Starfield Still Fails to Captivate After Two Years
▼ Summary
– The author’s initial enjoyment of Starfield has diminished due to unimpressive survival mechanics and lackluster expansion content.
– The game’s large file size (120+ GB) and Bethesda’s monetization of faction quests further reduced the author’s interest in reinstalling it.
– The author lost hundreds of gigabytes of gameplay footage, making them question whether the game’s memorable moments were worth preserving.
– Bethesda’s marketing emphasized Starfield’s vast emptiness as a feature, but the author found it failed to deliver meaningful exploration or discovery.
– Despite occasional beautiful visuals, the game’s overall experience didn’t leave a lasting impression, making the lost footage feel insignificant.
Two years after its release, Starfield continues to struggle with delivering a truly captivating experience. Despite initial excitement and Bethesda’s ambitious promises, the game’s vast universe often feels hollow, leaving players questioning whether its fleeting moments of beauty are worth the hefty storage space.
When Starfield launched in 2023, I spent over 150 hours exploring its galaxies, hoping to uncover the magic Bethesda had hyped. Yet, even with survival mechanics and mods adding minor distractions, the experience never deepened. The game’s lone expansion, offering little beyond superficial planetary driving and fragmented faction quests locked behind paywalls, failed to reignite my interest. Now, with hundreds of gigabytes of lost gameplay footage, accidentally deleted in a frantic storage cleanup, I’m left wondering if those scattered moments of wonder were ever meaningful.
The game’s emptiness was defended early on, with Bethesda’s Ashley Cheng comparing it to the moon landing: “When the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there. They certainly weren’t bored.” But unlike real-life exploration, Starfield’s vastness rarely rewards curiosity. Todd Howard’s claims of groundbreaking discovery fall flat when planets feel interchangeable and encounters lack depth.
Losing my archived footage, hours of starry vistas and occasional surprises, should have stung. Instead, it highlighted how little of Starfield truly stuck with me. Unlike cherished travel photos or unforgettable in-game worlds, its universe never felt worth preserving. Bethesda’s insistence that Starfield was “one of the most important RPGs ever made” rings hollow when its legacy is defined more by missed potential than lasting impact.
For a game built on the promise of endless exploration, Starfield ironically leaves players with little to hold onto. Its galaxies may be vast, but without meaningful substance, they’re easily forgotten.
(Source: Kotaku)
