Oh Bethesda, what are you doing? I was really looking forward to Starfield – but then Todd Howard came around the corner and revealed that there would be 1,000 planets to explore in the game – and that’s easily 980 too many in my opinion.
Languages:German English
Platforms:Windows PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
A comment by Robert Kohlick:
Starfield: A Universe of Boredom?
Hats off, Bethesda! The first real gameplay scenes from Starfield drew even me out from behind the stove – even though space and sci-fi often don’t interest me the bean.
Solid graphics, dynamic shooter sequences, lively cities, an extensive crafting system – this definitely looks promising! At least that’s what I thought. But then Todd Howard spoke briefly at the end of the presentation the size of Starfield and suddenly every form of excitement left me like air from a bursting balloon.
Over 1,000 planets should exist in Starfield, which are spread over 100 different systems. While this may sound like an absolute open-world dream for some players – after all, it promises hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of gameplay – alarm bells went off for me immediately.
Because, let’s be honest, never in life will even 5 percent of the celestial bodies look really interesting, let alone exciting stories or quests. I reckon with procedurally generated mush, many yellow or gray stone deserts in which there is a crater with a space station every few kilometers that has to be freed by space pirates. The next-gen version of Preston Garvey’s “Another Settlement needs our help!” – and I’m not in the mood for that at all.
The Starfield gameplay trailer is definitely worth a look:
Why, Bethesda? That doesn’t have to be!
Do you know how big the Skyrim game world is? You can explore just 38 km² in Skyrim. And while you’re playing, have you ever thought, “Gosh, Skyrim is pretty puny”? No of course not! After all, there is something interesting to discover around every corner of the role-playing hit. It’s never really even 5 minutes before you discover the next exciting location – and that’s one of the reasons why Skyrim still captivates so many players today.
I’m all the more amazed that Bethesda wants to lose this strength at Starfield. No question, some of the planets, cities and locations will of course be used by the developers in finest handwork be created – especially if they are directly related to the main story. And yes, Starfield wants to take a realistic approach – and many planets in our space are going to be really barren. But we’re still talking about a game, damn it! That should entertain and captivate me. And how Starfield wants to manage when I’m moving through a large part of a copy and paste universe, I simply can’t imagine.
The fact is: I already shudder at Starfield’s megalomania. I’m afraid Bethesda is squandering one of its greatest strengths just to show off how much time players can potentially spend in their new sci-fi RPG. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that I’m wrong about that.
Don’t want to miss any more news about technology, games and pop culture? No current tests and guides? Then follow us on Facebook (GIGA Tech, GIGA Games) or Twitter (GIGA Tech,
GIGA Games).