Bethesda’s Most Reviled Game Becomes a 10/10 If You Ignore the Story

Recently, Bethesda dominated conversations simply by announcing that the long-awaited Elder Scrolls 6 has an official subtitle: Sentinel. We didn’t learn much more than that, but it was enough to keep us talking because that’s the sort of hold Bethesda has on us. Sometimes. There have been other instances, however, when the hold loosened.

Starfield, launched Sep. 6, 2023, represented a rare loosening of that grip. Despite offering the sort of sprawling environments for which Bethesda is known, the game was met with a collective shrug from much of its potential audience. We’d been there, done that — or so we thought. Comparisons to No Man’s Sky, which launched to similarly disappointing reviews before righting the ship, seemed only natural. No one seemed to love the game and its story. And yet, if you skip the story and find other ways to amuse yourself, Starfield is pretty much a ten out of ten.

Our expectations were part of the problem. Ahead of the game’s release, we looked forward to a vast universe populated by dozens memorable characters, telling entertaining stories about the time they took an arrow to the knee. Given the change in setting, maybe they would survive a blaster shot to the elbow? I could see that.

Instead of delivering a clear, focused narrative, Starfield unfurled with nary a storytelling hook in sight. There are references to a great war and to exploration. You find magical artifacts in caves. But there’s no proper sense of urgency. Progression turns the environments you explore into obstacles you work through as quickly as you can to reach another nugget of narrative that may not even be interesting. A greater purpose eventually comes together, but it would be difficult to blame players who bail well before that point.

Fortunately, I didn’t play the game with any expectations about its plot, and that approach allowed me to have a lot of fun with it for dozens upon dozens of hours. There were still more than enough scripted developments to keep me interested, as I worked on side quests for various factions around the universe. I didn’t care much about New Atlantis, except as a place to shop, until I became an agent for Ryujin Industries. And working my way into the Crimson Fleet faction as a double agent offered all sorts of interesting diversions as I explored my destructive tendencies. The faction storylines allowed me to make friends and enemies, and to visit some of the more compelling areas I might not have found otherwise even with another few dozen hours of gameplay.

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

But as much as I enjoyed some of that side content, Starfield’s main appeal to me came from the stories I created myself, within its framework. I became obsessed with buying up all of the houses that were for sale in the main established settlements. They became dumping grounds for all the crafting materials I located. And I built settlements of my own on planets rich in resources. I raided hostile labs, taking down raiders and seeing what treasure they had hoarded.

Exploration in Starfield isn’t always as thrilling as was promised, but even desolate planets have a distinct appeal. Almost anywhere you go, across many dozens of planets, there is the potential that you will find something new — or there is a place to build just what you want. It’s not markedly improved from Fallout 4, which came out six years before it, but building your base is still a pleasant diversion.

Space battles also became a frequent pursuit of mine. I started out with a scrappy little ship that couldn’t do much of anything if it came under attack. By the end of my time with Starfield, I had a whole fleet of battleships with stellar armor ratings that could tear through anything the galaxy wanted to throw my way. It was an immensely satisfying progression, and my fingers are itching to return to it, even as I write about it now.

It’s not unfair of players to expect that when developers and publishers make exciting claims ahead of release that the game will deliver the goods. I can see why players might have been disappointed by Starfield. But I went into the experience just hoping for a good time, and the game delivered precisely that. Much like No Man’s Sky before it, the game has also improved much of what made it compelling, with patches to address clunky navigation. From maps to new vehicles, the team has focused on pain areas. The result is another adventure worthy of the Bethesda name — as long as you’re willing to look past its meandering plot.