Roundup: Here's What The Critics Think Of Starfield So Far

Chuck the IGN review out for starters...

Seems a bit different that IGN and Gamespot gave the score lows, I guess it’s their opinion though.

To be me I saw this coming xbox fanboys saying its coming be the best game ever I will play it and it will be good but the expectations were way to high it's a good game but man the hype was ridiculous for this game

It’s good, thank goodness it’s good. Doesn’t need to be amazing (although it probably is) but on first impressions it’s good 😅

That's IGN and GameSpot no longer getting review code then.

Destructoid giving this a 10 is a very good sign IF it had been Chris........ignore GS as usual.
IGN only giving a 7 is a tad concerning though, especially Dan who is pretty lenient......

Hmmmmm

I thought a 7 was IGNs lowest score?

Read a couple so far, honestly reads like it’s around 85% a lot of the criticisms seem to be the same things across a few reviews. Sure a few patches will help a few of them.

I’m a little disappointed by how some of the planets sound and maybe some of the travelling between planets.

But seems solid overall.

The metacritic score has disappeared for me now. I could see it earlier. Weird.

FWIW, it’s actually reviewing a bit higher than Final Fantasy XVI.

The general consensus seems to be that it takes a while to get going, theres not much to do on the procedurally generated planets and its a bit of a jack of all trades but the scope is incredible. Looking forward to trying it next week but glad i didnt fork out for early access based on the reviews i have seen.

I think feedback from other users on this site is usually a better guide of a game's overall worth. I'm interested to see what people have to say about this after a few weeks of playing.

I started coming to this site because Gamespot has been hit or miss on their reviews. More and more I also find they aren't the site I used to think they were. Seems they are more of an outlier in their review and I read it and it reads like they thought it was worse than the 7/10 they gave it. Looking forward to seeing this site's review.

I'm sold. Ready to play a 8 PM tonight.

@awp69 If an xbox exclusive beating a playstation exclusive on metacritic is what gets you through the day then more power to you. Lets hope Forza beats Gran turismo for your sake!

All I need is the Gameranx review.

@themightyant
That’s a dam fine score 87 so far.
I’m downloaded and ready to go for the 6th on game pass.

@UBERSICKO
I see, I don’t know the reviewers at IGN so thanks for the heads up.

@MoistEmphasis3 The Gameranx review is live now, I think.

"On the Series S, Smooth as butter no issues at all" Paris of Kinda Funny.

ign needs to shut down.

Well just checked and HFW and Pikmin 4 got meta 87, so it’s in good company for a start, overall.
Jedi survivor meta 85.

All of this is what I expected. Reviews are opinions after all. So one person negative can be another’s positive. For example in the IGN review 1 of the lower marks was in the fast travel function. How you could be on a planet open the star map pick a city and the you are there after a small load screen. To me that is a positive thinking of how much time i will spend in this game. Being able complete a quest option on another planet and then fast travel to location of quest giver without having to get in your ship, fly into space, etc.

Not to say that the latter is bad. I will be doing that but after a while those quality of life functions help reduce some redundancy.

Just a few more hours to go! So excited!

It seems that it's just a "OK" game. I'm really happy, that it's not a trash.

Its a shame its not an uncontested masterpiece, but if the reviews settle in the mid 80's, then thats a fantastic game regardless. Concerned by reports of no maps, but cant wait to jump in on GP release day. Congrats to Bethusda on delivering!

OMG - IGN's review is only a 7? I'm going to get a refund on my pre-order right now!

(Except I'm not. Snacks secured, cat put out, sick note ready to go, lights out and door locked. I'm ready for blast off in T-minus 7 hours, baby)

@themightyant ah strange, it’s sorted itself now. First time I had seen it but i’m usually not so eager. Thanks for the info 👍

If anything the reviews have made me even more hyped for this game! going to not check anymore though as I want the opening to be fresh for me.

@GeeEssEff All I was saying is that it’s in good company. Heck, I’ve been playing and enjoying FF XVI. But if you stirring up console wars that don’t exist makes your day, good for you!

I’m happy with the response overall. Was hoping it was 85 or above and so far it is… can still drop of course. But regardless the reaction is positive. Inject these Bethesda games into my veins please. Going to enjoy myself playing the game and let the fanboys fight amongst themselves.

Obviously I haven’t played the game yet, but I can’t help feeling certain reviews (yes, I’m looking at you IGN) under-score a game just so they stand out. If IGN gave it a 7, I daren’t think what Eurogamer are gonna give it 😬 I don’t care anyway, I can’t wait to play it!

@awp69 Ahh yes the old "its you not me" argument. Your the one who bought up the FF16 review comparison on a Starfield review thread so lets not pretend I'm the guy stirring up console war rubbish.

I was always expecting an aggregate of 86, but let's not pretend that MS could have used a runaway success of 90 and above. This is technically a win right now, but those 7's from the big publications are a bit of an ouch... I was always expecting Gamespot to be pedantic as always though.

Sounds good to me.

We all knew going into reviews that it was going to be a hard game to review due to its vastness… these reviews are fantastic considering! Wait for my review to drop tomorrow after only a few hours lol impossible- need to play 100+ before comments…

IGN and Gamespot, what a shocker! This whole 30fps thing really put me off when I found out about it but now I actually can't wait to play it.

It's not the killer app people were hoping for, but being a good game is a definite step forward for both Microsoft and Bethesda. It's not a reason for me to go out and buy a Series X today (couldn't afford that anyway), but I think I'm ready to start saving up for one.

I have to agree with some comments, these numbers are great, each person has an opinion and kinda think it's probably a great game for me, so quite looking forward to play it.

I think there's a lot of hate out there for Xbox, the mega hype too and so on probably didn't help and in a different context those numbers probably would've been a bit higher (for those that care a lot about that) That said, it doesn't really matter to me; most reviews seem to say it's a very worthwhile xp, so it's on my to play list now.

@Nightcrawler71 to be fair if you read the review. He clearly likes the game. The marks off seem pretty fair.

No travel to planets, lifeless planets, and a bit shallow.

Now I’m not saying a 7/10 is right. But you can understand why some aren’t giving it 10.

But as I said earlier it’s clearly a solid game, that more importantly it runs well day 1

Its always the 'game' you make it to be - you are in 'control' of your Game-play, your 'story' as its a 'role playing' game. Yes there are 'systems', lore and even a 'storyline' to follow, but if you just want to be an 'explorer', a Space Pirate etc, you can.

Of course its going to take a 'while' to get into - its a 'new' IP with a whole new 'lore' and setting to introduce. Even if it is 'grounded' in reality compared to 'fantasy' of Elder Scrolls and 'alternative' reality of Fallout, but its still got to introduce you to this 'massive' game that's so large in 'scale'. 10hrs is 'nothing' in the scheme of things - you can spend more than hour just in the 'vault' in Fallout 3 'before' you open out into the 'main' map and spend 'hours and hours' in Megaton before it really gets going too. Let alone all the time you can spend creating your character, reading what all the traits/skills etc before you assign them, contemplating where to spend 'skill' points in the 'early' days not really sure of what's going to be more useful - Several 'hours' later, you actually 'start' playing a Bethesda game... LOL

Everyone will play this 'differently' and therefore I don't care what reviewers thought of this in that respect. I expect the 'majority' felt they had to progress through the main story and had 'deadlines' to hit. That then pressured them into playing a 'specific way' and/or felt the 'time' slipping by quickly with 'little' progress in reaching the 'end' of the story to get their 'review' done in time.

All I really care about was the 'technical' performance - is it 'playable' Day 1 or should I wait for Patches (Cyberpunk 2077). Is the Game 'responsive' and 'smooth' or not, does Combat feel solid or not - inc 'Ship' combat, any 'issues' with the AI, the Physics, the 'Systems/mechanics' at our disposal, the general 'dialogue' etc because that's what 'really' matters in a 'true' RPG that gives you the 'freedom' to go play how you want, become/define the 'Role' in the Game your character is playing within that playground/setting. Yes I can become the 'Main' Character the story was 'written' for - or decide to have a 'different' role to play...

Therefore, I don't really care about the things these 'lower' scoring reviews highlighted as negatives about the Game, I care more about whether Bethesda have actually made a fantastic RPG that's 'great' to play the day it launches, not the usual fantastic RPG that had to wait 'years' in some cases to 'play' at a standard you expect and this seems to be a 'big' step up....

@Kaloudz Huge win considering that most reviews noting that it just takes awhile to get into the game… No worries mate as that was exactly what I was planning…

@Snake_V5 Love you too!

Never change IGN haha. Sounds fantastic and the next 6 hours or so will be long 😅

@Snake_V5 Yeah a 87% average on MC so far is mediocre 🙄

@awp69 Where?

On open critic and metacritic respectively.

FF16 - 88/87
Starfield - 87/87

So people just throwing out the low scores and reading the ones that fit their hopes?

The confirmation bias is strong with this one.

Still looking forward to having a go next week on GP; didn't pay for early access, so no harm done.

Funny thing is IGN Spain give 100/100 and quote:
Starfield is, in a nutshell, everything it needed to be and much more than we could have hoped for.

I’m sort of glad that it’s not Elder scroll’s level greatness as I have a huge backlog (still will try to persuade the misses to buy an Xbox SX)#lessFOMO

Metacritic should not be taken seriously, we know bigger outlets are given more influence over the ‘metacritic’ score, which is hilarious because it goes against what metacritic is meant to be in every sense.

I wish websites and gamers alike would stop using it as some sort of pedestal for rating if a game is good or not, it’s a fake score system tainted by favouritism towards certain outlets.

"Starfield runs well on Xbox Series S. Bethesda has done some smart optimization work to not compromise the visual quality and performance on the Xbox Series S." Tom Warren of The Verge

@FatalBubbles At the time it was higher but it’s still about the same, which is good because I thought FF XVI was great. So sounds like Starfield is in the same ballpark. Another winner in this stacked year!

IGN is very politically sensitive and will bomb a game if it offends them. I wonder whats in this that triggered Dan so much.

@Snake_V5 mediocre is anything below 90% 😂😂 that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve read in a while. Get out of here.

@Snake_V5 So, Spiderman is mediocre. Good to know.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/marvels-spider-man

@awp69 completely different games and experiences, and ff16 is superb by the way.

As expected! Skyrim on consoles is around 81, fallout 4 87!

@awp69 This is right where I figured it would land so I’m pretty excited to give it a go tonight.

@Snake_V5 So Diablo IV, Pikmin 4 and Final Fantasy XVI are all mediocre games too (since they scored about the same)?

Guess I like mediocre games!

@awp69 FF16 is worse than mediocre 😜 I dislike that game with a passion.

@SplooshDmg So is Horizon Forbidden West. 88. Oofff. It seems not all PlayStation exclusives are over the magic 95% mark. Quite far off in fact 😂

Bit disappointed to see those 7/10 if I'm honest.

@Fenbops Not many PS studios games break 90. That's basically reserved for God of War and TLOU (Not the remake) these days. Pretty much everything else is in the 80's. Which is fine. A score in the high 80's is really high. Which is why I find Snake's comment exceptionally absurd. Lol

@Kaloudz I've never trolled believe it or not, I just say how I feel. I do love you guys here, really I do.

Didn’t expect those sites to score it lower, but did expect an 84-88 overall Metacritic score, so it’s all pretty according to expectations.

Don’t think the game will be for me though.

Reviews prove that Xbox CAN deliver good AAA games. This is the biggest Xbox game of this generation so far, and scoring an average of high 80's. That is really damn good, for a game style that typically is very divisive among critics. This is a game we'll be playing and talking about for years to come!

@Snake_V5 The problem is most PlayStation exclusives only last about 2 weeks and almost none of them are actual current gen PS5 games.
What have you been playing this year as Sony has released No First Party exclusives whatsoever?

Aside from the one American reviewer IGN seems to love Starfield. (7 isn't a terrible score either)

IGN (USA) 7
IGN (FRANCE) 9
IGN (BRAZIL) 9.5
IGN (JAPAN) 10
IGN (SPAIN) 10

Its sitting at a cool 96% Critics Recommend on OpenCritic.

@BacklogBrad “IGN (BRAZIL) 9.5” time to brush up on my Portuguese. Looks like the game plays better in Brazil then USA.

I am Portuguese hence why I chose this a the reference 😏

@GeeEssEff Most Gran turismo scores on are bogus, Sony sent out the review copies and hid the Microtransactions from the reviewers only including them at launch.
The user score reviews tells all.

@Sifi Jesus have a day off man!

@Snake_V5 returnal 86, miles morales 85, Rift apart 88, forbidden west 88, gt 7 87, I could keep going but I think you see what I mean. Might should fact check before you say all Sony 1st party exclusives are 90+ meta cause the truth is this gen hardly any of them are. Guess those are all mediocre too

@RetroMan71 Its rare that reviewers will universally praise a game. Even Red Dead Redemption 2 and Elden Ring got multiple 7's or lower.

Averaging 87 is good (96% of critics recommend according to OpenCritic).

Now, if Forza comes in at a 80/90 score, this will have been a damn good year. Three high quality releases in one year is very solid.

Imagine that, the Sony controlled IGN gave it a lower score. Had to include the Xbox Tax. IGN is a trash organization that is overrun by millennials who spew ideology and opinions instead of facts. So glad there are other places that can see the game for what it actually is.

@Aniscape It highlights how different opinions can be even within the same company. 7 is a reasonable score if that is how they feel, its not even a bad score. The IGN (USA) review even says that he recommends the game to everyone and that the momentum of the late game carried him into a new game+ run.

@BacklogBrad Actually Starfield is scoring in the 98th percentile of all games reviewed of all time on their site….

@Mighty90 I never asked anyone to care about my feelings. I said that I say what I feel.

These might be wrong, (if someone can double check for me),
but It might be worth adding the other countries IGN scores.

IGN France gave a 9/10
IGN Brazil gave a 9.5/10
IGN Japan gave a 10/10
IGN Spain gave a 10/10

Not every IGN has the same opinion.

Awesome! Microsoft/Game Pass really nedded this to be great 👍🏻

Can't wait to play it in a few days ❤️

@Snake_V5 Most PS exclusives are not 95%+.

Perhaps, like Forza Horizon 5, so much focus was put on scale that fun got a little bit (but not entirely) forgotten about.
Still, at least the feedback seems generally positive and it's not another Redfall.

@Kaloudz Just watched Digital Foundry's video and yeah its pretty stable and bug free. MS was clearly the best thing to happen for the game.

OK so its not the greatest game ever made,and goty seems to be out the window,but I love bethesdas rpgs for my own stories and adventures,I use to play no mans sky and elite for hours and hours,and youre basically doing the same thing over and over ,there's just something about a vast space game that I find engrossing,especially places that exist in our universe that I can visit ,albeit in video game form,so is it 1am in the uk,looks like I'll be forking out that 30 quid upgrade to play early ,im gonna be tired in work tommorrow 😂

@Wingman709 I mean reviews are opinions not facts, IGN is IGN as usual but its their opinion just like its Destructoid's opinion its a 10.

@Snake_V5 "Mediocre is anything below 90% I expect at least 95% or 97% for this game like most PlayStation exclusives are."

But you are fine with Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Horizon, Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, Grand Turismo, Sackboy, Days Gone, Kilzone, Infamous Second Son, and every single MLB all being under 90%?

Actually... looking at Metacritic... it seems the list of games they have over 90% is definitively in the minority side. GoW3, 2018 and Ragnarök, TLOU 1 and 2. Maybe there are more but all I see are basically 6 games since the PS4 launched landing over 90% and at least 3 of them are PS3 remasters.

Sounds pretty damn good. Can't wait to get my mitts on it

@Sifi so when starfield gets a user score of 65 what you gonna say then,gran turismo is a great game

@Mighty90 ff16 is great ,and has some of the best set pieces in any video game ,ever ,don't criticise someone for being a fan boy, and then do exactly the same thing yourself.

@Kaloudz ah - cleanest, most bug free. Wouldn't that be just awesome?

I don't know about TES 6. Just hoping to be alive to play it (2028?) I sincerely hope it isn't a case of being 'mediocre like every Xbox exclusive is and always will be'

T-minus 345 minutes....

@Sifi last about 2 weeks ? In what way ? Youre as bad as he is to be fair,two peas in a pod you could say

For me, the only reviews that mater are the one that tell me a game is a technical mess that should be a voided. If I'm interested, no review will stop me from playing a game that is on game pass so long as I am interested.

That said, looking at the current state of the reviews, I ignore the percentage average and focus on the positive/mixed/negative ratio since the average gives too much weight to a single person with a biased take (in either direction.)

So far:
90.2% positive
9.8% mixed
0% negative

Sounds like a highly recommended game.

The wait is killing me…can’t concentrate at work…basically just coming here to chat as I don’t want anything else to spoil me 😏

Wonder if i can get my character to look like Buck Rodgers?!

@Snake_V5 i guess everyone has their own interpretation, but mediocre means, "moderate quality, not very good."

Sitting at around 90 on MC definitely seems higher than mediocre imo. Now if it was 70 or lower, I'd agree that mediocre would be considered a fair assessment.

@Snake_V5 oh behave 😂 im more of a ps guy ,but come on ,xbox needed a win and starfield looks like it ticks all the boxes,credit where credit is due my man,yeah a ps exclusive is usually a sign of quality, I know that,you know that ,xbox gamers know that,this is probably the best exclusive xbox has had for over a decade ,let them be joyous,ill be playing starfield later and loving every minute of it 😁

@Snake_V5 maybe time to sell your white elephant and buy a XSX instead . Come to the dark side ... be one of us
...one of us ... one of us ...

@jedinite what with spiderman 2 just around the corner ,don't be daft why would he want to do that ,just buy all consoles and be superior to all fanboys 😂

Wonder how high IGN would score it if it was Playstation exclusive.

@FenIsMightier I state my opinion on the basis i enjoyed it very much,which Is a factual statement,therefore a fact ,would you like the definition of the word fact ? Because I really can't be bothered,I find it hilarious in an article about an xbox exclusive game,which is doing far better than the last xbox exclusive, the conversation yet again gravitates towards playstation, you xbox fanatics find it really hard to take a win.

@Trmn8r who cares

@Gr81 Unsurprisingly he didn't respond to your post listing all the mediocre Sony exclusives

I always seen so much hate to any xbox game on IGN and gamespot and always believe that a payroll or exclusive contents is behind all youtubers and gaming journalists to prise or make a game look bad

Xbox ganna have to fave a lot to level the ground with playstation

Just watched ACG review on YouTube, he explains everything in great detail and it looks amazing.

@FenIsMightier yeah I finished it too and thought it was utter garbage. The only good parts imo were the Eikon fights. The rest is terrible. The most boring side quests in gaming history, one has you speaking to 6 different people and that was literally it 😂 and incredibly dull fetch quests included in the main quest you can’t avoid. It was that boring at times I was watching YouTube or listening to a podcast while working through it. I say working because it was so unenjoyable.

Also the combat was trash. Awful game.

Ps: we are such Xbox fanboys buying FF16 on PlayStation and playing it 🤣

@tallythwack And yet, here you are.

I'm a fool for thinking this comments section was gonna be about Starfield and not about which other games are trash, or which console is worse...

Good to see as always this site turns to Sony.

So predictable.

Just enjoy starfield for what it is. A good game. Who cares what any other game gets?

@Fenbops I'm a PS5 fan boy. What I really mean is, I bought a PS5 and boy, I'm glad I stuck it behind the TV where you can't see it.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Good to see, as always, the internet is the same today as it was yesterday. At least we have consistency.

@KaijuKaiser Pretty much my thoughts on this. I honestly thought the reviews would be 10's from almost every site.

@SplooshDmg thing is, it’s reviewing pretty damn well, with just a few things bringing it down.

Yet half the comments aren’t even about Starfield, all about Sony.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner We didn't start the console war. It was always burning since the worlds been turning.

The game from what i've seen in those reviews is 10 times better in every aspect from all the Falout and elder scrolls games and super pollished, bug free and have good perfomnace overal, yet for a strange reason it didn't get 90-95 score. Guessing bethesda is paying tolls for beeing an xbox exclusive and not a multiplatform. Anyway my hype hasn't chanched!!! 4 ours to greatness..let's goooooo!!!!

@FenIsMightier seems like you're a very angry chap that hates everything,I feel sad for you ,and thats a fact 😁

@Trmn8r yes here iam...erm..hello,that makes no sense whatsoever 😂😂

Sounds amazing! Can't wait to get stuck in. Any game that gets 10's unanimously isn't going to he groundbreaking/creative enough anyway. And I'm old enough to remember IGN's Alien Isolation 5/10 so no surprises there.

@KaijuKaiser Looks like you forgot to insert your brain again.

Sounds like a good game, but not a great game. Some of the review headlines sum it up nicely:

‘Starfield’ has everything you could want, except a reason to keep playing
-Mashable

Bethesda ‘Starfield’ is a fabulous playable space opera with a forgettable story
-NPR

Starfield review: You will like some of it
-engadget

Starfield review: Xbox’s ambitious outer space RPG is big, beautiful, and empty
-digitaltrends

Review: ‘Starfield’ Delivers A Queer-Inclusive Intergalactic Adventure
-Yahoo!news

At least it’s hovering in the 80s. Don’t see that too often outside of Forza.

I don’t think I’ve ever played more than an hour of any Bethesda game that isn’t DOOM. I’m excited to try this in just a couple hours now. I think this will be the Bethesda RPG that holds my interest.

@lacerz Not all reviews are negative. You seem to be focusing on the negatives.

You know what I love most about Starfield? The way it brings the community together to discuss our mutual anticipation for the release without any bickering 😊

@lacerz Looks like you're just cherry picking the more negatives stances. At least balance it out with quotes from Forbes and Destructoid or something who loved it.

So it’s a pretty Bethesda game. Cool, keeps my hype for TES6! I hope the romances are decent. Bethesda has been pretty boring with that imo.

@FenIsMightier and by fools ,you mean people with a different opinion to yours,well thats just groovy 😎

@Aniscape 😂😂

@Moonglow don't rise to it ,im mainly a playstation guy and starfield looks great and I cant wait to play,and the majority of playstation gamers ,well the normal ones,agree with you about the price hike and that stupid remote play handheld.

@lacerz 'you will like some of it' 😂😂 that should be the only line, for every review ,of every game.

Some meh reviews - which sometimes people put out for the clicks - and some perfect reviews - which some bloggers also put out for the clicks.

So it is a video game.

I am going to play it in 6 days.

@lacerz Curious that you chose a bunch of mixed quotes and a quote about it being queer inclusive. It's almost as though you find inclusiveness to be a negative. Is that what you intended?

As expected. Site gives 7/10 review it's because they're biased. Site gives 10/10 it must be true! Laughable.
Reading the reviews in general it sounds far from a perfect game and some of the points do slightly concern me such as the pacing and the inventory management being a huge part and badly implemented but I'm encouraged by the handful of epic moments that are mentioned and the fact some sites say the story is worth it (although some say otherwise).
By the way I see PC gamer scored it 75% and pc mag scored it 70%. Are these known playstation sites / anti MS sites. I'm not clued up these.
Personally think I'm more hyped from these reviews than before hand, even more so by the 7/10 reviews where there are many complaints about the game but nothing to make it bad in their eyes. Expect in truth it'll realistically be somewhere between 7 and 10 for me.

@tallythwack Not surprising you wouldn't get it.

Wow, just read the Metro article on the Starfield reviews. Anyone here easily offended and defensive about Starfield should avoid at all costs. So obviously written with rage about not getting review copies sent to them!!
I understand Bethesda tried to send copies to publications more likely to review high, but in the long term I feel that may work against them if those they didn't send review copies are angry when reviewing themselves. Remember it is their livelihood Bethesda are messing with so may result in a long term lower score than had they sent to everyone the same time?

@Trmn8r ok kiddo whatever you say 😂

@Moonglow agreed

@StonyKL but those reviewers should have more integrity and review the game on its own merits,it wasn't the devs that worked so hard on the game for so many years that didn't give them a review copy

@Kaloudz Basically until you get at least a couple of 10s (as games like RDR2, Elden Ring etc) did. It counts as great but "not masterpiece". The game will probably sell a ton and have a lot of players anyway.

@StonyKL I’m glad the Metro are mad, they get what they deserve. I doubt what the metro say about Starfield in a review eventually will matter at all, good or bad.

Edit: I went and had a quick look at the article. 😂 they’re mad they didn’t get a review code and are accusing Bethesda of foul play. They hand pick the 7/10 reviews and make no mention of the good ones. I’m sure when they do drop their review now it’ll be completely unbiased and not take any of that into consideration. What a joke of a website, completely unprofessional, doubt they’ll be getting anymore codes either 😂

7/10

Too much space

Turned out great, so I'm happy.

Work has been a stressful nightmare, so I took a few minutes to read the Destructoid review. Oh my dear God..... It reads like it was written by a 16 year fanboy/girl. It's actually really bad.
Something tells me this is more of that 8.5-9 type of game which is exactly what I hoped for!

@hypnotoad it was all hate pretty much and at the end they said some good stuff. Still gave it a 7 though. I don’t go by any sites scores no matter which one. I have to play it for myself.

Ah well, very soon, we'll all know about the ratings/hype.

T-minus 60 minutes...

Good luck out there, folks....

Work done ✅, dinner done ✅, spending some quality time with wife watching Star Trek Lower Decks ✅!

In 55 minutes…wife who?!? 😏

@Fenbops ACG loves it. No other review matters.

@hypnotoad why chuck the IGN review out? Have you actually watched it?? 😂

Game looks really good. I’ll probably avoid for now though. Mostly because of all the weirdness with review copies has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Look forward to purexbox’s review !!

300 seconds

Here we go....

I'm in

and I think it's gonna be a long, long time....

It's Skyrim - in space!!

Quality first 30 mins

The first reviews I read were gamespot, polygon and ign. I was super hype for the game, had the starfield controller in box waiting for today. Disappointed to say the least. Was doing chest day at the gym right before it launched and decided to just skip it entirely

Read several review's, specially the IGN/GameSpot outliers, and I can see a very clear pattern. The shortcomings the IGN reviewer mentions are indeed somewhat reflected in most other reviews, including some/most of the 10/10 full of praise ones. It's just that it seems that this issues aggravated the IGN guy more than the other reviewers
, which actually makes it a VERY GOOD review. IGN guy gives a very honest and clear take on why
the aggravating issues affected his gameplay, while at the same time expressing true awe and amazement for the things the game does right. One very good thing too is that IGN goes out of it way to make the review spoiler free, which is more to say than.....

The GameSpot review. Man, this GS guy comes through as someone who decided to dislike the game from the get go. There is this pedantic, "holier than thou" tone all over the review, as if the reviewer thinks HE could have made a better game than Bethesda did. You can literally perceive this from the very first lines/paragraphs of it, and it doubles down as you continue t9 read. But THE MOST EGREGIOUS ASPECT OF THE GAMESPOT REVIEW IS THAT IS NOT SPOILER FREE!!!! Man , how I wish I wouldn't have read it... there's a couple of things there that didn't really need to be mentioned for any other reason than to negatively affect the gameplay experience of the reader. And the worst part is that the review itself doesn't warn you about this.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, DO NOT READ THE GS REVIEW IF U WANT TO STAY SPOILER FREE. Also, it is very evidently written full of bile and condescension towards the game creators. If you want an honest take of the negatives of the game, read IGN's ... is it miles and leaps beyond GameSpot in terms of honesty, you can truly feel how the guy REALLY wanted the game to be better but laments that those issues are there preventing it from being what it could have been.

@tallythwack you seem to have too much faith that any reviewer is unbiased. Truth is they are all biased in some way. It's human nature. From all the 10s because they got early access and scared anything other than 10 will blacklist them to the low scores because they were blacklisted. If Bethesda aren't careful they'll p*** off too many people.

@Fenbops but it's not just Metro it's a large number of publications!

The more I'm reading it sound like Starfield negativity is based of lack of exploration of games like No Man's Sky and lack of depth. This sounds perfect for me as I do prefer games with some limitations to control the story, gameplay and pacing. When it's too open I end up forgetting why I'm doing anything and give up!

Microsoft gave me a refund on premium edition if anyone else is in same boat (I hadn’t played it yet). Very quick and easy

@CallMeDuraSouka I read the Destructoid review and it made me feel a little sick inside 😂

I always find 10/10 reviews suspicious, especially if they actually point out some negatives. Surely that can't be a perfect score then.

Regardless, I don't pay much attention to scores of reviews, more the written word although I do tend to find myself drawn to lower scoring reviews.

Played for a few hours and have enjoyed what I have played. Not really set off on my own yet though, that's when I really get in to Bethesda games.

@StonyKL I mean maybe there is something going on but that article was a blatant unprofessional hit piece. It read like an entitled child not getting what they want. No one is owed a code, not even these outlets who obviously think they are.

It doesn't happen often, but I have the whole weekend to myself and I'm seriously tempted to get the early access now. I've read some some great reviews and read some stinkers too, but it looks so damn good.

@SacredPYRO I find that the lower scoring reviews can often be more worth reading than the higher scoring ones as they will often go into more details about the issues that particular reviewer had with the game and you can decide if that's something that would bother you too. A 10/10 review that glosses over issues isn't overly helpful. But if those issues didn't bother the reviewer to mark it down then that's fair enough too.

@tallythwack hehe, well yeah that's the option I use. Got virtually every console since the Atari 2690 (woody).

I was able to play a couple hours before bed, and so far I’m loving it on my series X.

Some people got caught up in the hype and imagined something other than what Starfield is. I noticed that a lot of people wanted No Man’s Skyrim with seamless ground to space action. It’s not that, but what we do have seems pretty great so far.

Glad the game turned out good. I wasn’t hyped for the game. I’ll give it a go but I’m not much of an RPG fan. Not that I don’t like them, I don’t have much time for them. But I’m glad for those who’ve been waiting for this game. It’s been such a long wait and I’m happy to see the great reviews coming it.

Who cares about reviews? most people will try it regardless. So 7 hours in and I have to say as "not an RPG fan" I'm loving it. Only really been doing the main missions, not much crafting or changing ship designing but it all seems straight forward. Have got lost a few times trying to find things and places. The aiming for gun fights could do with being a bit tighter, but maybe I can tweak that in the settings?

Only had one glitch in a mine, a spacer was stuck half inside a crate...lol

Overall I'm very impressed, I not going to give it a score, but from someone who's now a casual gamer (I'm old) to put in 7 hours before thinking about doing some work today can only tell you you one thing....Stop reading this and go and play it!

@Kaloudz This is not a win for MS. What was supposed to be the game of the generation for them is mid. Not a good look

@Kaloudz who got banned?

For me it is an 7.5/8 so far. I was tired last night and only gave it 2 hours. I encountered weird bugs and such (as expected from Bethesda) but the lack of exploration is mildly annoying me. Still a good game. Just not "oh my god!" material.

Ignore reviews, make your own judgements.

@Kaloudz oh wow. I mean his comment was ridiculous but I’m not for banning somebody for that, it’s not like he threatened or was nasty to anyone. Not my call though 😅

Given how long the game is, I was always expecting this game to be a bit divisive. Was never expecting 10’s or even 9’s across the board. I expected some would like it and some would love it and that seems to be exactly what’s unfolded. The most important thing is that nobody has really hated it. It’s a good game to some, a great game to others.

Given my overall love for Bethesda games and games set in space, I am almost 100% confident now that I will also find it great. That’s all I care about. Can’t wait to jump in soon.

@SacredPYRO

I usually love reading Destructoid to, all kinds of weird.

Hope you enjoy!

Mine isn't coming until the 6th, just glad people are playing Bethesda again

@Kaloudz Hope you have plenty of time for Sea of Stars, its bigger than I imagined it would be! Im 37 hours into it now and it looks like theres plenty more to go! I'm also determined to finish it before Starfields GP release.. it deserves it. Good as it is in that first half, it gets even better in the later sections imo. 😁

I always manage to spend twice as long as anyone else, though in this instance its hard to see why as Ive been cracking on with it at quite a pace 😁

@Dan1283 I agree. The hype got out of hand for this game. But I am loving it. I think it’s fantastic!

Had early access, so been playing for a few days. Slowly got that hang of it. The story takes a while to really get going. The general feel of it is Mass Effect, mixed with “Firefly”. The world building is incredible, and once I had played through the first few hours, I started again.

Now that I have got the hang of it, and the story is starting to open up, I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. Cannot wait to see what happens next.

@Fenbops just read the in progress review on the Metro. Ouch 🤣. Not at all predictable!

@StonyKL it was only ever going to be one way after their toddler article 😂

‘Thanks to Bethesda, It’s still going to be a number of days before we can offer a full, scored review of Starfield’

Still salty 🤣🤣 I love it.