Starfield Review: Ambitious Space RPG Shows Promise But Needs Polishing

Starfield is one of the most hotly anticipated games in years. The first new universe in 25 years from legendary developer Bethesda Game Studios, this sci-fi roleplaying game promises to let players explore and forge their own path as space explorers. After extensive hands-on time with Starfield, it’s clear the immense scope of the game delivers compelling roleplaying freedom. However, numerous technical issues and gameplay quirks show Starfield needed more time in the oven before launch to realize its full potential.

Getting Started in Starfield

You begin by fully customizing your character’s backstory, choosing from various backgrounds like being a pirate or merchant that impact stats and gameplay. After an opening tutorial mining asteroids as a space “duster,” events soon thrust you into the wider galaxy.

Early main quests have you joining Constellation, an organization of space explorers hunting mysterious signals. You receive your own starship, allowing interstellar travel and combat. The freedom to go anywhere is immediate, but starting quests ease you in to learn essential systems.

The relaxed opening is a change of pace from Bethesda’s more action-packed openings. It effectively immerses you in the routine of a working-class duster before fate intervenes. But the slow start means it takes a few hours until Starfield opens up.

Principled Freedom Defines the Gameplay Loop

Like all Bethesda games, the limitless freedom to ignore the main quest and strike your own path is Starfield’s main appeal. You can become a trader, pirate, miner, explorer, soldier or whatever you wish through the game’s flexible progression systems.

Core gameplay revolves around flying to planets and space stations, exploring handcrafted points of interest or randomly generated encounters, gathering resources, crafting gear, and completing missions. Quests stem from factions you join, bounty boards, or residents across various solar systems.

Bethesda’s strong environmental storytelling makes side content compelling to discover. The mission structure gives helpful breadcrumbs to propel your space odyssey while letting you determine the course.

Spaceship Customization Is a Highlight

Your personal spaceship is your gateway to the stars, and Starfield offers deep cosmetic and mechanical customization. You can register ships encountered across the systems as your own. The excellent ship building tools let you dismantle and reassemble parts freely.

Every element from wings to engines can be removed and replaced. With enough credits and materials, you can reshape any vessel completely. The system enables creativity limited only by your resources and imagination. Building your dream ship to traverse the cosmos engages like few other aspects of the game.

Flexible Character Progression Allows Diverse Builds

Starfield eschews rigid classes, allowing flexible character builds. Leveling up earns points to spend across perk trees covering combat, science, trading and other areas. You can spread points or specialize. Perks have prerequisites requiring certain stats or progression milestones to unlock, preventing overpowered builds early on.

Crafting consumables and gear also improves associated skills. The more you craft healing items, for example, the better you get at concocting them. This learn-by-doing approach rewards playing organically rather than grinding. There are many viable character builds to succeed on your spacefaring adventures.

The Dynamic Combat Impresses

Starfield’s first-person real-time combat proves a high point. Whether on foot with an array of sci-fi weaponry or piloting your ship in space dogfights, the action is dynamic and impactful.

The tight on-ground gunplay brings satisfying physicality, especially once you unlock more powerful abilities like dashing jetpacks. Blasting robotic foes on the galactic frontier evokes games like Destiny. Partner AI holds its own in firefights on higher difficulties.

Space combat is equally strong thanks to responsive controls and tactical options. You can target enemy systems to disable shields and weapons, then board and seize disabled ships. Customizing weapons and implementing combat strategies is rewarding. After many vapid video game shootouts, Starfield’s punishing combat encounters offer welcome substance.

Base Building Provides Long-Term Goals

Constructing bases provides rewarding long-term goals. You first scout for sites rich in resources. After building essential infrastructure like power generators, you can add laboratories, gardens, training facilities and more. Staffing bases with recruited specialists unlocks crafting options and revenue streams.

The base building isn’t as intricate as games like Fallout 4, but adds tangible progression. Building thriving colonies on hostile planets satisfies. Bases can be linked into networks that share resources, allowing complex settlements. Carving out civilization on the space frontier proves compelling.

The writing and Quest Design Need Work

Unfortunately, lackluster writing undermines Starfield’s grand vision. From lifeless protagonist dialogue to generic mission briefings, the writing lacks distinct flavor. Few characters exhibit memorable personality beyond RPG archetypes like grizzled veterans or naïve scientists. There are glimmers of depth, but most scripting remains mediocre.

Quest design follows predictable templates like exploring abandoned facilities or clearing monster nests. Fetch quests involving excessive backtracking particularly stand out as repetitive padding. The worlds you explore brim with environmental storytelling, but actual narratives and quests disappoint.

Technical Shortcomings Hamper the Experience

Starfield’s vast scale impresses, yet its unpolished technical state often distracts on both PC and console. Visuals range from stunning vistas to primitive character models and textures. The Creation Engine 2 struggles with cutscenes exhibiting distracting visual issues. Frame rate suffers in dense areas despite the muted NPC population density.

The user interface for inventory management and equipping gear feels outdated and cluttered. Navigating cumbersome menus becomes a chore. Starfield simply doesn’t feel as technically refined as a modern AAA release should. The magnitude of its systems obscures the creaky infrastructure supporting them.

Bugs and Crashes Persist

While not as rampant as Bethesda’s infamous “jank,” noticeable bugs still permeate Starfield. Quest markers point to incorrect destinations, scripted events fail to trigger, and NPCs get visibly stuck in the environment. Such glitches break immersion during the lengthy playtime.

Perhaps worse, significant crashes still occur on all platforms. Saving frequently remains mandatory to avoid losing substantial progress. Bethesda’s track record is marred by releasing games riddled with technical problems, and Starfield indicates this trend persists even after lengthy delays.

Balancing old and New School Design

Starfield exhibits precarious balance between Bethesda’s old school RPG sensibilities and modern conventions. Fans appreciate the developer maintaining signature elements like physical looting and player freedom. But dated aspects like the poor UI and unavoidable bugs seem increasingly unacceptable in modern games.

Starfield doesn’t necessarily need to chase trends, but certain evolutions could reduce frustrations for new players expecting 2022 polish. Bethesda’s steadfast RPG purity shows its age given standards today’s audiences may expect following franchises like Skyrim.

Verdict: Promising but Unfinished

There’s an undeniable majesty seeing a small team of developers like Hello Games evolve No Man’s Sky from disaster to redemption. But when legendary RPG experts Bethesda release their vision for a seamless sci-fi sandbox after decades of development, expectations justifiably tower.

Starfield contains glimmers of brilliance amidst its sprawling scope, particularly in the freedom it offers players. But too many lackluster elements like its writing, quest design and technical execution indicate a game that simply wasn’t ready. Had Starfield released in a more polished state, it may have been phenomenal.

This isn’t a disaster on par with something like Cyberpunk 2077 – Starfield is absolutely playable and capable of engrossing hours. But it’s impossible not to consider how much higher it could have soared with more development time. What should have been Bethesda’s magnum opus instead feels like a launch pad for future potential.

Like No Man’s Sky before it, Starfield lays exciting foundations that could blossom into something wonderful – but only if Bethesda puts in the work. For now, it’s an audaciously ambitious yet muddled first step into a new frontier that needs refinements before realizing its immense potential. But the core of a tremendous game awaits under the rough edges.

The Highs and Lows of Starfield

What Starfield does well:

• Massive scope allowing freedom to forge your path
• Excellent spaceship customization mechanics
• Flexible character progression systems
• Strong first-person combat, both on foot and in a ship
• Base building provides compelling long-term goals
• Crafting system encourages organic skill progression
• Some spectacular visual set pieces

Where Starfield falters:

• Technical issues including crashes and visual bugs
• Stiff writing and generic quest designs
• Unpolished user interface and menus
• Repetitive mission templates become tedious
• Dated aspects feel regressive by modern standards
• Doesn’t fully deliver the cohesion and polish expected from a AAA release

The Road Ahead for Starfield

If Bethesda follows the blueprint of No Man’s Sky and other games that launched in rough shape before redeeming themselves, Starfield could still realize its potential. Here are some steps Bethesda should take:

• Deliver extensive bug fixing and stability patches
• Refine clunky interfaces and menus
• Add more variety to mission structures to reduce repetition
• Implement quality-of-life improvements that modernize mechanics
• Produce meaty expansions that add new star systems and quest lines
• Leverage the vibrant mod support community to enhance content

With care and diligence improving its rough edges, Starfield could go down as an all-time classic RPG. But only time will tell if Bethesda puts in the work needed to polish this diamond in the rough. Have you played Starfield? Share your thoughts on Bethesda’s long-awaited sci-fi saga in the comments below! Are you excited for gta6?