the main storyline, and I feel there is still a wealth of content hidden away that I have yet to see. With that being said, Starfield delivers a big step forward for Bethesda in terms of its quality and performance.

As a long-time Bethesda fan, sometimes trying to get friends to hop into these past games was a challenge. Behind the bugs and framerate hiccups, Bethesda has always made highly ambitious games. But expecting people to see past these flaws can be a tall ask. However, with Starfield it may be overwhelming in its opening hours to a new player. I do not think there is a better Bethesda RPG to start with. With stellar combat both on the ground and in space, as well as intriguing adventures to be found throughout the galaxy. Starfield is likely an RPG I will be playing till the end of this year, as I experiment with new characters as well as finish my first full playthrough.

Starfield is a culmination of decades of RPG-building experience. Todd Howard and the entire team at Bethesda clearly listened to feedback from fans in regards to both Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. I look forward to reporting back in the coming weeks to update this review with my final thoughts on the story, and any other discoveries I make along the way.