Oh, how far Starfield has fallen, and so quickly. The negativity towards the sci-fi RPG has resulted in its Steam rating dropping to “mixed”; although that isn’t bad per se, it’s not good either.
So much has happened since 6 September – new games have been launched, some of which have blown critics and players away – and so Starfield almost seems like a much older game. When the game launched, here at GAMINGbible we gave it a 10/10 score, something which we never do lightly. Yet since then, the reception for the game has fizzled to nothing but embers, with it having fewer players than Skyrim.
Listen to our Starfield review if you haven't already!
Not only does it look bad for Bethesda that one of its older titles is better received than its newest, but it also puts the legacy of Starfield itself in jeopardy. You only have to see how absent the game is in all The Game Awards 2023 categories to see that this RPG has been snubbed.
On top of all that, we’re now seeing the reviews for the game enter into the “mixed” rating zone, aka the average section of the board. As someone who got a lot of Cs in school – which is the basic grade for the academic average – I don’t wish to knock anything not exceeding expectations. Nonetheless, it doesn’t bode well for a AAA game to have such a lacklustre rating, especially after all the hype that was built up around it.
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Where did Bethesda go wrong, then? “I enjoy it [Starfield], and it’s still one of my top games of the year, but I’m at the 80 hours played mark and I’m starting to get bored with the game. It took me a good bit longer than that to get bored with Fallout 4.”
They continued, “My biggest gripe is that you can sit down for a [two to three] hour play session, and it feels like you’ve done nothing at the end between the load screens, cumbersome travel methods, long walks on desolate planets, and getting stuck in overly extended dialogue sequences.” Sadly, a lot of other players mirror this, with the issue being in comparison to previous games, as well as annoyance at tediously slow loading times.
Despite all of this, fans still believe the game is worthy of acclaim in the face of its critics. “I very much enjoy it, but I can totally see why somebody wouldn't,” explained Passey92. Arguably, the game has many merits, as seen by the player just starting on their 10th New Game Plus. This leads me to wonder if we put too much expectation on new games without enough evidence to back it up. As well as reminding me that we need to remember that video games, as always, are a subjective experience.