A game of contradictions
★★★
Introduction
In 2012, if you had asked me who my favorite game developer was I would have enthusiastically and unequivocally said “Bethesda.” This was largely due to the 2011 release of the uber-successful The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. You see, in 2011 I was just entering high school at the age of 14. With teenage years came a pivotal transformative time. I had grown up a typical nerd in every sense. As a young boy with often crippling asthma which had taken me near death’s door twice, school athletics were never really my thing. Instead I tended to retreat into superhero cartoons, computer programs, and of course video games. I played some great titles to spark my childhood fascination with games starting out with Spyro: The Dragon on PSOne, followed up by Pokemon: Red which I played on my backwards compatible Gameboy Advance SP. However, my small size and nerdy hobbies, along with my ADHD getting loud and out of control, led to me being bullied frequently. As I grew older I attempted to hide these hobbies of mine, hobbies which had been with me since I can remember having consciousness, in favor of being able to “fit-in.” I gave away all of my Pokemon cards, started playing games less and less, started caring more about watching ESPN all day rather than keeping up with the latest video game titles. I was changing as a person but something never felt quite right about leaving all of those things behind.
When 2011 came around the only games I had really played were Call of Duty titles because, well, what 14 year old didn’t? However, I made a friend earlier that year, a friend whom I still talk with to this day. We sat together in the back of the classroom during first period and often talked about some of the more nerdy things I was scared to talk about with anyone else lest I get bullied again. When November came by, the main game on my radar was, of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 which was to release on the 8th. I told this friend about it and asked if they were going to play it. The response was a resounding NO. They were going to wait and ask their dad to buy a different game releasing 3 days later, a little game called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
After much convincing and reading through a GameInformer magazine that covered the game prior to release, I convinced my grandmother (affectionately called Nene) to get it for me. I was immediately hooked. I cannot recall a time in my entire life prior to this moment where I had legitimately taken a game home, began playing it, and before I knew it I saw the sun, not setting, but rising as a new day dawned unbeknownst to me who thought only a few hours has gone by at most. This moment was defining. This one game, which I have now put hundreds, maybe even a thousand or more hours into, changed my life. From then on, I began talking to this friend about new games, listening to them on what looked good and what I should keep an eye on. 12-years later and gaming has now become my number one hobby and pass-time. That being said I hope it comes clear that the contents of this review come from the heart and from someone who literally would not even be writing this review at all, had it not been for Bethesda Game Studios.
It is no secret that Bethesda Game Studios has been in a bit of a rough patch in recent years. For most, the disastrous release of Fallout: 76 was the most catastrophic and obvious of their recent blunders. Not only had the game released in a horrid, bug-filled, empty mess but even external variables hindered the release such as a recall on the collector’s items. The countless re-releases of the aforementioned Skyrim has also garnered unrivaled notoriety and meme-material. My personal frustration with modern Bethesda Game Studios goes as far back as 2015 with the release of Fallout 4. Not a bad game by any means, and clearly a massively successful one at that receiving great review scores and sales numbers. For me personally though, it was a step-back. It was a step in the direction of broader appeal and more simplistic systems than their previous titles. No more weapon endurance as had been a staple of the Fallout franchise up to this point. A dialogue system which left a lot of variety on the table, favoring a more streamlined approach. A fully-voice acted character which took away from some of the role-playing elements. And, a brand new system, built from the ground up, to revolutionize how you play Bethesda games, settlement building. All of these culminate in an experience that, while not terrible, left me with the feeling that Bethesda was stepping in a direction I was not on board with.
A Universe of Ambition
Much like Skyrim was a defining game for my life, Starfield is a defining game for Bethesda Game Studios. Not only is this their first game being released since Microsoft bought the studio, but it also is a brand new IP, the first in decades. It is a chance for Microsoft to find a tentpole franchise, a truly next-gen experience which will bring gamers all over flocking to Xbox. It is a chance for Bethesda to right the wrongs of the past and deliver a game which can spawn a massive franchise and fan-base. For me, it was a chance for Bethesda to win me over. To show me they still got it. Based upon sales numbers, it seems Microsoft could very well be pleased with the result. Critics see the results as a bit more mixed. Personally, I am unfortunately disappointed with the end product.
Starfield is an extremely ambitious game, perhaps the most ambitious that Todd Howard and the folks at Bethesda have ever undertaken. This is a grand space adventure with over 1000 planets to see and explore, space to fly around in, people to meet, loot to grab, and quests to complete. It was pitched as an entire universe to explore where you can land at any point on any planet and explore dozens of locations and see countless sights. This is a game that could potentially become a thousand hour experience if done right and an endless one if done perfectly, especially with mod support. There are also a number of systems to back this all up. A remarkably fun and engaging combat system where guns feel heavy, have real kick back, and respond well to the trigger. A level up system that, while having some odd quirks--the inability to realistically stealth or use melee power attacks until investing a skill point stand out--still adds a level of depth and specialty to your roleplaying builds. There are backgrounds that can affect dialogue choices. Relationships to build with other characters, perhaps even climaxing into full romance. There is even an in-depth ship building system that, I must admit, I spent hours in trying to create the sickest ship I could. Meshing it all together and you could perhaps have what has been noted as “Skyrim in space.” A truly grand and almost infinite adventure traversing the stars, exploring planets, uncovering the universe’s secrets, and having an incredible time.
The magical thing about Skyrim, and for that matter all of Bethesda’s RPGs up to this point, has never been the scale. That isn’t what makes them truly special. It’s scale mixed with density. These games are often paired with the saying, “if you see a mountain in the distance you can go to it,” as if that is the driving factor. I would argue it is not. The goal in those moments is not the mountain itself, rather the things that happen along the road. The random people, enemies, and dungeons you find along the way which make the world feel alive, feel active, and spin you chasing off into a hundred other directions before 5 hours later you forgot where you were going in the first place. This is a key defining factor of Bethesda games and what truly makes them special. When you are heading to a quest location or to some landmark you thought looked interesting, you constantly find other things along the road which distract you. This key magic present in all of Bethesda’s other ambitious RPG titles is lacking here in Starfield.
Starfield has massive locations to be sure. The cities of New Atlantis, Neon, and Akila are all large hubs which you can spend dozens of hours exploring, talking to people, and taking on quests. But their previous games had these too. I immediately think of the famous Whiterun where, though not as big in size as New Atlantis, certainly can take up dozens of hours as you run to and fro, talking to NPCs, collecting quests, delving into the frozen tundra of Skyrim to complete quests, and then returning. This is the key, you must dive into the world immediately surrounding Whiterun in order to complete many of these quests, which in turn leads you to some random place or random NPC that spirals you off into another questline. By contrast, any quest in Starfield which takes you off world lacks the same experience. Instead, planets are more like set dressings for the central location that Bethesda crafted for it. Take New Atlantis as an example. The planet it sits on is called Jemison. There is indeed an entire planet to explore surrounding New Atlantis itself, you can see it from inside the city and can even jump over the city’s buildings to explore it if you wish. But rarely, if ever, do interesting quests actually ask you to go explore out there. Instead, those spots are there if you want them, but there is no guiding force taking you in those directions.
Say you took the explorer idea to heart and said “forget it! I don’t need a quest to take me to a new place, I’ll do it myself!” Great! The problem is nothing happens until you reach that destination. The distance between points of interest on a planet are massive, sometimes being up to 1500 meters away or more. This wouldn’t be a problem if there were interesting events occurring or interesting places to go for a pit-stop along the way, but there are not. In most cases, it is all empty. Some rocks to scan and mine here, a plant to scan and harvest there, an animal to scan yonder. When you finally reach that destination, there is a high likelihood that it is a copy/paste of a location you have already seen a dozen times before. In my time with Starfield attempting to explore planets, I found the same exact Abandoned UC Research Facility at least a dozen times. The same layout, colors, enemy locations, loot spots, the works. You can imagine the disappointment when I found a new point of interest, ran all the way there, just to find that there was nothing interesting about it. This is the unmistakable magic that elevates the likes of Skyrim or Fallout 3 and detracts from a Starfield.
There is plenty to do. Let there be no misconception. When you are in the big cities or even a decently sized space station in orbit, there are plenty of people to talk to and quests to collect. The way in which the game is set up though, these quests feel less like exploring a universe of my own volition and more like fast-traveling to designated waypoints with planets surrounding them as set dressing. Fast-travel itself takes center stage in Starfield. You simply cannot play this game without fast-travel. Though it is not recommended nor do I think it the best way to play, you can, for all intents and purposes, play almost the entirety of Fallout or Elder Scrolls without fast traveling at all. Everything is connected on the one giant map meaning everything is within walking distance. This simply is not the case in Starfield. Planets are separated by fast travel and loading screens. This is a reality you have to accept in order to find enjoyment in this game.
The Illusion of "Space"
“Space” exploration, meaning truly flying in the stars and exploring the wide cosmos, is severely limited. There are no seamless transitions from flying into a planet from space or vice versa, it is all handled by loading screens and cutscenes. This is not necessarily a deal breaker for me as long as space itself feels vast and worth that process. Unfortunately, this is another key flaw in Starfield. Much like how planets seem to be glorified procedurally generated set dressings for the main location Bethesda wants you to explore, space feels equally like set dressing for specific events and encounters. When launched into space you can essentially fly around in this little box in the orbit of whatever planet/moon you are currently at. You can meet friendly ships passing by, trade with merchants, be attacked by pirates, find a derelict ship which starts a questline, and many other encounters which feel very much like that classic Bethesda magic. The problem is that it is confined to this little box. “Space” in Starfield is not a massive, flyable, open area where you can fly from one planet to the next before entering a loading screen to drop down. Instead, it is legitimately a little box you can fly around in that may have an event or may not. If it does not, then there is virtually no reason to fly around in it. Once this realization struck me, I began to see the game for what it is.
Starfield is not a traditional Bethesda RPG. It has elements of them, true, but it does not capture the same feel nor does it control the same way as a Skyrim or Fallout. It is much more like a space “hopping” adventure than a space “exploring” adventure. You hop from planet to planet, explore the main location that Bethesda has designated for that planet, then hop out and go to the next thing. This was how I ended up playing the game. Exploring random planets in every solar system I came across simply led to disappointment and boredom as I constantly ran from map marker to map marker with nothing really happening in between just did not spark interest or inspiration in me.
Todd Howard once said that Starfield is a game where they wanted some people to be able to just finish the main story and factions and call it a day while also being a game where someone can just chill out somewhere, pick some flowers, and vibe. In discussions with friends and voices online, I have found this is becoming a strict divide. Those who are really into just the “vibe” and enjoy the feeling of being in empty space, contemplating the universe from the comfort of their outpost on a random planet out in the big wide cosmos will find a lot here. Those who want a grand space adventure with cool concepts, a good story, interesting locations, and solid gameplay can also find that here if they mainline the story and factions. Those looking for the authentic Bethesda experience they remember from days past? You may be out of luck.
The End of Infinity
Starfield is a contradiction of itself. It is a game that builds its entire premise and storyline on the idea of exploration. Literally the entire theme of this game is curiosity and how far that can take humanity as a whole. It is a game that opens an entire universe for me to explore, and yet doesn’t give me much to see in 90% of it. The core elements of a Bethesda game are here, but too many elements of a completely different kind of game are also here. Is it trying to be No Man’s Sky? Or Outer Wilds? Is it Skyrim in space? Or a larger scale version of Mass Effect? There is no easy direct comparison for Starfield because Starfield truly is its own thing. It attempts to meld together aspects from all of those games and mash them into one gigantic, expansive space adventure. Unfortunately, that left me with a bit too little to latch onto long-term. After 100 hours of “golden pathing” the main quest and factions, I feel like my time with the infinite expanse of the starfield has come to an end. Though I am glad with the time I spent in it, I cannot see myself returning to for years like I have with Bethesda’s previous titles. And that’s a darned shame.