Starfield

 PC
User Score
5.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 5711 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,635 out of 5711
  2. Mixed: 612 out of 5711
  3. Negative: 2,464 out of 5711
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  1. coltsr2
    Sep 12, 2023
    7
    Starfield has some great moments BUT... has some major and glaring issues that often spoil the game.. First off...How is this supposed to be a space based adventure with your own spaceship, when you cant even fly the spaceships properly? We are unable to fly on and off, or even over the surface of the planets? Hell even the far lower budget indie developers 'No mans Sky' at least lets youStarfield has some great moments BUT... has some major and glaring issues that often spoil the game.. First off...How is this supposed to be a space based adventure with your own spaceship, when you cant even fly the spaceships properly? We are unable to fly on and off, or even over the surface of the planets? Hell even the far lower budget indie developers 'No mans Sky' at least lets you land and take off from planets and fly around them! But Starfield's space exploration is a bit of a scam, a gimmick, a fake, a charade, a thin veneer, its pure snake oil sold to us by Todd Howard the snake oil salesman.
    Starfield has no real space exploration at all, just one base/mine/space station per planet, with fast travel cutscenes and loading scenes masquerading as space travel, the whole space exploration element is all a giant let-down!. instead we get the same irritating repetitive over and over cutscenes of the landings and take-offs..and that's it! Awful!
    Why even bother with the planets anyway if that's the best they could do with all the money they had and giant dev team? Its a joke, an insult to our intelligence and betrayal of what Todd Howard promised! They should of just kept it all on one planet, with different biomes and simply called it Planetfield! Whilst i enjoyed some of the planets in starfield, most are barren and continued nothing much to the game.

    And why so many Cutscenes? they are everywhere, Take off your ship = animated cutscene,...land your ship = animated cutscene, Fly to the nearest planet = animated cutscene, get out of your space ship chair = animated cutscene, get out of your spaceship = black screen cutscene, get back in your ship = black screen cutscene, get back into your chair = animated cutscene cutscene, Walk through a door black screen cutscene, Everything is cutscenes! I half expected a nice trip on the monorail/metro, looking out of the windows as I travelled between districts, but no...all i got was..you guessed it another fast travel black screen Cutscene! Compare that to the awesome real monorail in Star citizen!
    As for the planets, they may as well be non existent like ive said.., often just empty barren and nothing to do, with simplistic graphics, its a pointless waste of time even wanting to explore them!..there is nothing to explore! They are ultimately as fake as the games title. Fast travel to a planet you are presented with a few options, land on the designated area with the base, city, mine etc, or land on the planet somewhere miles away and be presented with zero options other than to mine pointless materials. So in effect each planet is just a staging post/backdrop for the missions. No exploration at all.
    Procedurally generated worlds can be boring and repetitive, even when done well. They need Procedurally generated bases, cities, missions etc. Now that would of been cool.
    No HDR options or even basic gamma or brightness options, so for me at least many of the interiors ended up looking very bright, foggy and often felt like I was in a smoke filled night club in most of the interior spaces! But thankfully the modding community was soon able to offer fixes for this on day one of official release! BUT Why should it be left up to the modders to sort these blaring issues out on day one of release?
    I've also added a custom ini to increase the field of view to 90, instead of the restrictive default of 70. As for the cities in the game, they are cartoon looking, low textured, like New Atlantis, which is a very basic, cartoon looking, small city with a scattering of useless NPC's walking or sitting around, and whats with the odd looking fake trees, and rubbish pools of fake looking water with cartoon water lily's in? As for all the cafe's, and shops, they are just empty facades with no real life in them.
    Missions are often ridiculous and boring.
    ive given it a 7..due to the effort put into some of the bases and ideas. It could of been a 10 if they kept to their promises. Its a real shame because you can see a lot of effort HAS gone into certain parts of the game.
    If Todd Howard was a used car salesman, he would walk you around an amazing Ferrari at his car showroom, waffle off all the great specs to get your interest level up, then quickly get you to sign the paper work for the expensive purchase, then when you are walked to the handover room, you would be given an old clapped out pickup truck with a Ferrari badge 'sticky taped' to the bonnet!    … Expand
  2. Melopahn
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    I am sure if you are a bethesda loving person this game will scratch the itch. It is the ultimate example of going for quantity over quality. Also weirdly upset with the lack of Jank, it added so much heart to the bethesda game and without it something is definitely missing.

    Generally just another Bethesda game but bigger and more chopped up with loading screens.
  3. wiski
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    55 hours played at the time of this review. Basically, the main reason I am still playing the game is because the loot hunt and upgrading the weapons/gear/ships is fun, but this feels like a game designed in 2011 and released in 2023. It's honestly kind of embarrassing Bethesda has not tried to improve their formula considering the games that have come out in more recent years.

    As is,    55 hours played at the time of this review. Basically, the main reason I am still playing the game is because the loot hunt and upgrading the weapons/gear/ships is fun, but this feels like a game designed in 2011 and released in 2023. It's honestly kind of embarrassing Bethesda has not tried to improve their formula considering the games that have come out in more recent years.

    As is, this game is a 7 out of 10 at most, with a chance for improvement from either mods or Bethesda themselves (already using various interface and QoL mods that improve the game, but Bethesda doesn't get credit for work they didn't do, but that modders could do in less than a week). I can't believe anyone rating it a 9 or 10 out of 10 is being honest about the game, and may just be willfully ignoring all the faults that it has. It has so many issues when compared to modern games from the past 5 or so years, which is fine, I think it's a 6.5 and I'm still mostly enjoying it, but that doesn't mean I can't be honest about the technical shortcomings of the game.

    Pros
    - Combat is fun. Not as good as a dedicated shooter, but compared to previous Bethesda RPG's it's excellent.
    - Weapon and gear customization is fun
    - Exploring around the world dungeons and buildings is fun, although there are plenty of times where there is a large distance between waypoints and traveling on foot (jetpack is the same speed) gets old
    - Ship upgrades and building are pretty fun
    - Being able to hijack ships seems neat, but so far seems not worth it since you barely make any money on them, unless you somehow find an awesome ship

    Cons
    - The inventory system is TERRIBLE.
    - Very poorly optimized.
    - Lots of loading screens, even to small rooms with little inside them.
    - Bethesda style dialogue, which means usually mediocre writing while staring at an NPC talking at you.
    - The game doesn't really feel like you're exploring space, more like you're exploring zones.
    - Dated character models and animations. This game does not look up to quality for a AAA 2023 title.
    - Limited graphical options on PC.
    - The explorable areas don't generally feel 'alive'. In general the open world does not feel 'real' or 'lived in'.
    - The amount of different types of ammo is kind of annoying, less so that there are so many, and more so that some ammo seems MUCH harder to find than others.
    - Most of the sidequests are just fetch or kill quests (some forcing you to go back and forth between planets or systems), with a few good ones sprinkled in.
    - No Ultrawide Menu support. Many games don't have it, but it's still a con. Hell, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk has UW menu support. Also no UW cutscenes.
    - Often companions and NPC's talk over each other, and at times companions talk over themselves, like when they are talking to each other but then a second dialogue happens with one of them talking to me at the same time.
    - No on planet transportation options. After a while travelling on foot everywhere gets old when there are large distances to cover (the boost pack doesn't seem any faster than on foot)
    - When coming out of a load, when on keyboard at least, if you try to move too soon it will not register, and you need to release and re-press the key before you can move.
    - You can wait 24 hours for vendor resets to sell more things, but each hour you wait take 3-4 seconds. You have to sit there for over a minute waiting for something that there is no reason to wait that long for.
    - On the ship there are times when the companions block passageways and it is difficult to get them to move.
    - The game has been mostly bug free for me so far, but there have been plenty of glitches, stuff like doors not be where they're supposed to be, teleporting NPC's, having dialogue with shipping containers as the NPC is on the other side, etc....
    - 30 fps menus and UI elements

    I am enjoying the game overall, but there are a lot of issues, the largest one being performance. There are times I struggle to get over 60 FPS in areas with a mix of Medium and High settings AND FSR2 on. (5800X3d, RX 6800, 32gb 3600, PCIe 4.0 m.2, 3440x1440). That is the main reason that for now, even though I enjoy the game overall, and because of all the issues I listed, I can't recommend others get the game until AT LEAST the performance is improved in patches.

    That said, Todd just had an interview where he said the game IS optimized, and anyone having problems just needs to get better hardware, so...    … Expand
  4. ultraviper
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    It's ok. It's a betesda RPG. But it's less "skyrim in space" and more "skyrim in a bunch of different maps you can only get to through fast travel menus." The whole "space" concept seems to be an afterthought. You can't actually fly your ship in any meaningful way, other than the space combat which is basically just a minigame. ALL flying is done through quick travel menus. There's noIt's ok. It's a betesda RPG. But it's less "skyrim in space" and more "skyrim in a bunch of different maps you can only get to through fast travel menus." The whole "space" concept seems to be an afterthought. You can't actually fly your ship in any meaningful way, other than the space combat which is basically just a minigame. ALL flying is done through quick travel menus. There's no flying on planet surfaces. Taking off is a cutscene. Landing is a cutscene. Flying between planets in the same system is a cutscene. Flying to a different system is a cutscene.… Expand
  5. Hack
    Sep 10, 2023
    7
    And done, after 60 hours.

    Overall I'd say that I enjoyed it for the most part, but it wasn't the masterpiece I was hoping it would be. For me the biggest problem was the performance, I had a ton of stuttering and like everybody else a lower than ideal level of performance. Technical problems always kill games for me and Starfield was no different. I found the game actually started to    And done, after 60 hours.

    Overall I'd say that I enjoyed it for the most part, but it wasn't the masterpiece I was hoping it would be. For me the biggest problem was the performance, I had a ton of stuttering and like everybody else a lower than ideal level of performance. Technical problems always kill games for me and Starfield was no different. I found the game actually started to perform worse the further I got, the frequency of stutters definitely increased. I really hope that both Nvidia and Bethesda can improve the situation, and if they do I'd be tempted to play NG+.

    My other major issue was the story, it just wasn't very interesting and I honestly didn't care about the characters, apart from one. And the big reveal at the end literally made me groan, let's just say it wasn't very original. I played Baldur's Gate III before Starfield and I was so invested into that world and the characters, it's what made that game so incredible and Starfield just never comes close to that level of storytelling or character building. I really tried to not compare it to BG3 going in, but with it so fresh in my mind it was hard not to.

    Other smaller gripes include the sheer amount of loading screens, how irrelevant mining and gathering is, how the majority of the planets feel completely empty as they often have no life on them, and the landmarks become familiar very fast. The UI is another sore spot, for so many reasons, why can't I eat food instead of having to loot it, open multiple menus and then eat it? The game is filled with stuff like that, little QoL features that are missing which makes for a poor experience.

    On the more positive side I really enjoyed the combat, it's by far the best combat Bethesda have ever pulled off. The variety of weapons was incredible and they all felt different and punchy, with solid sound effects. It was nice to see that enemies react to being shot, although there was definitely some Bethesda jank with enemies standing still behind corners or instantly running away, the AI definitely brought the gameplay down a notch, but I still enjoyed it. The overall feel to the movement was also a high point, and again a big step up from what Bethesda usually manages. I also enjoyed the voice acting, I found it to be very high quality throughout, and I had no issue with the lip syncing or facial animations, they were more than fine IMO.

    I could see myself playing NG+ in the future, but the game needs a lot of patching before I do that.    … Expand
  6. Ryskim
    Sep 11, 2023
    7
    I want to be clear about something. I own the Digital Premium Edition (Steam) and I think this is a good game. But it has so many design flaws that it makes Cyberpunk 2077 look really good beside it.

    Starting with the incessant loading screens. not being able to see your own feet in first person, or the total absence of minimaps for large cities and interiors. It all shows dev laziness    I want to be clear about something. I own the Digital Premium Edition (Steam) and I think this is a good game. But it has so many design flaws that it makes Cyberpunk 2077 look really good beside it.

    Starting with the incessant loading screens. not being able to see your own feet in first person, or the total absence of minimaps for large cities and interiors. It all shows dev laziness everywhere, masked with excuses of all kinds from Tood Howard.

    There are no land vehicles. You can't use the mechs that you see in-game. You can't fly your ship in the atmosphere of a planet. It's just a quick travel simulator after some time.

    The scanner should be one of the strongest points of the game and it's so incredibly boring to use. The only notable upgrade you get is some sort of zoom and little else.

    You do not get any database of creatures, planets, locations, etc. A game that it's all about exploration does not let you store all of that. A game with 1,000 planets that invites you to explore all, does not keep track of anything anywhere outside the star map. No Man's Sky does this fantastically. Again, it feels like the devs were simply too lazy to do it.

    I have not gotten to the performance part yet. The game does not have DualSense button UI for Steam, it does not perform well, and it does not include DLSS all because some sort of shady deal between Bethesda, Microsoft, and AMD.

    Before you get this game, know that this is literally a copy-paste of Fallout 4 with an evolved engine and with a space skin. Some people will say the formula is nice. And I think the game is fun. But to mark this title as GOTY material is simply out of boundaries. By all accounts Baldur's Gate 3 is simply better. Even Cybepunk 2077 with the upcoming 2.0 release is better.

    Again, this is a good game. I like it, but it's not the legendary game that it was set out to be. And the fact that Bethesda acknowledges ZERO of the criticism from the players is what bothers me the most.

    No land vehicles? : "you're supposed to walk!"
    Poor performance? : "you should upgrade your rig!"

    And the list of excuses goes on and on. This is not what a developer should do. Relying on mods to make the game good is not a very good strategy (and let's pray they don't decide to "curate" the mods and sell them to you).

    Anyway, game is not the masterpiece some Bethesda fans make it out to be. And that is totally okay.

    Lastly I want to talk about companions. All of them are "good people" that will incessantly complay when you perform evil actions (in case you choose to be a villain). Join the Crimson Fleet with Sarah at your side and you'll see what I mean.

    There are literally zero evil-aligned companions in the game.

    Join the Crimson Fleet and you get zero pirate companions. And so on. Companions are simply forgettable. And funnily enough, only the robot, Vasco, is the one that will give you some little memorable moments.

    Maybe in the future with powerful mods and additional content released by Bethesda the game will get better.

    I say if you like the idea of Fallout with 70's NASA or Alien's Nostromo vibes, get it. You'll enjoy it. But:

    1. You better have a good machine.
    2. Do not expect a legendary masterpiece.    … Expand
  7. jcpshd
    Sep 11, 2023
    7
    - All the negative and positive points that have been mentioned by other people are true. Read them and decide if they're important for you.

    - I think it's unfair giving a ZERO to this game, but it's not a masterpiece either to give it a TEN. This game is a solid 7. More good than bad, but not as awesome and groundbreaking as we thought it would be. - I'm playing it for $10 on XBOX    - All the negative and positive points that have been mentioned by other people are true. Read them and decide if they're important for you.

    - I think it's unfair giving a ZERO to this game, but it's not a masterpiece either to give it a TEN.
    This game is a solid 7. More good than bad, but not as awesome and groundbreaking as we thought it would be.

    - I'm playing it for $10 on XBOX pass (PC), so it's a good bargain for so much content. That said, it's not worth $120 IMO.    … Expand
  8. Kiwigalaxy
    Sep 9, 2023
    7
    Let me start by saying: that I'm a Bethesda fan. I've had countless hours of fun with Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4. My rant here is not based on hate, but pure passion. I played Baldur's Gate 3 just before Starfield, which is probably the best game I have played in my 35-year life. So I can't help it, I'm probably being more of a critic now if I had not played BG3.Let me start by saying: that I'm a Bethesda fan. I've had countless hours of fun with Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4. My rant here is not based on hate, but pure passion. I played Baldur's Gate 3 just before Starfield, which is probably the best game I have played in my 35-year life. So I can't help it, I'm probably being more of a critic now if I had not played BG3.

    Negative:
    * Story feels weak. Suddenly people just tell me to do stuff and join their community.
    * Uninteresting talent tree. A lot of % increase. Do 10% more damage with shotguns or do 10% more damage with pistols? Or "Unlock this feature that we have locked so you can unlock it". Just very uninteresting and low effort.
    * Exploring barren planets is not fun. It takes minutes to walk to a landmark. And when you arrive at an "Unexplored Cave", something I hoped would be a dungeon or something, was just a small cave with some rocks in it, I suppose that you should be able to mine, but after shooting with my mining laser on it for 30 seconds, I assumed I can't mine this material. It doesn't even say you can't mine it. Oh, and the cave was just a dead end after 20 meters.
    * UI is unintuitive and is hard to read sometimes.
    * Research UI is very confusing and hard to understand at first glance.
    * What should I do with all of the loot I pick up? Is there no stash for all my materials? I asked my companions to carry it, but it was confusing. I later found out about the cargo on my spaceship, but it wasn't clear at all for a new player.
    * Your companion says "Bye" if you're ending the conversation even though he or she is following you.
    * There are too many weapons right from the start. I got legendary weapons (yes, plural) when exploring a random building on one of the first moons/planets I went to. And I killed level 15-20's when I was level 5 on normal difficulty.
    * Enemies turning on the alarm without having seen you. I just made some sound not even in their room. I was just jumping. How did they know it was me (an enemy to them). I would have assumed they would explore what the sound was first.
    * Melee weapons don't have a slow attack. Press and hold the mouse button to charge up like in Skyrim for example. Makes the combat feel floaty and unresponsive. Sometimes the slashing animation doesn't even trigger.
    * No maps of interiors and towns... like wtf?
    * Subtitles of enemies in the distance you can't even hear - Not even a little bit.
    * Companions complaining every 5 minutes I loot stuff.
    * You can't unbind keybindings.
    * Bad level design in towns. Thinking about New Atlantis. No signs, no map, dead ends. Not fun when you are encumbered and just want to find a vendor to sell to.
    * You get side quests from random people that talk that you walk past, but you didn't pay attention to what they said and now you have a random quest to do something and you don't know why.
    * Bad explanation in quest descriptions. A lot of the time I'm asking why I should do this quest. I could have completed some parts of a quest, but it only tells me about the part I am on currently in a very undescriptive way. "Go do this thing". Why?!
    * I miss being able to read through current conversations at hand like you can do in Baldur's Gate 3. My mind often wanders away, or the story doesn't grasp me enough and then it's nice being able to read what was just said. I often end up having a lot of conversation options and then don't know what to choose because I didn't pay attention and I have to press Esc and restart the whole conversation.
    * Starfield is mostly a beautiful game, but some places look like graphics from 2007...
    * Citizens in cities are extremely boring. They really feel like NPCs. No purpose else than just being still, walking, and saying they don't have time to talk.
    * You have to go inside a menu to see your active buffs...
    * Played for 16 hours and didn't get achievements. Had to Google what was wrong. It said I had to restart my computer. Now achievements appeared in Steam but I had 0/50 unlocked...
    * When doing a quest, the NPC I had to follow got stuck and I couldn't finish the quest.
    * Should be illegal to release a game with mouse acceleration, mouse ratio and field of view only edited in .ini files
    * The lockpicking mini-game is more annoying than interesting/fun
    * I expected some innovations and more polish from Bethesda, but it really feels like the same quality of a game as Fallout 4.
    * The music reminds you of Fallout 4. I was hoping for something else to make the games feel more unique to each other.

    Positive:
    * If you have played Fallout 4 and Skyrim, you know what to expect. I loved those games, but it's 2023 now and Bethesda has to step up their game.
    * Ship building seems fun. I haven't tried out base building yet, but I expect it to be fun as well.
    * Space theme is cool.
    * Physics engine.
    * Lots of exploration.
    * Modders will save us? I hate saying this, but Bethesda should feel a bit of shame.    … Expand
  9. nofunaloud
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    While there is an interesting foundation of a game developed by Bethesda game studios, ultimately it falls short in a myriad of ways. What sticks out in this falling short is UI and quest design. You could fly to a planet and the only quest on it is following around a dude giving a museum tour. No need to make an entire planet for just that.

    You can fly to a planet to drop off medical    While there is an interesting foundation of a game developed by Bethesda game studios, ultimately it falls short in a myriad of ways. What sticks out in this falling short is UI and quest design. You could fly to a planet and the only quest on it is following around a dude giving a museum tour. No need to make an entire planet for just that.

    You can fly to a planet to drop off medical supplies, and then the ceo of a resort wants you to turn settlers into slaves or to kill them completely, and promises you money in return, but you don't get the option to give the CEO a taste of his own medicine. You have to get rid of the settlers one way or another, in a very bland yet long quest. And the CEO doesn't even give you a reward. You realize you shouldn't have explored this planet, you should have dropped off your cargo and peaced it.

    As far as the UI goes, this is the worst UI bethesda made to date. and that's saying something. the pipboy at least made logical sense when you used it. Starfield has menus in menus in menus in menus and when you try to back out and start over, you are sent to another menu you didn't even open. It is so bad. And it's all ugly with poorly used space. UI is something I can usually ignore. Whatever, just play with what the devs give me. But I've gotten frustrated so many times trying to navigate a laggy menu system that isn't intuitive at all starfield presents the user.

    a minor issue is weight of resources and their necessity. There are so many items you actually need to improve your gear and such, but they all weigh a ton, and you don't have much space to keep it. always my least favorite part of the newer bethesda games. And it's getting worse, not better.

    I don't want to take away completely from this game, as when you are free to do what you want, instead of navigating the menu, or being stuck with the one option for solving a quest, it is actually quite fun. The illusion of freedom is nice, until the game hits you in the face with the reality of being incredibly boxed in, even with 1000 planets.

    Can't say I regret spending 10 dollars to rent this game for a month. But let's just say it is a good thing there is more than one game on game pass.

    This sad part is; this is probably going to be Bethesda's best game moving forward. Like they'll never match oblivion, or new vegas ever again, they won't even reach starfield quality ever again. it's all downhill, it seems.    … Expand
  10. Tirecex
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    Fallout 4 in space.
    If you really like Fallout 4 like I do this might be a game for you. If not, don't play it because you will be disappointed. The only thing that really stands out in this game is Inon Zur's phenomenal soundtrack. The rest of the experience I would rate between 5-9. Sometimes its really good and other times its mediocre at best.
    When the Mod community saves yet    Fallout 4 in space.
    If you really like Fallout 4 like I do this might be a game for you. If not, don't play it because you will be disappointed. The only thing that really stands out in this game is Inon Zur's phenomenal soundtrack. The rest of the experience I would rate between 5-9. Sometimes its really good and other times its mediocre at best.

    When the Mod community saves yet another Bethesda game I will come back for a second playthrough.    … Expand
  11. KamenGamerRetro
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    Bethesda, a certain amount of "quality" is expected from them, and you get that with Starfield. Game looks good, plays well and ran buttery smooth on my system. Character creation was decent, and gameplay fun. I can see this game is getting review bombed, pretty sad, but expected from fanboys.
  12. Daermon
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    Music is awesome! But! The gameplay and the graphic just very very midcore. This is not a bad game, just not too good.
  13. Wunpleum
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    Been playing for 4-5 hours of the game so far. The game started really slow. There is nothing exciting in the beginning 4-5 hours of the game. I think you must take a long time to enjoy it. But since I don't have that much of time, I shall drop this game for awhile and will be back again when I play it full.
  14. Nimmer
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    Pretty good game. Overall you will like it if you enjoy Bethesda games. A lot of complaints I feel the opposite of others on. There are weird facial animation moments, but generally speaking they're good. The voice acting I actually think is a strong suit for the game. The biggest improvement is combat which feels very fluid and smooth. The guns are fun to use with interesting modificationPretty good game. Overall you will like it if you enjoy Bethesda games. A lot of complaints I feel the opposite of others on. There are weird facial animation moments, but generally speaking they're good. The voice acting I actually think is a strong suit for the game. The biggest improvement is combat which feels very fluid and smooth. The guns are fun to use with interesting modification options. Story-wise the game is good and the companions are a much appreciated improvement over Bethesda's previous companions, although after playing Baldur's Gate 3 for 150 hours in August, I feel there's still a lot to be desired here. The actual space combat, spaceships, and spaceship designer are really cool. However, they tie directly to the biggest issue with this game that quite simply can't be fixed.

    The biggest reason this game isn't actually great is because of the switch from an open world to what can only be described as a fast travel simulator. The procedurally generated, hand-crafted content hybrid system works great for what it is. But I feel like this system should have been supplementary, not the core focus of the game. If there were a few planets with huge zones that were as big as Skyrim with their own sets of lore and, more importantly, much better content density, then this procedural tile system would feel like a massive improvement over traditional Bethesda filler quests from previous titles, i.e. respawning bandit bounties from a Hold in Skyrim. But that's not the purpose it serves, it's supposed to totally replace the hand-crafted, content-rich, open world aspect of Bethesda games and it simply falls way short.

    The engine feels great, the graphics are good, the voice acting and writing is good, I have little to complain about with the game, but the direction away from an open world in favor of this tile generation system was simply a bad one, despite that system functioning well. It's just not a good design direction. This game will likely be made great by mods, but as it stands, it's just pretty good. If you're a Bethesda fan, pick it up now. If not, buy it on sale, it's worth like $40.    … Expand
  15. Boomahly
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    Title: A Promising Start: First Impressions of Bethesda's Latest Xbox Title

    Score: 7 out of 10 After playing it for little over 44 hours, I've delved deep into the world of Bethesda's latest Xbox release. With over 30 side quests, a handful of main story missions, and a good chunk of exploration, I'm ready to deliver my initial verdict. Performance Woes (-1 pt) While the game    Title: A Promising Start: First Impressions of Bethesda's Latest Xbox Title

    Score: 7 out of 10

    After playing it for little over 44 hours, I've delved deep into the world of Bethesda's latest Xbox release. With over 30 side quests, a handful of main story missions, and a good chunk of exploration, I'm ready to deliver my initial verdict.

    Performance Woes (-1 pt)

    While the game offers an immersive experience, I couldn't help but knock off a few points due to performance issues. The absence of DLSS support is a glaring oversight, making the game's performance on my high-end rig, equipped with a 5900x processor, a 3080 graphics card, and an M.2 SSD, less than optimal.

    Promising but Deceptive Advertising (-2 pts)

    One gripe I have is with the misleading advertising that promised limitless planetary exploration. The reality, though immersive, does have its fair share of limitations and barriers. While it doesn't affect the core gameplay, it's worth noting.

    Exceptional Side Quests and Characters

    Where this game truly shines is in its side quests and characters. The portrayal of characters and the narratives surrounding them are nothing short of exceptional. I've encountered a variety of companions, each with captivating backstories. Vladmir, I have yet to engage with, but the existing companions have already left a lasting impression.

    A Solid Addition to Bethesda's Lineup

    Overall, this game is shaping up to be one of the top titles in Bethesda's Xbox library. The delay in its release has clearly paid off in terms of refinement and polishing. In my playtime, I've encountered only three minor bugs, a testament to the developers' dedication.

    In conclusion, while there are performance issues and some deceptive advertising, Bethesda's latest title shows great promise, especially in its characters and side quests. With a few more patches, this could easily become a must-play for Xbox gamers. Stay tuned for the full review as I continue my journey through this captivating world.    … Expand
  16. Drejoe
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's okay, but I really don't like the RPG elements. Your choices don't have any real impact. I hoped Bethesda would up their game this time. My wife died and no companions had any reaction. I got married again after. The best thing is that even though you can marry someone, you never even kiss. Great immersion.
    The best series of quests i experienced was on Neon with the stealth quests for the tech company (forgot the name of the company).
    The space part is tedious and boring, more like a hub for fast travel to the more interesting parts of the game. They could have left space out entitely and we would do with one less loading screen.
    The graphics is also subpar, but the worst is the facial animations and flat characters. I just don't enjoy people not reacting to anything and they don't really have strong interesting personalities.

    All that said, it's still some what interesting and I really enjoyed some moments. Also the lockpicking is a great minigame. I could probably spend alot of hours in the game when I'm bored, but I definitely won't get addicted and forget to sleep.

    Not worth the 100$ i payed but an ok game.    … Expand
  17. BloodyEmperor
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    DO NOT EXPECT TREAT THIS AS A SPACE SIM!

    And get rid of the false advertisement, marketing that Bethesda sold you like "unprecedented freedom" to explore a thousand planets, that "We are putting you in the cockpit of your very own spaceship and telling you that you can do pretty much anything." (Actually just loading screens when we are traveling unless you gonna spend hours flying),    DO NOT EXPECT TREAT THIS AS A SPACE SIM!

    And get rid of the false advertisement, marketing that Bethesda sold you like "unprecedented freedom" to explore a thousand planets, that "We are putting you in the cockpit of your very own spaceship and telling you that you can do pretty much anything." (Actually just loading screens when we are traveling unless you gonna spend hours flying), that "Space flight should be EXCITING and dangerous, and you should feel like you're in COMPLETE CONTROL EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. " (Couple of loading screens per travel between planets shows that I am FULLY in control.) and that you could visit any area of a planet and so on. The game is a good game for sure, but Bethesda is at fault for marketing and overhyping it.

    I do agree it's frustrating with the way they marketed it and they should not have worded it that way. If you are a fellow lover of No Man's Sky, Elite Dangerous, or any other space sim games, you will be disappointed. Instead, treat this as a RPG set in Space faring/exploration era with limited open world capabilities (like a bigger Fallout 4 open world map being dissected and separated into different planets with a limited space for you to explore) and the core focus on individual rpg elements, dialogues and story.

    Starfield is a fun game when you slowly get into it no doubt, but being a Bethesda game, as with most of their games, there are bugs and glitches, not as much as previous fallout games, but definitely still there. My first 5 hours or so was bug free, but I started seeing NPCs spasming and clipping through the assets like walls/floors or floating up into unreachable heights once I got into the Constellation first main mission...Maybe that's how the human body works when you stay in space too long. Trust Bethesda on this, they studied it. So as a Bethesda game, forget other non-vanilla in game contents like modders created costumes, etc, you got to use performance/ optimization mods to optimize and make you game work much more smoothly, have better fps and look better.

    All in all, the game is fun if you are someone who love RPGs and the thing is with Bethesda games, they are selling a foundation, a 70-80% polished game for modders and for players to apply mods to on top of it. It's a 7/10 for the vanilla game by Bethesda, but you will use mods to make it into a 10/10 by modders hand.    … Expand
  18. MrN
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    The game is fun to play, but that's it.
    Its probably the best Bethesda game, but compared to other AAA games its already outdated in every way. Graphics are fine, but not the best. Face animations are just mouths and eyebrows going op and down. There is just zero optimization, no difference in fps when playing on low or ultra for me.
    Exploration is just **** you have to fast travel to    The game is fun to play, but that's it.
    Its probably the best Bethesda game, but compared to other AAA games its already outdated in every way. Graphics are fine, but not the best. Face animations are just mouths and eyebrows going op and down. There is just zero optimization, no difference in fps when playing on low or ultra for me.
    Exploration is just **** you have to fast travel to every location. That's understandable when traveling to other galaxies, but now there is just zero space travel.

    Basically it's just fallout in space with a LOT of load-screens and nothing new to offer..
    But its Bethesda! So we shouldn't care because this is their formula..! Yeah!    … Expand
  19. ENSeventea
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    The children who don't have a basic understanding of the English language baby raging cause mommy and daddy didn't love them as a kid is phenomenal. The game is fine. I know guys its difficult to understand what a woman's touch is like. But maybe one day you will find someone that isn't repulsed by the the axe body spray "cologne" and actually want to hug you.

    Games fine. Anyone whining    The children who don't have a basic understanding of the English language baby raging cause mommy and daddy didn't love them as a kid is phenomenal. The game is fine. I know guys its difficult to understand what a woman's touch is like. But maybe one day you will find someone that isn't repulsed by the the axe body spray "cologne" and actually want to hug you.

    Games fine. Anyone whining needs their harddrive checked cause there's definitely going to be **** on there the FBI will want to question them about.    … Expand
  20. Biohazard-3vil
    Sep 9, 2023
    7
    Starfield look good in graphic designs, storylines and cool beginning experiences. But Starfield is a ok to me, I give it a score 7. My PC rig are Intel processor and Nvidia gpu, there’s no better graphic options for my pc spec. As for me, Fallout 76 is still my #1 best game in Bethesda games history and a masterpiece over Starfield. I played Fallout 76 for overall 4000 hours in 3Starfield look good in graphic designs, storylines and cool beginning experiences. But Starfield is a ok to me, I give it a score 7. My PC rig are Intel processor and Nvidia gpu, there’s no better graphic options for my pc spec. As for me, Fallout 76 is still my #1 best game in Bethesda games history and a masterpiece over Starfield. I played Fallout 76 for overall 4000 hours in 3 platforms together. How I play that long hours? Because Bethesda developed Fallout 76 the perfect game I ever play. Live service is even more fun to play with online players team together, game is PvE I like the most, non-stop events, scoreboards, amazing atomic shop items, affordable micro transactions than compare to ESO, CAMP are awesome, longer game life, fun-matic, never ending. The single player games such as Fallout 4, Skyrim, Starfield are good, but a little boring to me when there’s no players around and feeling lonely, after completing the storylines and that’s it, end of the game then play start all over again, that’ll be short life game. I played Fallout 4 for few hundred hours and that’s it compare to Fallout 76 for several thousand hours. I consider Fallout 76 is the best game in Bethesda games history and masterpiece. I know a lot of gamers are against Fallout 76 just because it’s a “live service” and “about money” but to me Fallout 76 is the best game I ever play.… Expand
  21. sonofasher
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    Honestly, the controls are frustrating and unintuitive.

    I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to rotate a component of a spaceship, only to figure out that no, it's not possible.

    The 'game opening' cinematic is annoyingly long.

    It's frustrating to shoot someone in the head with four shotgun shells and them not dying.
  22. GirlGoneGamer
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    * copied my review from my Xbox review but made the adjustments to the review due to better performance and experience via pc*

    On PC it was a better experience as I stated, instead of the 30fps you get via console I hit max 78 fps in certain places with lows around a dreadful 28fps at other times. The load screens were still the issue, now these could be due to the Gamepass version of    * copied my review from my Xbox review but made the adjustments to the review due to better performance and experience via pc*

    On PC it was a better experience as I stated, instead of the 30fps you get via console I hit max 78 fps in certain places with lows around a dreadful 28fps at other times. The load screens were still the issue, now these could be due to the Gamepass version of the game is what I tested with so your experience may very. There were still stuttering in places and the fact I also had the game crash on the Xbox Series X a couple of times and even on PC with a Ryzen 5800 X3D, Nvidia 3060 OC, and 32GBs of Ram… on an NVMe SSD there was a lot of stutter in the game. Now these can be potentially patched out but we shall see. As of now I can not rate this game higher than a 7 unlike certain X users who call people delusional and bash them who rate this game honestly. Don’t buy into the hype yet, wait a few months before buying in.

    At most this game is a 7 but it’s because at the time of writing this review and over 3 days worth of play time I can say it’s not really a complete game, it’s not worth the $70 price tag. Honestly if you get it, just go ahead and play it via gamepass or ask a friend to game share with you. It has bugs, texture fails, the trees in certain planets look like they were copy and pasted from an N64 game… also the water has no splash effects and doors seem to be floating away from the wall… Honestly I can’t stress this enough don’t waste $70 on this title only buy it via gamepass or for $30.    … Expand
  23. HypeN
    Sep 9, 2023
    7
    After playing for the last couple of days I must say, this game has so many mechanics and small details that it deserves praise for it. However, I don't think I've ever seen these mechanics and details vary so much depending on where you look. This game can both look astonishingly beautiful when you're standing on a hill and look around you, then for you to stumble into a canteen where theAfter playing for the last couple of days I must say, this game has so many mechanics and small details that it deserves praise for it. However, I don't think I've ever seen these mechanics and details vary so much depending on where you look. This game can both look astonishingly beautiful when you're standing on a hill and look around you, then for you to stumble into a canteen where the textures look copied from the Fallout New Vegas era.
    The open world does not seem that open to me, I don't know If It's just me, but I don't feel like I am a part of something bigger out there when I'm traveling through the emptiness of most planets in the game, with the occasional spotting of a wild creature that I have seen on 10 different planets some hours ago.

    Overall I would say that this game is a good one, definitely would recommend to try it out in GamePass. I would not however recommend to buy it for the 100$ or 80$ price range simply because I do not believe that it is worth as much.    … Expand
  24. maka12
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    Loading, loading, and more loading. Wooden dialogues. Loading the game every few minutes of play. Poor optimization. Graphics once nice once not. Not very interesting quests. Stupid NPCs. NPCs appear in your face in cities. Surprisingly good shooting feel. Camera from 3rd person looks bad. Cool that you can build a base. The plot, at times fascinating, at times stiff. I will definitelyLoading, loading, and more loading. Wooden dialogues. Loading the game every few minutes of play. Poor optimization. Graphics once nice once not. Not very interesting quests. Stupid NPCs. NPCs appear in your face in cities. Surprisingly good shooting feel. Camera from 3rd person looks bad. Cool that you can build a base. The plot, at times fascinating, at times stiff. I will definitely finish the game and edit the reviews. That's it for now.
    EDIT:
    After finishing the game, I have to give Starfield 1 extra point, others may not like the ending, I liked it very much. If they work on optimization and NPCs, I will even put the rating even higher. I didn't add in my earlier review about ship building, which is another great thing. Overall, I recommend everyone to pass, but rather on better computers, at least for now.    … Expand
  25. Korma
    Sep 10, 2023
    7
    Starfield is a boring, soulless and outdated game. It may have been good if it was released in the early 2010's. There isn't any new idea or innovations. Exploration in space is non-existent, you can't manually land on planets, you can't manually take off from planets. Can't explore planets because you'll get hit with a invisible wall. All exploring has to be done on foot, no vehicles haveStarfield is a boring, soulless and outdated game. It may have been good if it was released in the early 2010's. There isn't any new idea or innovations. Exploration in space is non-existent, you can't manually land on planets, you can't manually take off from planets. Can't explore planets because you'll get hit with a invisible wall. All exploring has to be done on foot, no vehicles have been introduced, you will become bored within 5 minutes with the amount of running you have to do Everything is behind a loading screen, if you fast travel to a building, you will be placed outside of the building because you have to go through another loading screen. Using an engine The storyline cliché, the quests are lacking variety. All caves and building interiors have the same layout.

    The performance on PC is an absolute joke, especially if you're using a Nidia GPU. People with low spec systems have trouble running the game. People with high spec systems have trouble running the game. It's a disgrace that the modding community had to make custom patches and manually introduce DLSS because the developers of the game has failed to do this themselves. The developers keeps getting away with this because of the Bethesda fanbase is too forgiving.

    The game is not worth the hype, don't believe a word from Todd Howard when he starts flogging Elder Scrolls 6.    … Expand
  26. Leesan
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    This game is NOT a 0/10 but it also not a 9/10.
    Is literally Fall Out in Space but with lots of friction and loading screens.
    The good: -The shooting is better than older games. -The Ship modding is fun. -Talents are well designed. -It has good quest, although not the main one. -Lockpicking minigame is good. Persuasion is fun. The bad: -Space combat is borring and almost unnecessary -AI is    This game is NOT a 0/10 but it also not a 9/10.
    Is literally Fall Out in Space but with lots of friction and loading screens.
    The good:
    -The shooting is better than older games.
    -The Ship modding is fun.
    -Talents are well designed.
    -It has good quest, although not the main one.
    -Lockpicking minigame is good.
    Persuasion is fun.
    The bad:
    -Space combat is borring and almost unnecessary
    -AI is braindead even for Bethesta standards.
    -The least buggy Bethesta game still full of bugs.
    -Very few roleplaying and crazy/funny stuff to do even compared with older Bethesta games.
    -If you don't play 12h of the main story you are not really prepared to go explore around, the game starts to slow.    … Expand
  27. affus
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    Not bad as people say. Far from being good as Todd Howard said. The game doesn't make a good use of space theme and the story could be in a single planet (and it would be better without so many fast travels between planets). The story is also a little cliche.
  28. knetis
    Sep 9, 2023
    7
    Great game with a ton of things to explore but poorly optimized even for high end hardware.
  29. Agliareth
    Sep 10, 2023
    7
    Lamentablemente, el viaje espacial en Starfield no cumplió con mis expectativas. Las mecánicas de vuelo y exploración espacial son limitadas y carecen de profundidad, lo que resulta en una experiencia decepcionante. Además, la variedad de armas en el juego es escasa, lo que limita las opciones de combate y puede hacer que se vuelva monótono a largo plazo. Por otro lado, los NPC en el juegoLamentablemente, el viaje espacial en Starfield no cumplió con mis expectativas. Las mecánicas de vuelo y exploración espacial son limitadas y carecen de profundidad, lo que resulta en una experiencia decepcionante. Además, la variedad de armas en el juego es escasa, lo que limita las opciones de combate y puede hacer que se vuelva monótono a largo plazo. Por otro lado, los NPC en el juego tienen una inteligencia artificial bastante básica y carecen de interacciones significativas, lo que les resta realismo y profundidad. Aunque Starfield tiene sus puntos fuertes, como sus visuales impresionantes e historia, estos aspectos negativos impactan en la experiencia general del juego. Con algunas mejoras y actualizaciones, Starfield podría convertirse en un juego de culto. Por ahora, le doy una nota de 7/10.… Expand
  30. Alexkhan85
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    The game is just good, nothing revolutionary. Yes, it has some new mechanics like flying into space, but the realization of space travel and space battles leaves much to be desired. And everything else looks the same: here and hanging around NPCs with grimaces on their faces, the old engine with its frequent downloads makes itself felt. Optimization as I think could be better, graphicsThe game is just good, nothing revolutionary. Yes, it has some new mechanics like flying into space, but the realization of space travel and space battles leaves much to be desired. And everything else looks the same: here and hanging around NPCs with grimaces on their faces, the old engine with its frequent downloads makes itself felt. Optimization as I think could be better, graphics sometimes gives beautiful landscapes, but not so much to squeeze out of the top graphics cards all the power. From the good except that more or less pleasant shooting and some quests are not bad, well and in the end the game is monumental, I think in the game you can spend a lot of time.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Best PC Game of 2023
3
#3 Most Discussed PC Game of 2023

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 75
  3. Negative: 0 out of 75
  1. Riot Pixels
    Jan 28, 2024
    76
    There's a lot of flaws in space in Starfield. But that does not prevent me from exploring our galaxy again and again.
    Read full review
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 22, 2024
    80
    I fell in love with Starfield. It's my cup of sci-fi and I can't wait to spend the next thirty, fifty, maybe seventy hours here. I enjoy the exploration, the shootouts, the art style, the ship building, and the diverse worlds. I gratefully acknowledge the good optimization and the absence of major bugs. But I can't overlook the flaws. There are bad animations, ugly faces and repetitive moments.[Issue#329]
  3. RPGamer
    Oct 23, 2023
    60
    In a year dominated by sequels to franchise favorites, there was a hope that Starfield would carve its own path to success. While the team at Bethesda should be commended for taking such a big swing, there’s no denying that the game doesn’t feel like a cohesive work. Maybe continued support and future sequels will make something more meaningful out of a work that is clearly deeply enamored with both science fiction and space exploration. Unforunately, this first launch has had far more mixed results than desired.
    Read full review
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