Ah, Starfield. The long-awaited space epic by Bethesda Game Studios. The hype train for this game was massive, the marketing relentless. A game that launched with immense praise, raised controversy from clout-chasers who falsely claimed it's woke, then it took a dive in ratings from review bombing (much of which seems AI-written). Very few of these ratings offer any sort of actual information for prospective buyers, however, so... should you buy Starfield? First, start by asking yourself: what am I looking for in a space game?


Let's start by clarifying what Starfield is and isn't.

Starfield is:
- A realistic and believable sandbox space RPG set in a plausible future of humanity
- A game heavily inspired by the NASA golden age, back when kids grew up with dreams of being astronauts and going to the moon rather than dreams of being space Chuck Norris
- A sandbox action RPG where the goal is to do whatever you feel like doing
- A space game where the exploration occurs both on dead, rocky moons and terrestrial planets with flora and fauna
- A Bethesda game through and through

Starfield is not:
- No Man's Sky, Mass Effect, or any other space franchise
- A survival sandbox
- A choice-driven narrative RPG with branching dialog
- An FPS
- A space game where every world is inhabited by interesting alien creatures and sentient societies

Don't go into this game expecting to romance aliens and fend off an extragalactic invasion. Don't expect Jedi, militant space police or huge space battles. Instead, go into this game with the mindset of being a kid during the Space Race during the Cold War. Imagine how you would have dreamed up all these fantastical scenarios of exploring space. That is what Starfield is. It strives to be a believable and natural evolution of the dream of kids growing up during the golden age of NASA. It's not sci-fi in the sense of what people imagine when they hear that term today. It's old school sci-fi, from before the age of Star Wars, back when even Star Trek was still grounded in plausible reality.


That being said, you'd be wrong to assume that this means the game is empty and soulless. Contrary to what the detractors say, Starfield has several lengthy questlines, countless side quests, companion storylines and random, unmarked activities galore. Even now, I still feel overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stories I have yet to uncover... 170 hours on one character and I haven't even finished the main quest; my quest journal is still packed to the brim.

Every quest I've played has been interesting and fun. Some are far better than others, however. The game's main quest has some particularly awesome cinematic moments such as a pulse-pounding escape sequence, space battles with a mysterious enemy and so forth. The faction questlines are like shorter RPG campaigns in and of themselves, with varied gameplay from each. For the UC Vanguard, it's an action-driven story. With the Freestar Collective, you essentially become a space cowboy trying to bring law and order to the frontier. With Ryujin Industries, you take on missions of corporate espionage and in the Crimson Fleet, you experience life as a space pirate (or as a double agent, depending on how you approach the quest).

Furthermore, the companion storylines are all very interesting, they all feel a lot more "human" than previous Bethesda companions. Even the procedural stuff feels good, from the terminal missions, bounty missions, or randomized quests you pick up on a completely barren, rocky moon. Sure, the procedural stuff isn't going to be even remotely close to the fun of hand-written quests but it's a means of earning some creds to invest into your ship, gear or homestead.


Possibly my favorite aspect of this entire game is how believable it is. I'm not just talking about mechanical lore based off of real-world physics, here (though the game has that too). I'm referring to how the game "world" feels thoroughly like a futuristic extension of our existing society. From the rugged ship aesthetics inspired by NASA designs to the fact that you'll encounter museums, office spaces, beachside resorts, mid-city green spaces; even smaller details like Starware OS and the various ship manufacturing companies. Every ounce of the game's world design is fully believable. I always considered Mass Effect to be the king in believability as a theoretical spacefaring future but Starfield blows it out of the water in that regard.

I guess I could say the world design is very grounded. That makes it absurdly easy to suspend disbelief and become immersed, moreso than any other space game I've played (and believe me, I've played a lot of 'em).


The game gets criticized for how many planets are simply barren, lifeless rocks but I don't know... if you've ever been enthralled by the idea of what's out there in the limitless expanse, you'll find it's just as enjoyable to explore the lifeless rocks as to explore worlds full of life and interesting areas.

Often, you'll even run across unexpected locales, such as civilian outposts, pirate hideouts, abandoned science facilities and more. The sense of mystery does, admittedly, wear off after you've seen the general archetypes of these locations but it's a nice bit of variety in between the more exciting story moments.

And honestly, this game's visuals are gorgeous. Sure, it doesn't have path tracing with the pinnacle of all graphical tech, but the textures are crisp, the lighting beautiful, and let me tell you: nothing is quite like finding a planet set in the rings of a gas giant, or cresting a mountain to encounter a massive valley bathed in the light of a golden sunset. This game delivers on the visuals in droves.


The elephant in the room with this, and other Bethesda games, is the issue of bugs. It's true that Starfield has its fair share of them but to my astonishment, as a Bethesda fan since Morrowind, the drastic reduction of bugs absolutely floored me. Plus, most of them are comical bugs, ones that don't break your game even if they might break your immersion.

That said, I will say that the performance is disappointing. Is it playable? Absolutely, but it's poorly optimized. It's better now but still far from perfect.

It also isn't a perfect experience overall. While Bethesda did some massive wonders with refining the various elements of gameplay present in their games (especially in regards to the shooting and movement), there's still some jank. For example, planet surveying would be a lot more enjoyable if we had access to some sort of land vehicles.


To sum things up, let's drop the pretentious console war nonsense and the improper expectations and be honest here: this game is a wonder. It did so many things right. Is it a perfect experience? No, but it's absolutely innovative, wholly immersive, massively freeform and incredibly fun.

If you've ever even slightly fantasized about living in a spacefaring age, you owe it to yourself to play this. Just come in with the right expectations (you know, the ones Bethesda alluded to in their marketing which people ignored?) and you'll be thoroughly fixated on this game for well over the amount of time needed to make it worth your money. Don't let the faux outrage & negativity shoo you away. Outside of the people who benefit from the clicks/views, as well as the haters who can't ever be satisfied, Starfield has been very well-received, both commercially and critically, and it's setting an awesome foundation for us Bethesda fans for many decades to come!