Cost-saving version:
- Jaw-dropping scale
- Bethesda's best shootout
- Sophisticated voice system
- Bethesda's best technology
- Xbox Series X underperforms
Few games have such an overwhelming nature. Starfield feels like the moment you first come out of Vault 101 in Fallout 3, and it's stunning. The game is full of intoxicating sense of wonder, adventure and variation that has never disappeared in our 100+ hours of play.
While Starfield doesn't have truly revolutionary innovative content, everything it does is done so well and on such a scale that after we started playing, we started playing it every morning and thought about it every night, even dreaming about it.
Synopsis of the game "Starfield"
You start working as a miner on a remote planet, working for a faceless company. Your mission is to unearth a strange artifact found on Earth. After touching an item, you will experience a strange feeling, as if you are one with the universe. After this, a secret organization dedicated to exploring the wider galaxy and discovering these artifacts will come to you.
The main quests of the game revolve around this organization and these strange artifacts, and its design is very obvious, enhancing the experience of exploring the universe through multiple lengthy faction-related quests, stacked side quests, and ultimate quests.
Players can land on almost any planet. When first reaching the ground, it is impossible not to recall No Man's Sky (landing on the planet itself is an anime, not player-controlled). There is a large number of flora and fauna here, and there are almost no repetitions of the same type of organism.
These planets rarely have so much practical to do other than scanning the environment and gathering resources, but you can still spot some exciting side quests or unexpected things that we still feel compelled to land on every planet we find, and as with No Man's Sky, the act of exploration often feels like a positive feedback.
Starfield's main quest is full of truly amazing moments, and the quest pacing is familiar to those who love The Elder Scrolls 5 and Fallout 4. The main quest is arguably the strongest Bethesda has ever had, and the moment it comes to solving the core mystery is enough to shock everyone.
STARRY SKY ON XBOX SERIES X
While most of our 100 hours on the game were on the PC version, running impeccably, it's worth mentioning that we also spent a lot of time on the Xbox Series X version. The disadvantage of the Series X version was previously known, namely that it could only run to 30fps. Unfortunately this is not the only drawback, XSX versions have more bugs than PC during our gameplay, and loading times are sometimes long.
Changes to the various game systems of Starfield
Starfield gives players a lot of companions to fill your ship with crew. Every time we walk around the cabin, Mass Effect comes to mind. There is no karma system to evaluate whether individuals are good or bad, but you will be judged by your companions, who will also burst into dialogue and even unlock new options, depending on who you bring.
Speaking of dialogs, Bethesda has made some significant changes to the dialogs system. The success of the conversation no longer depends on numbers, but instead a mini-game where you have a certain number of opportunities to choose the right tone of response based on your progress so far. For example, if the other person is a little cowardly, you can choose a threatening option to solve it.
For the most part, we like that, but when you fail in a conversation, you sometimes don't know what the reason for the failure is, and the new system is certainly better than the old one, but it lacks the talent for dialogue like Baldur's Gate 3.
In Bethesda games, Starfield combat has never felt so good. The experience of the combat system is excellent, the shooting feel is even better, the variety of weapons is huge, and the options for further customizing them are simply astounding.
But what shocked us the most was the very few bugs in the game. In the long 40-hour experience, we only met once: a character turned to talk to us, his entire lower body missing, and only a floating head remained. Of course, the game can still be played normally, and I have to say that the completion of "Starfield" is very high.
summary
Starfield is a great game that continues Bethesda's legacy of excellent RPGs while introducing mechanics and systems that many players can easily overlook. Because of the early launch of the review experience, I believe that many game media are just playing a game of swallowing dates, so that many people will complete the main quest without seeing a few big factions.
But know that Starfield is a game that players will continue to play for years to come, even if there will be a unique "New Game+" mode to choose from after completing the level, it is rich in content, rare in modern games, and this is exactly the experience that people who have been hoarding different versions of The Elder Scrolls 5 for years want. It doesn't really reinvent the wheel with its mechanics, but it does almost everything it does, it does well, and it's a truly engaging experience.