Starfieldis an incredibly middling experience, but theShattered Spaceexpansion was a chance for Bethesda to redeem its dwindling reputation by offering a tighter, hand-crafted story with fulfilling exploration and more engaging quests. It failed.
It has anaverage OpenCritic scoreof just 58 at the time of writing, withMostly Negative reviewson Steam. Even Bethesda is keenly aware thatits fans just want to get on with The Elder Scrolls 6and put this space-faring dud behind them. But TES6 can’t just be more of the same, it has to reinvent the decades-old Bethesda formula.
One of the big critiques against Starfield is how outdated it feels. Bethesda touted it as a revolutionary game that would last as long asSkyrimthanks to its 1,000 planets that feature procedurally generated quests and locations. But most of that space is empty or filled with the same copy-pasted outposts and combat encounters. None of it is interesting or rewarding.
The environmental storytelling feels paper thin when you’re running into the same exact warnings scrawled onto the same exact walls in every single solar system.
Underneath all of the supposed technological prowess of Starfield is the exact Bethesda foundations we’ve been playing on sinceOblivion. Characters look stilted in dialogue with little room to express themselves, caged into invisible boxes as they dump endless exposition, while none of the cities feel organic whatsoever.
Everything is locked behind loading screens, factions immediately trust you as you shoot up the ranks in record time, and NPCs act like robots spitting out information on command. It’sFallout 4in space without the hand-crafted worldbuilding that made Bethesda’s older games so iconic. It’s no wonder more people are playing Skyrim than Starfield right now, even with the new DLC out.
I don’t have much faith in The Elder Scrolls 6. Every game since Skyrim has felt increasingly shallow, honing in on ‘impressive’ eye-catchy marketing gimmicks like settlement building and customisable weapons. That’s not what people play these games for.
Bethesda used to excel at creating an in-depth sandbox where you could roleplay, getting caught up in the intricacies of its stories and feeling truly immersed in its worlds. It did such a good job thatbugs werecharming,part of the games’ personality, not another annoyance piled on top of a mountain of annoyances.
Starfield has one of the stronger main quests among Bethesda games, but it doesn’t matter because the game feels no different to Skyrim or Fallout 4 despite launching nearly a decade later than both. RPGs have grown so much in that time, as characters are more believable and emotive than ever, making us connect with them on much deeper levels. It’s why we fell head over heels for theBaldur’s Gate 3cast, while I doubt many of you can name a single Starfield character.
The open world genre has likewise been reshaped over and over again, withElden RingandBreath of the Wildoffering an alternative in which you don’t need map icons or checklists to enjoy exploring, whileFar Cry,Ghost of Tsushima,The Witcher 3, andCyberpunk 2077have iterated on the formula so much that Bethesda’s approach feels clunky and barebones.
The Elder Scrolls brand on its own isn’t enough anymore — Starfield has proven that people are simply tired of the Bethesda formula. So, TES6 can’t just be a better version of the same game we played back in 2006, it has to be more than that. If it isn’t, Bethesda will never crawl out of the hole Starfield left it in.
The Elder Scrolls 6
The Elder Scrolls 6 is a long-awaited, upcoming RPG from Bethesda. In pre-production, little is known about its contents, although speculation suggests is could be set in Hammerfell.
