Summary
- Starfield fans wanted the game to focus on the Colony War rather than its aftermath, feeling that Bethesda missed a golden opportunity.
- The lack of major conflicts in Starfield, aside from the Crimson Fleet vs SysDef, left players feeling like something was missing, which a Colony War setting would have rectified.
Starfield fans feel that Bethesda missed a golden opportunity to throw the players straight into the Colony War, instead of dealing with the aftermath. Starfield takes place in the Settled Systems, a cluster of stars that have three (arguably four) main factions vying for influence: the United Colonies, the Freestar Collective, the Crimson Fleet, and the enigmatic House Va'ruun, whose homeworld lies beyond the Settled Systems. While there is a mild rivalry intertwined throughout the game between the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective, the only major conflict that Starfield deals with concerns the Crimson Fleet squaring off against SysDef.
Furthermore, despite the Freestar Rangers faction in Starfield briefly touching on the negative repercussions of the ceasefire that ended the Colony War, Paxton Hull's grudge is directed solely at the Collective, rather than towards the United Colonies. Whereas Bethesda fans got to experience the Civil War in Skyrim, and then, in Fallout 4, found themselves embroiled in a chaotic free-for-all to settle the fate of the Commonwealth, the lack of any equivalent in Starfield gave a fair few players the impression that something was missing.
Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield Are Opposite Sides of the Same Coin
Despite being the biggest RPGs of 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield both showcase two contrasting extremes of a problematic trend for RPGs.
Namely, players like The_king_of-nowhere feel that Starfield is a bland sequel to a much more interesting game – one that could have been set during the Colony War. While it could be argued that Vae Victis and the terrormorph conspiracy is an intriguing narrative that relies on the Colony War being concluded, the outbreak in the city of Londinion could have been an equally impressive moment to tackle, especially if players were eventually placed in Francois Sanon's shoes and forced to make the same difficult choice.
Conversely, mechs being banned as a result of the ceasefire has arguably robbed Starfield players of an interesting game mechanic. Given that the penultimate Freestar Rangers quest takes place in a mech graveyard, many fans believe that not having at least one mech boss fight was a hugely missed opportunity. Moreover, the way Starfield handled Aurora and Neon received criticism for being a "toothless" version of Cyberpunk 2077, whereas a great number of players see the Crimson Fleet as a flat caricature of a pirate faction rather than something compelling.
These factors have all contributed to Starfield's mixed rating on Steam, as the game currently has more negative than positive reviews in the past 30 days. While it remains to be seen how Shattered Space will expand on the game, fans believe that the upcoming Starfield DLC will either tackle House Va'ruun, the Starborn, or the New Game Plus feature. The Settled Systems have an interesting history, and hopefully Bethesda will take the setting in a direction that will realize Starfield's full potential.
Starfield
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 85 /100 Critics Rec: 83%
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
