If you want better art direction
Choose Ghost of Yōtei. It scores 4.9 vs 1.5 for art direction, with a 4.4 overall score.
Starfield Review
Bottom Line
Choose Starfield if you want a huge Bethesda-style sci-fi sandbox with ship building, quests, and room to wander. Skip it if loading screens, menus, bugs, or thin planet exploration will wear you down.
Best for
Best for players who want a long sci-fi RPG sandbox with ship building, side quests, faction stories, and lots of systems to tinker with.
Not for
Not for players who need seamless exploration, tight pacing, clean menus, or a polished story-first space adventure.
Verdict
Starfield lands as a big, messy Bethesda RPG in space: deep enough to absorb players who enjoy self-directed questing, ship building, combat, and long-haul character growth, but uneven enough to frustrate anyone expecting seamless space exploration. Reviews repeatedly praise the scope, side quests, audio-visual presentation, and improved gunplay. The tradeoff is just as clear: menus, fast travel, loading screens, empty planets, and lingering bugs often break the fantasy. Its best moments come when you accept the game on its own sandbox terms; its weakest moments come when it asks the universe to feel vast through interfaces and repeated transitions.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
58 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.011 (19%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.417 (29%)
-
Neutral 2.5-3.413 (22%)
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Negative 1.5-2.415 (26%)
-
Very negative below 1.52 (3%)
Pros
-
Overall fun is sharply split. Many players are hooked or having a blast, while others find the game boring, underwhelming, or only fun for a narrow sandbox audience.
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Voice acting is often praised, sometimes even when the writing or facial presentation gets criticized.
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Environmental detail is often praised, especially city detail, planet presentation, and the sense of visual scale.
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Content volume is a major selling point, with reviewers pointing to many quests, systems, updates, and activities that can keep players busy for a long time.
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Sandbox freedom is one of Starfield’s main attractions for the right player, with reviewers praising the ability to wander, build, survey, and pursue your own goals.
-
Polish is better than many expected for a Bethesda-scale RPG, though it does not eliminate bugs, crashes, or rough UI.
Cons
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Menus and inventory are repeated pain points, with reviewers calling the UI clunky, slow, or shockingly poor for a game with so much item management.
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Loading screens are one of the most consistent complaints. A few note short load times, but many say frequent transitions and menus make the universe feel chopped up.
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Enemy and security behavior drew sharp complaints, especially where foes seemed easy to exploit or failed to react convincingly.
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Fast travel is convenient but also one of the most repeated complaints, with many reviewers saying it fragments the space fantasy.
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Exploration is the biggest fault line. Some players love the scale and city discovery, while many criticize empty planets, fast-travel dependency, and repeated points of interest.
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Art direction splits opinion, with NASA-punk praised for a distinctive look in some places and dismissed as bland or ineffective in others.
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other Video Games, this product is above average in family friendliness, puzzle design, polish, near average in fun factor, bug frequency, below average in art direction, accessibility options, gameplay mechanics.
Comparison summary
57 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher14 (25%)
-
Same as average within 0.3 pts12 (21%)
-
Below average 0.4+ pts lower31 (54%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| art direction | 1.5 | 4.5 | -3.0 |
| accessibility options | 1.0 | 3.9 | -2.9 |
| gameplay mechanics | 1.5 | 4.1 | -2.6 |
| level design | 1.5 | 3.9 | -2.4 |
| onboarding experience | 1.5 | 3.9 | -2.4 |
| world-building | 2.0 | 4.3 | -2.3 |
| load times | 2.2 | 3.9 | -1.8 |
| atmosphere | 2.5 | 4.5 | -2.0 |
Consider This Instead
If you want better writing quality
Choose Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. It scores 4.7 vs 2.3 for writing quality, with a 4.3 overall score.
If you want better level design
Choose Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. It scores 4.8 vs 1.5 for level design, with a 4.2 overall score.
If you want better crash stability
Choose The Rogue Prince of Persia. It scores 5.0 vs 2.5 for crash stability, with a 4.0 overall score.
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
mass effect
- Similar: space adventure audience fit A customer says Mass Effect fans are likely to enjoy Starfield.
- Compared: space RPG framing The reviewer says calling Starfield a mix of familiar space RPG touchstones is too reductive.
Cyberpunk 2077
- Compared: PC performance demand The reviewer frames Starfield as a similarly demanding PC performance test.
No Man’s Sky
- Compared: space exploration framing The reviewer references No Man’s Sky as part of a shorthand they consider too cheap for Starfield.
FAQ
Is Starfield fun?
It can be very fun for Bethesda RPG fans who enjoy wandering, building ships, chasing quests, and making their own goals. Reviewers who wanted seamless exploration or a sharper story were much less enthusiastic.
How is the combat?
Combat is usually seen as one of Starfield’s better systems, with several reviewers calling the gunplay strong for Bethesda. A minority still find it basic or only serviceable.
Are there many bugs or crashes?
Reports are mixed. Some reviewers and customers call it relatively polished, while others describe freezes, crashes, broken interactions, and bugs that interrupt play.
Is space exploration seamless?
No. Many reviews complain that menus, loading screens, and fast travel make space feel fragmented, even though updates and ship systems improve parts of the experience.
Is the story good?
The story is divisive. Some reviews like the main quest or use it as a guide through the world, while others call the writing flat, weak, or forgettable.
Who will like Starfield most?
Players who like open-ended RPGs, ship customization, faction quests, long playtimes, and Bethesda’s familiar structure are the strongest fit.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
Article Reviews
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