Starfield – TSG Review

👾 Overview:

Starfield is Bethesda’s long-anticipated return to single-player RPGs, launching players into a vast sci-fi universe filled with promise, ambition, and unfortunately, surface-level execution. With over 100 hours spent across two full playthroughs and deep exploration of every major faction, companion questline, and system, I can say with confidence: this game is a mile wide and an inch deep.

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🌌 Gameplay & Mechanics

The core loop revolves around combat, exploration, and narrative questing. While it flirts with light survival mechanics (like optional food/drink buffs), there’s no true survival tension. Controls are mostly responsive, but the land vehicle is notably frustrating to handle.

Progression through skill trees and gear upgrades feels familiar and mostly linear. NG+ offers a multiverse twist, but fails to refresh the gameplay. Powers are underwhelming. Ship and base building sound great on paper but lack practical payoff, especially with better prebuilt ships available.

No standout mechanics elevate the genre. Power acquisition becomes a repetitive grind. Bounty hunter ambushes are a great idea executed poorly. Temples, filler missions, and UI tedium sap momentum.

Bottom line: There are systems, but few are meaningful. Most are explained poorly, underbaked, or reused excessively.

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🚀 Fun Factor

Fun is sparse. Exploration occasionally delivers awe, but the magic dies quickly as you realize how often locations are reused. It often feels like a chore. I never truly felt immersed or on the edge of my seat. NG+ allows skipping the story, which speaks volumes.

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📖 Story & Narrative

Humanity has left Earth and is drawn toward mysterious artifacts tied to the Unity. Sounds epic, right? It isn’t. The story is forgettable. I didn’t even realize I had beaten it once until replaying it.

The Starborn twist and the Entangled mission offer flickers of interest but lack lasting impact. Companion arcs are flat, their side quests feel like filler, and romance options feel forced. Outside of a few big decisions (Crimson Fleet, Unity), player choice is shallow.

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🎨 Graphics & Visual Design

Technically, Starfield looks good—textures, lighting, and materials are clean. But it feels like Fallout 4 in space. Environments are overly modular, cookie-cutter, and visually sterile. Ancient ruins look freshly built. Landing pads exist but are never used.

Facial animation and body language often mismatch emotional tone, further breaking immersion.

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⚙️ Performance & Stability

The game runs well overall. No crashes occurred, but scripting bugs, broken quest flags, and frequent load screens hurt pacing. Ship builder, star map, and quest UI lack clarity. Accessibility options are barebones.

Load screens are short but constant. Systems feel functional but rushed in design.

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🎵 Audio & Voice Work

Ambient music fits the tone but fades into the background. No standout tracks. Sound effects are passable. Voice acting is serviceable at best, with awkward delivery and emotionless animations breaking character immersion.

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💳 Monetization & DLC

No microtransactions. Starfield launched as a complete game, but felt like scaffolding for future DLC. The first expansion, Shattered Space, was met with mixed-to-negative reception for its fetch quests, limited content, and lack of systemic improvements.

A second DLC is expected in 2025. Free updates have added features like survival mode and the REV-8 land vehicle—but they don’t redeem the core game’s weaknesses.

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👥 Community & Modding

The game supports mods, and the community has already done heavy lifting to improve it. Bethesda loyalists and lore hunters keep it alive, but the broader audience has largely moved on.

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🪖 Final Verdict

Starfield wants to be a galaxy-spanning epic. But what it delivers is a checklist simulator with too much padding, too little soul, and systems that rarely interconnect in meaningful ways. It may impress on a tech level, but it stumbles everywhere else.

Final Score: 🌟 Worth Waiting for a Sale
Recommended only for Bethesda completionists, lore scavengers, or players willing to mod the game into something better.

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Pros:

• Strong faction quests (Crimson Fleet, UC Vanguard, Ryujin)
• Some standout moments (NASA site, Entangled)
• Expansive galaxy with immersive sci-fi tone

Cons:

• Shallow main story and companion arcs
• Repetitive environments and prefab overload
• Power and NG+ systems are tedious and underdeveloped

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