Starfield managed to be each one in every of my favourite video games of 2023 and one in every of my largest videogame disappointments ever. I sank nicely 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 a few of the greatest RPGs ever with Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, however Starfield could not fully replicate its previous magic as a result of sheer dimension of its galaxy. Now, a Bethesda veteran who’s labored throughout all three IPs has given his verdict. Whereas adamant it is nonetheless “an ideal sport” that the studio needs to be pleased 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 aware of. 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 house sport as a programs designer. An authority on all issues RPG-related, then.
“I feel it is a good sport,” Nesmith says in an interview with FRVR. “I do not suppose it is in the identical calibre as the opposite two, you recognize, Fallout or Skyrim, or Elder Scrolls fairly, however I feel it is a good sport. I labored on it; I am pleased with the work I did. I am pleased with the work that the individuals I knew did on it. I feel they made an ideal sport.”
Resonating with my expertise that I discussed on the high, he admits that Bethesda’s previous status put big “expectations” on Starfield that have been onerous to match. Nesmith additionally claims that “if the identical sport had been launched by ‘not Bethesda,’ it could have been obtained in another way.”
Whereas outer house and alien planets have been the backdrop to so many good video games prior to now, Starfield’s method to a galactic RPG squandered that potential. Nesmith factors to its reliance on procedural era as the primary cause why gamers did not click on with it.
“I am an unlimited house fan,” he says. “I am an newbie astronomer, I am up on all that stuff, [and] quite a lot of the work I did on Starfield was on the astronomical information. However house is inherently boring. It is actually described as nothingness. So shifting all through that is not the place the thrill is, in my view.”
I am additionally shocked to listen to that Nesmith was underwhelmed by Starfield’s method to aliens. Whereas he admits there are many “cool” creatures to find and battle, “they’re just like the wolves in Skyrim” fairly than epic, difficult, memorable enemies. He additionally observes that “the one critical enemy you fought have been individuals.”
I, like Nesmith, do not buy into the narrative that Starfield is a ‘dangerous’ sport – plus, with that second DLC on the best way, it has one other probability to vary individuals’s perspective. Nevertheless, it is fascinating to listen to that the identical criticisms I and lots of others maintain are shared by not less than one of many devs concerned with the sport.
If you happen to do need to return to Bethesda’s galaxy and spice issues up a bit, make sure to take a look at a few of the greatest Starfield mods. Or to get wrapped up in some wild narratives, seek the advice of our listing of the perfect story video games.
If you happen to spent loads of hours in Starfield, let me know what you’d change and what you’re keen on about it within the PCGamesN Discord server.
