User Score
5.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 5711 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Sep 10, 2023
    1
    Needs 10 more years of development with the most recent game engine. In its current state, Starfield has barely no optimizations and needs a 2030 computer setup to run properly. Bethesda also needs to kick her CEO out. At least I got my refund.
  2. Sep 11, 2023
    1
    A solid disappointment. Loading screen sim. exploration is a joke you go out to a cave that's empty or abandoned base to find some useless cups and pencils. for some reason ground vehicles don't exist in a space fairing universe which makes exploration even worse with you character that can only sprint the distance of your average gamer. Design intent to keep us trapped slowly movingA solid disappointment. Loading screen sim. exploration is a joke you go out to a cave that's empty or abandoned base to find some useless cups and pencils. for some reason ground vehicles don't exist in a space fairing universe which makes exploration even worse with you character that can only sprint the distance of your average gamer. Design intent to keep us trapped slowly moving across planets to drive up numbers and subs on game pass. disgusting. Expand
  3. Sep 9, 2023
    4
    The game looks visually goog and some of the quests are really well made. The outpost and ship building mechanics are also pretty great.

    Unfortunately, that's all the good I can say about the game. Most of the game is just boring, bland and utterly confusing. Main story is the posterchild of this - it's a 5+ hour long fetch quest that neither resolves nor explains anything. Starmap
    The game looks visually goog and some of the quests are really well made. The outpost and ship building mechanics are also pretty great.

    Unfortunately, that's all the good I can say about the game. Most of the game is just boring, bland and utterly confusing. Main story is the posterchild of this - it's a 5+ hour long fetch quest that neither resolves nor explains anything.

    Starmap is a mess and you can never find anything on it. The only way to travel to your quest destination is to open the destination from your quest log. This is followed by a few loading screens and then you're there. I didn't know where "there" was, most of the time. It was just another random starsystem.
    On top of that, there's no map and there's no minimap. You have to rely on the quest markers to get somewhere, which tunnelvisions you into following the blue little dot on your screen.

    Combat is boring and way too easy. I played on normal difficulty and I dont remember using a healing item in combat other then the end of main quest where I popped a few. AI is stupid and constantly forgets to shoot, takes cover where I can see it and it tries to use his gun for bashing instead of shooting.

    Character building is non-excistant because very little depends on the skills. Combat skills let you do 30% more damage, health skills let you take a bit less damage and have 40% more health. That's about it. Also, lockpicking. Take lockpicking.
    I finished the game on level 25. To unlock all the skills, you have to be level 350+ something so that pretty much means 90% of the skills will never be touched.

    Crafting is pointless. Every single enemy loads a random weapon with all the variations of mods you can think of. Theres a good chance you will find that perfect weaopn for your build in half an hour. I did.

    The planets are void of content. You can land on planets, but there's nothing to do on them. You can scan a few plants and rocks, you can kill a few pirates and collect weapons to sell. That's it. Maybe you get lucky and there's a fetch quest on that planet if you're willing to walk a few kilometers on foot.

    The game pissed me off more then it entertained me. Bethesda should fire their UX team immediately and hire whoever makes SkyUI/StarUI mods.
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  4. Sep 11, 2023
    0
    this game sucks and its almost criminal ; the fact it sold 5 mil copies is proof ppl dont care about the quality of games that come out of development
  5. Sep 10, 2023
    0
    A space exploration RPG unlike any other, because it fails at every conceivable aspect of the game that could be interesting or fun. Never in my life have I been more disappointed by a game, and more bewildered by the amount of great reviews by critics. Maybe the game is more fun to play if you get paid to do it, sadly I'm in no such position and spending my free time playing this bug festA space exploration RPG unlike any other, because it fails at every conceivable aspect of the game that could be interesting or fun. Never in my life have I been more disappointed by a game, and more bewildered by the amount of great reviews by critics. Maybe the game is more fun to play if you get paid to do it, sadly I'm in no such position and spending my free time playing this bug fest of an alpha release is never going to happen again. A dead, barren wasteland filled to the brim with tedious menus and loading screens, horrible AI and writing. Any second spent on this game is a second wasted.

    Thank you, Starfield, for giving me a reason to cancel my gamepass. Money saved.
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  6. Sep 10, 2023
    0
    Garbage game that doesn't live up to previous Bethesda titles and forced "preferred pronouns" that are forced on people. They say it's not a big deal, but then they ban mods that remove the "preferred pronoun" bs.

    Have fun with all the refunds people will be getting.
  7. Sep 10, 2023
    2
    bugthesda did it again!!!! unfinished, unpolished mess of a so called game... we should boykott these liars!!! once again they showed us with this ridicilous display of work and distaste for gamers that we cant trust them!!! what a shameful display from a multibillion company which got all resources availiable for producing whole games and not this abomination of a half baked something...bugthesda did it again!!!! unfinished, unpolished mess of a so called game... we should boykott these liars!!! once again they showed us with this ridicilous display of work and distaste for gamers that we cant trust them!!! what a shameful display from a multibillion company which got all resources availiable for producing whole games and not this abomination of a half baked something... in comparisson to baldurs gate 3, starfield is a REAL DISGUSTING JOKE!!!! Expand
  8. Sep 10, 2023
    2
    Bethesda developed this game on the principle that, as with Skyrim in 2011, it will be enhanced by volunteer modders at the time of release and for years to come. So they botched their production on every level. The outdated graphics, the game mechanics dating from 2011, the user interface worthy of an alpha version, no open world just small areas cut off by screen loadings, uninterestingBethesda developed this game on the principle that, as with Skyrim in 2011, it will be enhanced by volunteer modders at the time of release and for years to come. So they botched their production on every level. The outdated graphics, the game mechanics dating from 2011, the user interface worthy of an alpha version, no open world just small areas cut off by screen loadings, uninteresting NPC-walkers, so few in number and so not "lively", and more than anything, a story so uninspiring that as a player we tell ourselves that we are going to go to the end just to make the 70 dollars profitable, not because it is inspiring and fun. For Bethesda fans wait until Starfield is worth 10 dollars and hopefully a well stocked Nexusmod over the years. For other curious or fans of space games go your way. Expand
  9. Sep 11, 2023
    4
    really sad we all expected a good game but we got this loading screen simulator
  10. Sep 10, 2023
    0
    I'm too old for the sunk costs fallacy. 100$ price tag (let's not pretend what was the main selling point of that enhanced edition) for a glorified fast travel simulator that isn't even worth 10$. Most of the criticism here is vaild. And imagine having the audacity to claim that the optimisation is good when your game can't keep 60FPS on RTX3080, 32GB ram, I7-12700, on 1080p, outside ofI'm too old for the sunk costs fallacy. 100$ price tag (let's not pretend what was the main selling point of that enhanced edition) for a glorified fast travel simulator that isn't even worth 10$. Most of the criticism here is vaild. And imagine having the audacity to claim that the optimisation is good when your game can't keep 60FPS on RTX3080, 32GB ram, I7-12700, on 1080p, outside of big cities. You may think it's funny, Todd "Upgrade your PC" Howard, but in fact it's pathetic. Can't recommend, if you want a good game then play something decent like Baldur's Gate 3 Expand
  11. Sep 11, 2023
    2
    I'm a huge fan of space exploration games No Man's Sky and Elite Dangerous being two of my favorites and honestly if you want to have a fun journey through space just play one of those instead.

    Maybe the most boring Bethesda game I've ever played, The main story is uninteresting and most of the characters you meet are beyond generic. Also having you do most of your "exploration" through
    I'm a huge fan of space exploration games No Man's Sky and Elite Dangerous being two of my favorites and honestly if you want to have a fun journey through space just play one of those instead.

    Maybe the most boring Bethesda game I've ever played, The main story is uninteresting and most of the characters you meet are beyond generic. Also having you do most of your "exploration" through menus and loading screens is a baffling decision to me. If you liked Fallout 3 you'll love this game because it plays the exact same if there's one thing you can commend Bethesda for it's sticking to their roots for better or in this case for worse, the creation engine needs an overhaul.
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  12. Sep 12, 2023
    0
    Bethesda being Bethesda, making the most disappointing game of the year. Full of jank and chores, no soul and no depth. Better avoid this one (look into No mans Sky for space exploration done right, or Baldurs Gate for an RPG done right).
  13. Sep 10, 2023
    3
    A bland adventure into a partitioned and repetitive world(s). Very average in all respects, I doubt we will see more Starfield titles.
  14. Sep 11, 2023
    3
    I cannot comprehend anyone who gives this game better than a 7/10 unless they were paid to do so.

    TLDR; Starfield has all the hallmarks of lazy Bethesda design with none of the charm or soul of their older games. If you take the procedural world of No Man's Sky, add in Fallout guns, and then subtract 90% of the meaningful content and design attention from either of those games, you'll
    I cannot comprehend anyone who gives this game better than a 7/10 unless they were paid to do so.

    TLDR; Starfield has all the hallmarks of lazy Bethesda design with none of the charm or soul of their older games. If you take the procedural world of No Man's Sky, add in Fallout guns, and then subtract 90% of the meaningful content and design attention from either of those games, you'll have Starfield. Top it off with an insultingly poor UI that forces you to constantly fight against it to actually play the game.

    I'm putting my interface rant at the top, because as PC users, there's a fairly good chance you'll be playing on keyboard and mouse, and I want to be sure that you get this warning first. Bethesda did NOT make this game for PCs, despite what they or anyone else says. Starfield was made for consoles, and it shows in every single aspect of the UI design. Starfield has the distinction of employing the single most unintuitive and tedious UI I have ever seen in an RPG, and I am well acquainted with interfaces that are, charitably put, rough. Menus are locked to 30 (30!) fps. The main menu is radial and annoying to utilize with a mouse and keyboard. Every menu, from the main menu, to inventory, to ship editing, has SO much wasted space that Bethesda inevitably uses for some silly cosmetic purpose like showing asset models, instead of displaying actual gameplay information. On top of that, information is organized in a nonsensical way, separating relevant bits of data onto different parts of the screen, or totally hiding information from the player. Keybinds between similar menus are different for seemingly no reason, and in the menus and game itself, pressing a key and holding it function as separate commands. These two innocuous "design" choices really mess with the player's ability to develop muscle memory for the menus and end up burning a lot of time on accomplishing routine UI tasks. The map system, where you will spend much of your time is a total mess. There is no minimap or local map to speak of beyond a dotted grid that shows no information besides the relative position of POIs and there is no map whatsoever for interior spaces or cities.

    Starfield is poorly optimized (another signal that the PC release is an afterthought), and for the poor performance, looks barely as good or even worse than games five years or more older. Starfield's lighting and color saturation is a mess, so a lot of objects and structures look overly reflective or blurry. The antialiasing is primitive, so distant objects have choppy edges and combine to make a game that looks VERY unimpressive in 2023. On max settings, my machine barely breaks 90 fps, on fairly high end AMD hardware (7700X CPU/7900XT GPU/64gb RAM), which is who Bethesda partnered with to optimize their game. On Premium Edition release day, I crashed to desktop within the first 60 seconds of starting my game, and then once about every 10 minutes for several hours afterwards. To credit AMD/Bethesda, there was a GPU driver update specifically for Starfield that very day, and after installing it I haven't suffered a single crash. Still though, that's an awful first impression for a game with the budget and development time of Starfield. I have heard that the game is very unstable on Nvidia hardware, which I am willing to believe, so if that's what you have, be sure to look into whether the game will actually run for you. Loading screens are constant, as all building and ship interiors are instanced. If you aren't running this game off an NVME drive, expect to spend a lot of time staring at a loading screen.

    The scope of this game is an illusion formed by copy and pasted assets and populated by terribly coded NPCs. Their behavior is rudimentary, even by the standards of Bethesda's older games. Space exploration in Starfield is a falsehood. Travel is accomplished either on foot, or through fast travel options from the map menu. Your ship is simply a place to offload your inventory and do some crafting. There is no atmospheric flight, so almost all of the time you interact with your ship it's on the ground. The gunplay is serviceable, and the audio design is pretty good, but only when the NPCs aren't bugged or acting braindead. After so many years and hundreds of millions of dollars, a scifi reskin of Fallout with laughably low-effort worldbuilding is way less than customers deserve.
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  15. Sep 9, 2023
    0
    Starfailed, There isn't a star field. simply loading displays.

    It is not yet a technological wonder. In actuality, it appears to be a brushed-up fallout.
  16. Sep 9, 2023
    0
    starfield is a joke. not quite as empty as no mans sky but feels similar at time. like its a generated mess. if you like skyrim or fallout you will be sorely disappointed by this. all the conversations are vacuous and utterly meaningless and there is no real choice here to be good or evil, all choices lead to the same place. bad at fps, bad at being a space sim, bad story. this is a crisisstarfield is a joke. not quite as empty as no mans sky but feels similar at time. like its a generated mess. if you like skyrim or fallout you will be sorely disappointed by this. all the conversations are vacuous and utterly meaningless and there is no real choice here to be good or evil, all choices lead to the same place. bad at fps, bad at being a space sim, bad story. this is a crisis of competence - when people are hired not for their ability but for their identity this is the drivel you get. Expand
  17. Sep 10, 2023
    1
    It just works! See that mountain over there? you can go climb it! See Pluto? You can go there too! That's if you wanna sit there like a complete fool for seven hours........and once you get there, it's a cardboard cut-out. What an absolute joke! The character models are awful. It's the same same same over and over with this buggythesda company! Honestly, what gives?
  18. Sep 11, 2023
    3
    I will not list here all the problems of that game because the vast majority of those who use this site already know them. Legally or not, some people played this game, while others had the opportunity to enjoy jokes and sarcasm about the problems of this game in YouTube videos. I will only write about why I gave this product such a low rating. Brain side: I completely agree with all theI will not list here all the problems of that game because the vast majority of those who use this site already know them. Legally or not, some people played this game, while others had the opportunity to enjoy jokes and sarcasm about the problems of this game in YouTube videos. I will only write about why I gave this product such a low rating. Brain side: I completely agree with all the negative reviews (yes, before writing this text, it was interesting for me to read why the game is criticized by the “red” ratings, and why the game is still praised by the “green” ratings)... The side of feelings: you know... I'm catastrophically tired and angry about what's happening with the gaming industry in recent years. I'm tired of making jokes like "to hell with it, we have an indie industry." I'm tired of the fact that many gamers forgive and even !praise! such products, motivating creators to make further pseudo-games like this one. If earlier there were a lot of big games from big companies that were interesting to play, then in recent years I’ve been increasingly thinking that I’m not interested in spending the full price tag on some kind of garbage in a beautiful wrapper. And thank you if this wrapper is really beautiful and is not stuffed with a million bugs.
    I am tired to be angry to see "a big game industry" in such a mess in 2023 because of so-calling effective managers. Because it so happens that in the modern World big games are made not by those who like to create games, but by those who simply want to suck as much money out of you as possible. And the most disgusting thing is that they don’t give anything for it except false promises and no less false apologies. I'm so tired of all this that EVERY! similar pseudo-games in future will receive no more than 3 points from me (graphics, music, idea). I'm over it.
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  19. Sep 11, 2023
    3
    I was so hyped about this game...once more I was misled by Todd Howard and that is all on me!
    He promised exploration which is minimal. It's a space game without "space". They called it an RPG without dialogues with a role-play system.
  20. Sep 9, 2023
    0
    If Bethesda put as much effort in to their games as they did buying out mainstream gaming media, manipulating review scores/social media with "early" access and making excuses we would have the game of the year on our hands. Instead, you have the best example in recent times to how wretchedly lazy and uninspired western triple A game development has become. Janky, unoptimized, running onIf Bethesda put as much effort in to their games as they did buying out mainstream gaming media, manipulating review scores/social media with "early" access and making excuses we would have the game of the year on our hands. Instead, you have the best example in recent times to how wretchedly lazy and uninspired western triple A game development has become. Janky, unoptimized, running on an engine older than most of its playerbase and worst of all, takes the limitless wonder of space exploration and makes it mind-numbingly BORING.

    This game is Todd Howard personified; bland, full of BS and with a turgid brown filter slapped across it for good measure.
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  21. Sep 11, 2023
    2
    Another overrated Bethesda game. Poor graphic performance and performance. No vehicles and artificially extended gameplay. It's even worse than the old Skyrim.
  22. Sep 10, 2023
    2
    What looks like a Fallout 4 mod, plays like F4 mod - is Fallout 4 mod. Mind you, there is a truly wonderful modding community, which mods Elder scrolls, Fallout series and other games - they are creative, talented people who create fantastic mods, so saying Starfield is a F4 mod in space you need to add: Bethesda mod. Made by company which should of stopped existing if not after F4, thenWhat looks like a Fallout 4 mod, plays like F4 mod - is Fallout 4 mod. Mind you, there is a truly wonderful modding community, which mods Elder scrolls, Fallout series and other games - they are creative, talented people who create fantastic mods, so saying Starfield is a F4 mod in space you need to add: Bethesda mod. Made by company which should of stopped existing if not after F4, then after F76 for sure, since being a company once producing actually good games, by F76 timeline they turned into lazy, sloppy, simply unprofessional something that truly despise their fans.
    Fault is on players who being spit into face by Todd, wipe and praise spit taste and keep giving Bethesda their money.
    So, comparing Starfield to F4 or F76 - and anyone who played those, you WILL have flashbacks and feeling of deja vu - with outdated animation, brain-dead dialogs, textures basically coping F4, just with removed Fallout spirit, and many more - at least in Fallout series was Fallout lore and Universe, maimed by Beth, but thank you God created by better people; in Starfield you got none. Only BORING, UNIMAGINATIVE, GENERIC story and playthru. Oh, and if you thought in Elder Scrolls was bad UI - wait for this one. Sure, if modders will get hold of it, certain things will get improved by them in time, but no thanks to Bethesda, as usual. So do gaming world a favour - stop giving them money they didn`t deserve, then, and only then, Bethesda might stop selling you refurbished old crap for $130.
    Ps: they must pay well to bots and bots masters to leave here those 10/10 "reviews" - that part is laughable really. if you are actually a living person with own brain - have a read those and have a chuckle - same copy-and-paste generic sentences, half of which doesn`t even make sense, guess AI still no match for the humans:))
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  23. Sep 10, 2023
    1
    I find myself spending more time navigating menus and enduring loading screens than actually enjoying the gameplay. The planets lack vitality, and while I understand it's a video game and not reality, I wish they were more captivating. Unfortunately, every quest feels like a monotonous fetch quest that involves going through a series of loading screens—boarding my ship (loading screen),I find myself spending more time navigating menus and enduring loading screens than actually enjoying the gameplay. The planets lack vitality, and while I understand it's a video game and not reality, I wish they were more captivating. Unfortunately, every quest feels like a monotonous fetch quest that involves going through a series of loading screens—boarding my ship (loading screen), taking off (loading screen), selecting a planet (loading screen), landing (loading screen), disembarking (loading screen), and so on—just to retrieve an item and repeat the entire process to deliver it to someone else. It's incredibly frustrating.

    Although the combat is decent, the AI is subpar, and challenging enemies often feel like bullet sponges. On top of that, managing the inventory is an exhausting task. There are no clear indications of what healing items do unless you scroll over them and read their descriptions, which is a hassle. Additionally, sifting through menus to determine if the 500th iteration of the same gun I've found is an improvement over my current one is a tedious process.

    What surprises me the most is the good reception this game has received from critics, despite mixed reviews from users. These issues arent nitpicky, they are so obvious. From my perspective, it appears to be objectively average, at best. If I had to give it the highest possible rating, it would still be just average. The most disappointing aspect is that everyone claims the game improves after the first 12 hours, but even after investing 20 hours into it, nothing has changed. I've been patiently waiting for it to become more enjoyable, but it hasn't. The fact that it supposedly gets better only after hours of grinding to design ships and suits is disheartening, as it means I've already bored myself out of this game by that point.
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  24. Sep 9, 2023
    3
    A Skyrim space mod.. nothing more Incredible dumb quests and storylines.. "Oh I lost my chewing-gum. Can you find it for me ?"
    "Oh thank you so much, please accept that new ship and please become our new president! "
    This over and over.. Npc AI from 2010 A galaxy full of 3,7 species Pirates every every everywhere Every mobs drop 1000 weapons but no ammo can be found anywhere in any
    A Skyrim space mod.. nothing more Incredible dumb quests and storylines.. "Oh I lost my chewing-gum. Can you find it for me ?"
    "Oh thank you so much, please accept that new ship and please become our new president! "

    This over and over.. Npc AI from 2010
    A galaxy full of 3,7 species
    Pirates every every everywhere Every mobs drop 1000 weapons but no ammo can be found anywhere in any multiverse..

    But yeah.. the hype machine is working..
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  25. Sep 9, 2023
    1
    Boring crap. Loading screens, lack of activity, controls, optimization etc... Damn Witcher 3 is 100 times more immersive even no man sky is way better. Rip bethesda your trash.
  26. Sep 10, 2023
    3
    One of the most soulless games ever made. It’s better than Fallout 76 but that’s like saying that Hitler was better than Stalin it’s hardly an improvement. Everything here is just so bland and more predictable than a Dhar Mann video we have seen this game already it was called Fallout 3 and that was a great game unlike Starfield.

    Don’t buy this game don’t give Todd “Little Lies” Howard
    One of the most soulless games ever made. It’s better than Fallout 76 but that’s like saying that Hitler was better than Stalin it’s hardly an improvement. Everything here is just so bland and more predictable than a Dhar Mann video we have seen this game already it was called Fallout 3 and that was a great game unlike Starfield.

    Don’t buy this game don’t give Todd “Little Lies” Howard any money. He deserves nothing than to be paraded around a city in chains while having **** and rocks thrown at him.
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  27. Sep 10, 2023
    0
    Its just like other No Mans Sky but you haven't much freedom, the game has too much gameplay on the menus, very boring
  28. Sep 11, 2023
    0
    Definitely a game. But that is where it stays. Bland, to some points ugly graphics, the story does not carry this empty world at all. Same enemies over and over. Same loot over and over. Bethesda has lost it good. 'Space exploration', what a joke. I find more interesting things in my garden then in this game.
  29. Sep 10, 2023
    1
    Wow, where do I even begin with this dumpster fire of a game? It's like the developers took everything that makes a good open-world space exploration game and threw it out the airlock. The graphics look like they were created on a potato, and the planets? They're about as interesting as watching paint dry in slow motion.
  30. Sep 10, 2023
    0
    Boring, nothing innovative, feels like a ps3 game and not even a good one!!
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 75
  2. Negative: 0 out of 75
  1. 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.
  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. 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.