Starfield – Overview of the Galaxy of Possibilities

The star field is stunning. If in Skyrim after the prologue the world opened up and we just stared at the game map of unprecedented sizes, then in the new space adventure from Bethesda, the places to go (albeit those deplorable ones) are dominated by activities that can be completed in dozens, but perhaps , and hundreds of hours. Therefore, be aware that you will not find every aspect of the game in the following text. But hopefully this will help you figure out if Starfield is right for you.

• Platform: PC, XSX (review version) and S.
• Release date: 06/09/2023
• Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks.
• Genre: Action RPG
• Czech localization: no
• Multiplayer: no
• Download data: 125 GB
• Playing time: 25 to hundreds of hours
• Price: 2099 (Xbox)

When in the first mission the authors sent me into a dark cave with a ray gun and instructed me to mine minerals, stones and everything else in the most boring way known from countless similar games, I was a little confused. I quickly dispelled my first impression. Firstly, when I got into the first firefight, secondly, when I stepped on board the spaceship and thirdly, when I flew it into space. And then again and again as I set out to discover a whole new world, which in itself is quite a welcome renaissance in the realm of AAA gaming as of late.

But one after another. As part of first impressions, the audiovisual side usually comes to the fore. I was honestly blown away by the aforementioned premiere look into the bowels of the ship. The level of detail and number of objects in the space give the interiors unprecedented depth. Not to mention the interactivity – you can pick up anything, there are quite a lot of screens, and everything has its own perfectly working physics. Once inside, it’s a pleasure to watch. You’re probably expecting something, but… The graphics do have weak points. Around the halfway point are the exteriors of cities and various bases; uninhabited planets can sometimes be very weak. In this case, luck also matters when it comes to landing location.

However, Starfield’s art style makes up for a number of graphical shortcomings well. Realistic science fiction whose technology looks much the same as it does today, and whose universe isn’t nearly as polished as Star Trek or Mass Effect, represents a nice revival of the genre. The style is also helped by the epic orchestral music, which more than once reminds us of Interstellar or A Space Odyssey.

When you take off on a spaceship, endless space opens up before you. Or not? The game makes it pretty clear where the player wants to go. It naturally guides you towards systems with a friendly difficulty level and, conversely, prevents you from going where you are not qualified. Personally, I tolerated this open world style very well, but for some it could be a disappointment.

A similar disappointment can be experienced when you discover that any journey requires fast movement. You can freely move your ship only in the orbits of planets. If you want to continue, you will usually have to go to the menu.

Although loading is relatively fast, overall it takes a very long time.

I can probably still live with fast travel. Unfortunately, it comes with loadings that are still present where they probably wouldn’t be expected in 2023. Be prepared, because when you enter most stores in the city, there will be a pickup waiting for you. Loading awaits you even when riding in an elevator. And it awaits you every time you land on the planet. And it crashes every time… In short, although the download is relatively fast, overall it takes a disgusting amount of time.

This makes any exploration that the game puts other obstacles in front of quite frustrating. Again, this kind of wastes the player’s time by forcing him to run hundreds of meters across planets on his own, instead of being served by a regular vehicle like the Mako from the already mentioned Mass Effect. At the same time, the study is strikingly reminiscent of the first Mass Effect. While it’s more complex, detailed, and somewhat more rewarding, it basically follows the same pattern of landing on a planet and being given an area with a few interesting objects. Mostly you will find loot, some enemies, and from time to time you will come across side missions.

You can also build bases on planets, which could be a separate chapter. I haven’t found much pleasure in designing or managing them myself, but I admit that having a network of stations that can be customized to the smallest detail and used mainly for the extraction of raw materials is a nice idea. Building and modifying ships is equally complex. You can spend hours here, and flying your own creation is a great reward for your time and virtual currency.

You already have a basic understanding of the world. But where does your unique hero fit into it? You become a member Constellation, an organization of the few who reveal the secrets of the cosmos. The newest project of this group of adventurers is to collect artifacts that are scattered everywhere and only require newbies in the hands of the player to find them. About half of the main story feels as banal as the subject matter sounds. In the first half of the story, the quests consist of exploring caves and finding artifacts. You don’t know why, you just know that they are mysterious and give you some inexplicable visions.

More creative solution new game plusor the endgame, I probably haven’t seen it yet.

At some point the story takes a fundamental turn. In my case, twenty-seven hours had passed after the start of the game when events took an unexpected turn. New characters appeared, and with them new questions that I really wanted to answer. With a more engaging narrative, there are more original missions and gameplay. The climax of the story is extremely elegant and, above all, flows smoothly into fashion. new game plus, which is perhaps Starfield’s biggest advantage. Without going into detail, I have to say that a more creative solution is new game plus, or the endgame, I probably haven’t seen yet. More than ever, this end credits game is just getting started.

Not just members Constellation can become your traveling companions. Characters and their stories, like the stories of organizations, clans, religious cults, fleets, settlers, can be very interesting. You easily get involved in the lives of both your comrades, of whom there can be many, and the characters you meet seemingly by chance. After all, all knowledge is fascinating, and if you don’t like exploring placesyou’ll probably like to know events and you will discover the history of the world.

Unfortunately, if you’re expecting a real RPG party, you won’t like it. There are certain relationships with the characters and, as I have already indicated, you can delve quite deeply into their destinies, but still they and the world around them lack some life. Relationships on board the ship? Do not wait. Reaction to your actions? Predictable and without much meaning. Engage characters in conversations? Minimal and usually only with your consent. After all, even the protagonist’s human team feels almost like another tool in the inventory.

Who would have thought that the thing I was looking forward to the most while playing was the action. Even though I poured skill point after skill point into diplomacy, the stories were so engrossing that I hardly missed them. The satisfying gunplay is complemented by a variety of different weapons, each of which is a joy to try out, or features such as low-gravity and zero-gravity combat. Even the simplest artificial intelligence of enemies does not spoil the experience.

A relatively simple mechanic takes on strategic importance when it comes to redistributing power between multiple ship systems.

The next layer is combat from the cockpit of a spaceship. I didn’t see it as much as the skirmishes on planetary surfaces, but there was something there too. The relatively simple mechanics develop into a strategic dimension when it comes to redistributing power across multiple ship systems, all complemented by a great audio-visual experience and the feeling that you become a pilot who can even shoot down the Death Star with ease.

Starfield does a lot of things really well. Essentially it remains the same Bethesda game, which fans love so much. You stumble upon a base and accidentally delay the main mission by two hours due to scientists who just need your help. You visit a city from the Wild West and think you’ve seen everything, but after a while the authors offer you Night City from Cyberpunk. You’ll find that, despite the sometimes weaker graphics, you’ll save hundreds of screenshots because some of the scenery is worth remembering.

And how is it at Starfield base? Bethesda game there is, so the technical condition tells a different story. Bugs more or less bypassed my playthrough (I’m not talking about illogical things like a letter from my parents right in front of me), graphical glitches – no, but in an open world of this scale they were actually quite tolerable. On Xbox, I had three game crashes in forty hours, which, of course, was annoying, but otherwise I didn’t notice any significant technical difficulties. It would be possible to solve the 30 frames per second limit for a long time, but the game keeps them in the vast majority of cases and the limitation is in no way an obstacle.

Partial things aside, Starfield can be accused of adhering to systems that have been inherent in games for many years. With games like Cyberpunk 2077 and before that The Witcher 3, as well as Red Dead Redemption 2 or the recent Baldur’s Gate 3, we are moving towards games that are ultimately more natural, and towards worlds that are more believable and reactive – in short , more alive. And Starfield isn’t quite there yet. It has its advantages elsewhere.