Starfield: Deeply Flawed But Fantastic

Starfield is a highly detailed and immersive game with impressive graphics and extensive side missions, offering a content-rich experience. However, it has flaws such as outdated game mechanics, repetitive main quests, cumbersome UI, and simplistic spaceship combat, which may disappoint players seeking a more polished and innovative gaming experience.

Starfield is a game that evokes mixed emotions in players. While it possesses incredible detail and nuance, it also has significant flaws. The game offers an abundance of content, but lacks fundamental gameplay elements. The graphics and world design are highly impressive, with intricate details and a nostalgic retro-futuristic aesthetic. However, the game’s engine feels outdated, resulting in frequent and frustrating loading screens reminiscent of older console games.

The side missions in Starfield are a standout feature, providing rewarding and diverse gameplay experiences. These missions offer variety and depth, allowing players to obtain valuable upgrades and immerse themselves in exciting adventures. On the other hand, the main quest line can feel repetitive and burdened with dull dialogue. The conversations often lack engaging writing and characters tend to divulge personal information at awkward times. This is likely due to the game’s open-ended nature, where players can bring different companions along and experience varying dialogue options.

One of the highlights of Starfield is the extensive loot and treasure hunting. Players can customize and upgrade a wide array of weapons, and there are numerous crafting and modding options available. However, the game’s UI is cumbersome, making it difficult to manage inventory and transfers. Additionally, Starfield lacks adequate onboarding, leaving players to rely on Reddit threads and YouTube videos to learn basic gameplay mechanics. Traveling between systems and planets is handled through a menu system, and this detracts from the sense of scale and journey that is expected in open-world games.

The spaceship building and flying feature of Starfield offers considerable freedom and customization options. However, the spaceship combat itself is disappointingly basic, reducing the overall enjoyment of this aspect of the game. Starfield is primarily an RPG with space elements, rather than a true space simulation game. Players looking for a realistic space experience may be disappointed. Despite its flaws, Starfield has garnered significant popularity and sales, offering a content-rich experience with depth and immersion. Overall, the game may appeal to RPG enthusiasts but could be off-putting for those seeking a more polished and innovative gaming experience.