Starfield managed to be each one in every of my favourite video games of 2023 and one in every of my greatest videogame disappointments ever. I sank properly over 100 hours into it, and loved the flashes of Bethesda brilliance it exhibited, however my lofty expectations weren’t matched. The developer’s famend for making among the greatest RPGs ever with Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, however Starfield could not solely replicate its previous magic as a result of sheer measurement of its galaxy. Now, a Bethesda veteran who’s labored throughout all three IPs has given his verdict. Whereas adamant it is nonetheless “an awesome recreation” that the studio must be happy with, he is aware of it is nowhere close to “the identical calibre” as Fallout and TES.
Bruce Nesmith is a reputation Bethesda aficionados could also be acquainted with. After an extended stint designing Dungeons and Dragons tabletop video games, he labored as a quest designer on a number of Elder Scrolls and Fallout initiatives, together with because the lead designer on Skyrim. Earlier than leaving Bethesda in 2021, earlier than Starfield’s launch, he labored on the area recreation as a techniques designer. An authority on all issues RPG-related, then.
“I believe it is a good recreation,” Nesmith says in an interview with FRVR. “I do not assume it is in the identical calibre as the opposite two, you already know, Fallout or Skyrim, or Elder Scrolls reasonably, however I believe it is a good recreation. I labored on it; I am happy with the work I did. I am happy with the work that the folks I knew did on it. I believe they made an awesome recreation.”
Resonating with my expertise that I discussed on the prime, he admits that Bethesda’s previous repute put big “expectations” on Starfield that had been arduous to match. Nesmith additionally claims that “if the identical recreation had been launched by ‘not Bethesda,’ it could have been obtained in a different way.”
Whereas outer area and alien planets have been the backdrop to so many good video games prior to now, Starfield’s strategy to a galactic RPG squandered that potential. Nesmith factors to its reliance on procedural technology as the principle purpose why gamers did not click on with it.
“I am an unlimited area fan,” he says. “I am an newbie astronomer, I am up on all that stuff, [and] lots of the work I did on Starfield was on the astronomical knowledge. However area is inherently boring. It is actually described as nothingness. So shifting all through that is not the place the joy is, in my view.”
I am additionally stunned to listen to that Nesmith was underwhelmed by Starfield’s strategy to aliens. Whereas he admits there are many “cool” creatures to find and struggle, “they’re just like the wolves in Skyrim” reasonably than epic, difficult, memorable enemies. He additionally observes that “the one severe enemy you fought had been folks.”
I, like Nesmith, do not buy into the narrative that Starfield is a ‘dangerous’ recreation – plus, with that second DLC on the way in which, it has one other likelihood to vary folks’s perspective. Nonetheless, it is fascinating to listen to that the identical criticisms I and lots of others maintain are shared by at the least one of many devs concerned with the sport.
If you happen to do wish to return to Bethesda’s galaxy and spice issues up a bit, you’ll want to take a look at among the greatest Starfield mods. Or to get wrapped up in some wild narratives, seek the advice of our listing of the very best story video games.
If you happen to spent loads of hours in Starfield, let me know what you’d change and what you like about it within the PCGamesN Discord server.
