Starfield is a stellar sci-fi refresh of the Bethesda RPG formula

31.08.2023 - 16:25 / theverge.com

Even as someone who loves the Fallout games, I must admit that spending dozens of hours in an irradiated wasteland full of ghouls and raiders can be a little, well, depressing. It’s not the kind of world that evokes a sense of adventure. That’s what made the potential of Starfield so exciting: here was Bethesda applying its formula for open-world RPGs to a giant universe with planets to discover and cosmic mysteries to unearth. It’s basically the Elder Scrolls by way of Hello Games; call it No Man’s Skyrim.

In a lot of ways, Starfield lives up to that potential. It is indeed huge, and its main storyline is all about the thrill of adventure and discovery. I found myself pushing through the farthest reaches of space, going to strange, dangerous new places on a quest to seek out the origins of the universe and humanity’s place within it. It’s also a game that sticks fairly closely to the blueprint Bethesda has laid down for its role-playing experiences. Your quest might be much grander in scale, but what you’re doing on a moment-to-moment basis hasn’t changed all that much. This is also the most polished and solid release yet from Bethesda on a technical level.

Starfield starts out humble enough. You are a miner on a dusty planet who accidentally digs up a strange, potentially alien, artifact. For some reason, it speaks to you on a metaphysical level, and your character goes through an out-of-body experience that feels a lot like the trippier moments in 2001: A Space Odyssey. This discovery ultimately leads you to a group known as Constellation, a ragtag team of explorers — there’s everyone from a quiet theologian to a cowboy from a prominent family to a business magnate who funds the whole endeavor — intent on uncovering the mysteries of the universe.

Constellation is like something Jules Verne would come up with if tasked with writing an episode of Star Trek. It also makes for the perfect jumping-off point for a story about discovery and exploration. The group doesn’t understand anything about the artifacts, only that they’re probably important, and so the rest of Starfield is essentially dedicated to finding more of them to figure out just what they are.

While the tone and scale of Starfield differ from past Bethesda games, the core gameplay is very similar. It’s an RPG crossed with a shooter, where you can build out a character using a variety of traits and skills. Often, this can impact how you approach missions; sometimes, you can talk your way into getting what you want, and other times, you’ll need to fight.

I focused a lot on my social skills because, much like Fallout before it, Starfield isn’t the most adept shooter. It may look like one, with a huge range of weapons to collect and the ability