I’ve been playing Starfield practically non-stop since the early release on September 1st. After 200 hours, I feel like I’ve seen most of what Starfield offers, so it’s probably time for a review.
Here’s the short version: I love it.
Preparing for Launch
Let’s start with some assumptions and expectations I had going into the game:
First off, this is a Bethesda RPG. While Starfield is a new IP with its own style, there are definitely parts that feel like The Elder Scrolls or Fallout. Like those other games, there’s a big open world, plenty of places to explore, people to talk to, quests to complete. For me, those are all selling points. I also expected to spend most of the game over-encumbered.
The game Starfield keeps getting compared to is No Man’s Sky. I also love No Man’s Sky, but there are some valid criticisms that apply to both games. Those criticisms generally boil down to: space is big and boring. But if you find the journey itself exciting, then you’ll enjoy this type of game.
The live action teaser for Starfield did a great job of setting up my expectations: this is a game about exploration and discovery. If you’re expecting high action and excitement at every turn, this is not your game.
Into The Starfield
While I tried to keep my hope and excitement to a minimum before release, I found it difficult. I pre-ordered the premium edition so I could start playing early. I had the entire week off (by coincidence – I had to use up some vacation time), so I was ready to dig in. And what I got largely met my expectations.
Starfield drops you into the story right away, and like all Bethesda RPGs, you’re left to your own devices after a few short objectives. After arriving at the Lodge and officially joining Constellation, I explored New Atlantis and ended up joining the Vanguard, which was the first major questline that I spent time completing. I highly recommend joining the Vanguard early, as there’s a museum of sorts that details the background of the game (though biased from the United Colony’s perspective).
Breaking Ground
After spending some time in the Vanguard questline, I decided to work on building an outpost. I spent several hours exploring a few planets for a good area to start in, and eventually settled on an area with a decent mix of starting resources; I didn’t find exactly what I wanted, but I had spent hours trying to find a good spot and decided it was time to move on. The initial outpost building is pretty basic; I’ve only recently unlocked the skills needed to start expanding on my outposts, so it’ll be some time before I’ve learned what’s possible. For now, it’s at least handy to gather some of the rarer resources.
The time I spent exploring wasn’t wasted, however. The generated surfaces in Starfield vary from barren to lush, with various landmarks scattered around. Sometimes this makes planets appear overly populated, with abandoned outposts scattered around every planet and moon you land on. However, these landmarks provide a little fun while exploring random areas – you get the chance to fight off pirates, scour abandoned bases, or find unique planetary features. (You also get a little XP for every one you find.)
Grand Theft Spaceship
While exploring one area, I saw a ship land in the distance and approached to find a group of colonists. Out of curiosity, I approached the landing bay of their ship, picked the lock, then headed to the bridge and took off. I immediately felt guilty and reloaded, but I had a new goal: find a ship full of baddies and take it.
After another hour or two of exploring, a Va’ruun Zealot ship landed nearby; after killing the landing party, picking the lock on the landing bay, and fighting my way to the bridge, I had a fancy new ship to fly. I spent some time sprucing it up and giving it a new paint job, and this became my ship for the majority of the game. (I spent hundreds of thousands of credits on it, upgrading and customizing it as I leveled.)
I’ve boarded and taken several other ships this way, sometimes with the pilot taking off after I’ve boarded. One time, I boarded a ship, the pilot launched, and the ship was destroyed in space by security forces and I instantly died. I was amazed that whole sequence was even possible.
Finding a new ship relatively early is important in Starfield. The Frontier, while being a decent starter ship, is terrible at everything: it can’t carry much cargo, it’s weapons aren’t very good, and it has a starter grav drive and fuel tank. Luckily, there are several questlines that award ships. (Though by the time I got those rewards, I had already upgraded my stolen ship into exactly what I wanted.)
All Systems Go
Speaking of picking locks, I think some of the minigames in Starfield are the best they’ve ever been. The lockpicking minigame is more of a puzzle, where you’re given a set of picks and have to line them up with the gaps in the lock. The persuasion minigame gives you a set of statements you can make to the target to influence them, and you only succeed if you accumulate enough “points” with your statements. Other social skills can factor into the statements you have available, like you can use your “Manipulation” skills for easy points. It’s far better than the simple numeric checks in past games.
All Aboard
Aside from all the systems, the gameplay, and the quests, there are a lot of characters in Starfield that you interact with. I was enamored with the Constellation group and their joy of exploration. It’s one of the major reasons I love Starfield: it’s not always about action and excitement; sometimes it’s about the simple joy of discovery. This was true of No Man’s Sky, but in Starfield, you’ve got a crew with you that’s just as excited about it as you are.
My personal favorite member of Constellation is Vladimir Sall, who spends his time stargazing from The Eye. His piratey turns of phrase make me smile every time I hear them (even after hearing them over and over).
There are also plenty of random encounters throughout the game that are a joy to experience, from a pilot who sings sea shanties over comms to the Starfield equivalent of robocalls.
I’m also lucky enough to have my name be one that Vasco can greet, so I get to hear “Captain Shawn” occasionally as I return to my ship.
And since I’m a giant nerd, I love that several actors in the voice cast are from Star Trek. Armin Shimerman (Quark from DS9) as Water Stroud is great, but I especially love that Nana Visitor (Kira from DS9) and Tim Russ (Tuvok from Voyager) are my mom and dad.
Space Bugs
There was a lot of talk of Starfield being Bethesda’s “most stable” and “most bug-free” game, and I can only think of a handful of bugs I’ve encountered in my entire time with the game. Maybe I’m just lucky, but aside from the odd physics hilarity (like bodies launching into the air), I haven’t experienced many problems. The one annoying bug I’m encountering now is an elevator in The Well in New Atlantis that has stopped working for me.
There are a handful of skill rank objectives that are poorly worded or misguiding, but once you figure out exactly what you need to do (or look it up online), they’re relatively easy to understand.
I think my only other complaint is with shipbuilding. I love how well it works, but I wish I had control over where doors were connected. While I love my ships, I hate that I have to design them a certain way to keep them navigable. If I try to add walkways to make things easily accessible, the game turns my ship into a maze of corridors.
Summary
Overall, I’ve been really happy with Starfield. Sure, there are some annoyances and minor bugs. But overall, it’s a great game. The main questlines are a lot of fun with some great stories. Some of the random side quests feel like they’re straight out of an episode of Star Trek. I can role play as Malcolm Reynolds or become a pirate.
There are really only a few things that I’d really like to see added to the game, and most of those things are ship parts: I’d like to see components that give us stairs to move between levels and ways to better control my internal ship layout. I also wish the player housing had something to make it worthwhile (like unlimited storage), and I wish I could fast-travel directly to my homes.
I also wish there was some way to re-spec my character. The end of the main questline lets you essentially “reset” the game and play again, but there doesn’t appear to be any way to change your character background. I wish there was a way to change my background and traits just to get access to some of the different dialog options.
But all my issues are relatively minor, so I’m hoping to see things expanded in patches and DLC. I’m excited to see how Starfield grows with both official and unofficial content, and if it’s anything like Skyrim, Starfield should have a long life ahead of it.
