STARFIELD

6/10 It not terrible but it's not great either. The universe is big and filled with planets but at the same time most are rng instances with the occasional pre-built story location. It looks visual stunning but underneath it's somewhat hollow and empty.

Basically, it's a big box that looks good and has loads of details but inside there is loads of empty/dead space.

Haven't played vanilla Starfield. I only bought it to play Star Wars Genesis. I would highly recommend trying it.

I am definitely in the minority with this review but I genuinely enjoy this game. I enjoy the way it makes me feel when I play it. I enjoy the exploration and combat. I enjoy tinkering on the workbenches in my ship and realizing I need more materials to complete a project which brings me on another adventure. I enjoy the subtle music. I enjoy the main story. The list goes on.
Some things that I would like to see improved:
-I've ran into one broken quest which didn't effect the main story but still irritated me.
-I would like space travel and space combat to have some more depth and emotion.
-I would like to see the story progress.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I have not played the Shattered Space DLC yet and I have not yet tinkered with base building yet. I have also played Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Skyrim to completion.
Ultimately, I would recommend this game to someone who enjoys space games and core Bethesda principles. I commend the developers for stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something new. I hope to see continued support for this game.

I don't care what they say. I love playing Starfield. Sometimes I just want to get in a spacecraft and walk around a planet after a bad day at work.

I genuinely love Starfield. The world-building, the freedom, the ships, the outposts it’s everything I wanted in a Bethesda space RPG. I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into one character, pushing them well beyond level 300, and I still find new things to do.
But here’s the problem: Bethesda designed Starfield as a long-haul game, not a short replayable one.
Outposts are built to expand, link resources, and grow over time.
Ship building is a massive time investment, meant to evolve with your character.
The whole premise is that your universe grows with you.
And yet… the engine can’t sustain it.
Without a proper save file cleaner, the game slowly chokes itself with leftover data ghost scripts, orphaned quests, broken references. Eventually your once-great save risks crashing, bloating, or stuttering until you’re told the only “solution” is to restart.
Restarting is fine in Skyrim or Fallout where each playthrough can feel fresh. But in Starfield? Restarting means deleting years of investment in outposts, ships, and character progression. That’s not replay value that’s punishment for long-term players.
Yes, modders have stepped in with experimental save cleaners, but this should not be left to unpaid volunteers. Bethesda knows this problem has existed since Skyrim. If Starfield is truly meant to be “a game you can play forever,” then we need official tools to keep forever saves stable.

I don't know how to review things. But I keep getting nags to write this from Steam because I keep playing it so much. Here goes nothing.
The new one from the iconic creators of Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls series. Bethesda RPGs have a type. I don't know how to describe it, other than to say it works. These games are instantly replayable forever. I'd say it starts out with a big world. Then they add the systems. These are games I want to play forever. Sure, the Main Quest is always good, but then they add in hundreds and hundreds of side quests, most every bit as good as the main roster.
They add working cities, settlements, people that feel real. Then there's lore, both real an imagined. There's rules for how it all functions.

They let you play whoever and however you want. Chose your background, choose you face. It's a lot more than just being good or evil. Your character can be as simple or as detailed as you want. Meet and talk to thousands of named NPCs, people who are not just there to serve your story. They work, eat, seek recreation, and go home to sleep. Then there are the factions, each with their own epic stories. Make it so the gamers can add and share their own mods, to make your game into anything they want. Rinse, later, repeat. This is Bethesda.
I waited for this one for a long time. I spent over two thousand dollars to upgrade my gaming rig to play it the best. Then, I don't know, I learn it pry would have run just fine on the old one.
I get why some left bad reviews. Bethesda is better than everyone else. We expect more from them than the others, and they should make each game better, more iconic, more mind-blowing. And we got loading screens. We didn't really get to fly the apace ships. Instead, we would go into menu after menu and click on a planet, fast travelling there. In previous games, there were those characters who you could never forget. After a little over five hundred hours in, I don't feel that connection with anyone. It's not like Fallout 4 in this way, and not like Skyrim in another. We all demand more of the same, everything we like, yet different enough and totally new. It's impossible.
I had a lot of issues when it first launched. I mean, I was having a good time, but I was fighting the systems, too. Not only were there those loading screens, there were problems on the screen and the game wasn't afraid to crash to the desktop. Bethesda says they have now patched thousands of problems. They just delivered their biggest patch and free update today, along with the newest DLC Terran Amada, whatever that turns out to be.
It's off. I started as an old, purple haired retired professor working for some mining company. Skyrim and Oblivion start me off in custody, so I guess this is better than that. Fallout 3 starts out with my birth. New Vegas begins with them digging my grave. So, Starfield is better than a bullet to the brain.
The people talk. I know this isn't groundbreaking, but it is appreciated. There are still so many games where I have to read some or all of the dialogues. I CAN read, but I don't buy PC games to read them. In Bethesda games, I've discovered what is said doesn't always match reality as available through looking around, seeing artifacts. I can embrace this by presenting conspiracy theories via my YouTube videos. Like in Oblivion a bodyguard of the Emperor says to leave this huge door open because it can't be opened from the other side if it's closed. Okay, but thirty seconds later, that door is closed.
Many early reviews said, "I like this, but I don't love it." Well, I was like that at the start. but the more I moved into this world, the more people I encountered, the more I tried to do quests and follow the storylines, the closer the needle went towards the love side.
The thing is, with all these games, there's so much to do. You're not locked in to the Main Quest. It's optional. And, if you go off doing your own thing, there is still hundreds and hundreds of hours worth of content. In Starfield, people respond to what you do and say to them and their allies. So, if you are attacking a particular faction, people in that faction and those that back them are against you. And it doesn't just all go away once the bullets stop flying.
I am 63 years old and have been playing computer games nearly as long as computers have existed. All this to say I have never found all those gaming ingredients in such a compelling way, except in games from Bethesda. If I could only buy from one company, it would be Bethesda. I could play Fallout 3, Morrowind, Oblivion, New Vegas, Skyrim, even Fallout 76 for the rest of my life. The characters and stories are so engaging. Every time I start I know I can make it vastly different from my last playthrough.
Today I played on a 4K monitor with the graphics all the way up. I have around 125 or so carefully-selected mods. The play was nice. There were no stutters, waits over two seconds, freeze-ups or crashes of any kind. I never did play Shattered Space back in the day, so now I have two DLCs for this I never got to yet since I only have the 515 hours in this so far.
I like that there are many kinds of NPCs. Sure, you have the good guys and the bad guys, but most are not pure saints or entirely evil. This makes them believable since in real life most of the people are not completely one or the other.
I say the magic is here. I don't want to build my own spaceships, but I like that I can if I want, and I can use ones others did build. Whether or not I create my own from the various parts, I can have a huge fleet with great variety, so long as I build my wealth to afford it.
There are thousands and thousands of free modifications anyone can download for this game. There are also paid mods available through Bethesda's website through a coin system. You can ignore them all, do one, the other or like me, a good combination of both. People have taken this game and sculpted it precisely to their desires. Modders took the game and creation tool to create a full Star Wars conversion. I use some of those elements, but not the entire thing because I want my Starfield to stay Starfield. But I do have Star Wars alien species installed.
There are so many planets to visit, with different levels of human or other settlements. There may even be some with none. The Points of Interest system make sure there aren't only the planets, but a reason to go there.
When combat inevitably occurs, it is good, really good, too. There are so any different weapon types, each sounding and acting differently. I was thinking about this today in an epic battle where I was grossly outnumbered and beginning to run out of ammo. The sound design for fighting is tight as well.
When I think about all the various systems that had to be thought up, created and then brought together for a title like this, it truly blows my feeble mind. Like a good relationship, the more time you spend on it, the more Starfield delivers. but it does bring all those scattered pieces together and deliver an amazing experience.
Obviously, I don't know how to write a review. But I do know what I like, or, finally in this case, love.

I know it gets a lot of hate but i always find myself coming back to Starfield. Even after 2000+ hours i keep finding new things.