It may be the season of goodwill but Starfield is not having a good time of it. Bethesda’s space-based RPG launched to a middling reception and its Steam reception was similarly mixed. But now, three months later, it’s dropped to a ‘mostly negative’ rating on Steam. Could there be technical issues dragging it down? No, players just think it’s boring.
Bethesda has big plans for Starfield but right now it’s not looking good for this interplanetary RPG. It was already the lowest rated Bethesda-developed game on Steam, lower than Fallout 76, but things have taken a turn for the worse.
Previously sitting at ‘mixed’, Starfield’s latest review rating is ‘mostly negative’. And whereas Bethesda’s previous games have sometimes run into technical issues, that’s not what’s happening here. Instead, Steam reviews are lambasting the game for being boring.
One calls it “Sterile and safe, built to appeal to the widest possible audience”. “A game that has an excess of nothingness,” another adds. Starfield’s locations also came in for criticism, with a player describing Neon as “we have Nightcity from CP2077 at home.” One review simply reads “Starslop.”
The consensus amongst the negative reviews is that while there’s a lot to do, players just don’t find the game very interesting. Our Starfield review is more positive, but it does feel like the game is stretching the Bethesda formula.
Bethesda was, at one point, replying to negative Starfield reviews, but that seems to have been put on hold. Starfield’s director had a few words to say too. Instead, it’s planning on updating Starfield every six weeks, with new content and features.
Several of the reviews cite No Man Sky as an example of how space travel should be done, apparently forgetting how that game failed to live up to its promises. Five years and an awful lot of updates later NMS is now a superb space exploration sim but a lot of work went into getting it there.
So it’s entirely possible for Bethesda to turn Starfield around and hopefully their ongoing plans will address some or all of these reviewers’ issues with the game. We’ll have to wait and see.
Or if you don’t want to wait, check out these experiencing-enhancing Starfield mods. And if you’re just starting out on your journey, here’s our guide to Starfield’s missions.
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