Talking Point: Where Does Starfield Rank In Your Top Games Of 2023?

It’s definitely top 10. But is it better than RE4? BG3? ToTK? HL? For me it’s not. It’s not even the best rated Xbox game of the year. hiFi rush is higher, and I expect FM to rate higher too.

It will be in the conversation for GoTY, but for me it’s lacking to win it.

I have Starfield third. Dredge first and Hifi Rush second, the top 5 is completed by Tears of the Kingdom in 4th and Oxenfree 2 in 5th. Probably Forza Motorsport enters the top 3 for me or even first but we'll see.

It’s a tough one for me.
I have put many hours into TOTK
and not enough into Starfield yet of course.
Both games have their plus points and their little minus points.

And I haven’t played Jedi survivor yet that is on my list to do. Also we have a few more to release yet this year. Mario Wonder, Alan wake 2 and Avatar.

Also Pikmin 4 is dam fine game if a little niche.
It will end up in the top five I for sure.

It's a great game but I think it's safe for me to admit I hyped it up a bit. Definitely in my top 5 this year though. However I really do think this will be a much better game in the years to come.

For me its around 3rd now. Below HiFi Rush and Final Fantasy 16. With Spiderman 2 still releasing and both a game in my favorite series Like a Dragon and Persona it might drop a bit.
But i love the game, have around 90 hours in the game arm and far from done yet. We just have so many amazing games this year and some of those i just liked a bit more than Starfield .

Starfield is definitely up there. Some crackers this year, I really enjoyed Hogwarts Legacy despite not considering myself a Potter fan, the Horizon Forbidden West dlc was decent, Diablo 4 was addictive for a while but my personal GOTY is Aliens Dark Descent because I'm as huge Alien Saga fan and that game ticked so many boxes. Still gotta play RE4 remake and I know Phantom Liberty will likely be top 5.

Starfield is an interesting game. In some ways it is amazing and in other ways tragically flawed. Of course, it also has a lot of bugs.

I would say overall it is a "good" game and I am enjoying playing it.

However, 2023 has been an amazing years for games. It is definitely top 10 for me and probably top 5 at least as of right now. The year isn't over yet though....

In a normal year it would easily be my personal GOTY but its been one heck of year for just banger games (and expansions to games). It's hard to say but certianly top 5.

I was the overly hyped guy going in but 2023 just had too many games. Starfield was my favorite game but it will be in the conversation for GOTY but realistically 2 or 3. Seriously the DLC will hopefully make the game into an amazing universe…

If I was asked first weekend it would be top 3. After putting more time into it though I’m starting to get bored. Choices feel inconsequential (although this probably comes from an unconscious comparison with BG3 where choices are everything) and missions just feel so compartmentalised…..take mission on planet, talk to someone somewhere else on planet, fast travel to different planet, talk to someone there, kill some bad guys, fast travel back to initial planet to close out mission. I like there’s other stuff to do like ship building, outpost building, pirating etc but I just don’t feel compelled to put the grind and effort into levelling up the stat points required to reward me for that stuff. It’s deffo top 10 for 2023 but probably BG3, Resi 4 and Street fighter 6 for me as a top 3.

Sorry, it's not my type of game. So it's not on the list of games I like.

The shooting mechanics were the best in any Bethesda game to date, ship and outpost building is a fun side activity and I felt levelling up was rewarding and exciting. It’s technically very impressive, but soulless.

I didn’t get immersed in the “world”. The storylines are boring. The characters were horribly written and I didn’t care for ANY of them. Mass Effect and KOTOR are still better spacefaring adventures and had a greater feeling of exploration - despite the linearity.

Starfield is a 6/10 game and not GOTY worthy.

@GeeEssEff there’s 0 reason to build a ship or outpost in starfield too. And why they didn’t just give you a ‘blank canvas’ page to build a ship on is beyond me.

Totally agree with the choices too. I have a funny one but it would contain spoilers so can’t say it

Easily my GOTY. Zelda would be my other contender, but Starfield just feels like the space game I've been wanting since I got into gaming. Everything about it is so enjoyable to me from the stories, to the combat, to flying around seeing the different planets. Love it so much and I'm thankfully nowhere near finished.

From my perspective, it has to be up there in the conversation. Most of the other games I see mentioned above don't actually appeal to me or I haven't played - BG3 for example I would never play because I can't stand turn based combat. I don't have a Switch so haven't played Zelda. Not sure about HiFi Rush, not really my thing and haven't yet felt compelled to try it due to wanting to play other games I have more.

However, no game has been as 'addictive' to me than Starfield this year. Despite its flaws, its still the game I want to play above any other, its the game that I think about when I am not gaming and what I look forward to returning to when I next get the opportunity to game.

Dead Space remake is probably my other favourite game this year but I can't count remakes/remasters of OLD games - it doesn't seem right to have a game that's 10yrs old or more to be a Game of the Year - so I would struggle with RE4 as GotY too.

All I can say is that Starfield surprised me most - maybe because I was anticipating another Redfall, Cyberpunk 2077 or Fallout 76 type situation where the game is terrible at launch and I never wanted to keep playing. I still haven't felt like returning to Cyberpunk today and only want to keep playing Starfield right now...

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Every time I enter the ship builder menu I get confused and frustrated. I want to get good at outpost building because I’ve always loved the crafting element to Bethesda games and it seems like the best way to get resources but there’s just too many of them. Every time I want to upgrade a gun or something I seem to have one of the resources for every option but am missing everything else so either need to find a planet with those resources and walk around it or accept I am not going to upgrade. They could have made things easier by making it so resources don’t weigh anything but because of the over encumberance mechanics I have resources dotted around the lodge, my ship and various companions making it even more frustrating. This is with max weight lifting perk and a suit that gives me +40 weight. I honestly appreciate everything that have tried to do with this game but with the way it has come together there’s just a few too many barriers for pure enjoyment and it results in at least 20% of my time playing it being pure busy work.

Most surprising of my choices for me was Street fighter. Always been the bottom of my pile of fighting games but 6 is such a complete package that encourages continuous improvement. Incredible game!

So, I was the one banging on about how fantastic Baldur's Gate 3 will be, and how it will win absolutely EVERY Game of the Year Award for the next 12 months, and having sunk over 100 hours into BG3, I remain of that opinion. I said, even before either game came out, that BG3 would top that award over Starfield.

However, I have yet to start Starfield, so I guess it is a little unfair of me to say that with the certainty that I have, but I really struggle to see anything beating BG3.

I have just started the third act of BG3, which means I am in the home straight to completion. Once I have finished that game, Starfield is my next game, though I have to admit that I might hit Spiderman 2 first, not because it is the game I would prefer to play, but because it will take less time to complete.

Regardless, this year has been quite literally the best year for gaming ever, in my opinion. I have absolutely no idea how this year will be topped in the coming years, but I cannot wait to see what is to follow.

Gaming has come a long way since I played Pong in back in the early 70s... 😂

Good game ,played it since launch,game of the year, not a chance.

Starfield is my game of the year on Xbox so far, though based on what I’ve seen BG3 will certainly be beating it once the Xbox version is released. Certainly it’s by a long way the best game out of Bethesda studio.

@Moonglow I never said it should be forced :/ I just said it’s in there and there is 0 point to it. I never said it shouldn’t be a choice.

They are both interesting features but money etc come so easy there’s no reason to build an outpost because you can simply just buy the resources and because money is so easy to come by you don’t need the resources to sell for cash. I’m just saying the game needs a mechanic around it. Give people who enjoy it an actual reason for it

@Moonglow Fast travel is not a choice…if you tried playing the game without fast travel you wouldn’t get off the first planet

This is easily my game of the year. Played it yesterday for the first time and it's one of those times where I ended up playing it all night because I was so into it, and I barely scratched the surface of what I can do.

It's like some people go crazy over whatever the latest soulslike game is, but this is what I absolutely enjoy. There is just something about a Bethesda RPG where they're the best exploration games around. So many other developers rely upon generated content for this kind of size and scale, but here you can tell how everything has been carefully crafted. It is truly a big open galaxy you can just explore at your own pace. This is the type of game that keeps me interested in video games.

Fine game but nowhere near top of my list. Happy i was able to play for $0 though

@BAMozzy Yeah that is basically the problem I have with so many other "GotY" titles people have brought up around here, none of them really appeal to me, or they're just a remake of a game that appealed to me in a bygone era.

Starfield is easily one of the few big hyped up titles that actually appeals to me, and I have been thoroughly enjoying it. It's the same deal with me as well, there is a lot of big epic open world RPG's these days, but right now this is the only one I keep wanting to play more of. So many others felt like interesting games to check out but they never really kept me wanting more.

As a PC player BG3 and Starfield are both my top pick for the year so far. I had an absolute blast playing Starfield though and safe to say I'll play it for years to come.

I want to get around to playing this. Closest I’ve gotten was making a generic character in the creation part and deciding I hated put it looked.

I like Ravenlock and Eiyuden Chronicles better.
And before anyone tries and call me a ninty fanboy, i hated both Breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom

There's no "Lock-On" to keep the action on the enemy during fights, right?

Not played yet... ☹️

Probably exactly #5, behind Zelda, RE4, FFXVI and Octopath 2

Game of the year lol its not even close its a good game but xbox fanboys would say its game of the year its no where near game of the year

It's currently my top game of the year but I expect it will finish in top 3 behind Forza Motorsport & Baldurs Gate 3 (assuming they do manage to release 2023.)

While I am taking a break from it I have 192 hours in Starfield over several characters and still finding new things. It will be even better next year when we get mod support and it will be exciting to see what Bethesda with DLC going forward.

In my opinion starfield, Zelda totk, D3, all class awesome games however they’re better versions of previous ones. So I wouldn’t like to give that a GOTY. As much I love ( and I love Zelda , and starfield) these games this year I think GOTY should be new or at least totally new ideas and strategies to existing franchises. Again I love Zelda and Starfield ( have the headset and game pad).

So far, I'd say my top 6 are in no order...

• FE Engage
• Hi Fi Rush
• TotK
• Sea of Stars
• Metroid Prime Remaster
• Starfield

Starfield is probably #6 for me.

It’s very, very good. Not the sort of thing that I usually play but I am enjoying it. Realistically I won’t finish it, won’t even come close, but I am planning to keep going until I inevitably move onto another game.

That is has held my interest despite me being neither an RPG fan nor into science fiction is obviously a good sign though, and I can completely see why for some it’s a great game, and maybe one of their favourites.

I am fascinated as to how some have managed to sink over 100 hours into it in such a short time though!

@Dan1283 I treat it for what it is,skyrim in space ,im really enjoying it,ill be moving on to cyberpunk next week though ,and then there's a certain web crawler that will be getting all my attention.

@tallythwack ye it is good I know it seems I'm bashing it's just skyrim in space but it's just not In the same league as the other top games this year zelda totk baldurs gate resident evil 4 remake pikmin 4 and probably spiderman 2

This game made me retire GTAV enough said

I'm about 70 hours into Starfield and its easily my GOTY with RE4 in 2nd and Zelda 3rd

@BAMozzy that how I've been with Starfield, I just don't want to play anything else at the moment. I did try the Cyberpunk patch and it's a huge improvement and looks stunning on my PC but I still went straight back to Starfield and have a crazy amount of things to do even after around 70 hours

Based on what I've played it's my GotY. I feel if I played RE4 that might change, looking forward to Baldurs Gate 3 since everyone has hyped it recently. I went into Starfield the first 10 days without reading reviews or complaints online and just got totally absorbed, sometimes I feel that's the best way to really experience a game at launch. Of course you need reviews and media content as games aren't cheap and it's good to get some opinions but this was like a Zelda launch for me where I just wanna play it myself and not spoil anything or follow any guides.

My No1 and Hogwarts Legacy is my no2

@somnambulance you have brought 20 or more games launched in 2023! That's a big investment! I thought I'd brought a lot and I've brought about 12 so far with a couple left.

1. Baldur’s Gate
2. Final Fantasy XVI
3. Starfield
4. Hi-Fi Rush
5. Hogwarts Legacy

The Bethesda fan boys showed up in droves! This is NOT goty material. Not by a long shot. Sorry!

So far Starfield is number 1. Can't think of anything else across any platform that has come close to capturing my attention like this.

Starfield
Resident Evil 4
Zelda
Diablo 4
Hogwarts
Pikmin 4

I love my Xbox… but I really don’t like Bethesda RPG games at all, couldn’t get into Skyrim and couldn’t get into this one either.
Funny enough my GOTY is a Bethesda game Hi-Fi Rush!

It's good, but in my opinion there are better games.

Starfield is GOTY for me so far, and pretty easily. Spider-Man 2 and BG3 have a chance to top it once I get to them.

Probably tied for #1 atm for me with Remnant 2, it's hard for me to choose.

I haven't started BG3, I intend to wait until after Rogue Trader, most accounts are BG3 is one of the best CRPGs of all time, but not quite Pathfinder WOTR (no surprise considering Larian's previous games). Because it's so much higher budget than RT I could see it hurting my RT playthrough, but not the other way around. So it's going to be on the back burner for a few months.

Hmm I enjoy it, but the writing and quests (as of New Atlantis) are hideously simple and insulting.

So I would place Baldurs Gate 3, Hogwarts Legacy, and Diablo IV higher.

@Zucaritas

Dredge is so good!

Wild to think that the biggest games for both Xbox and Nintendo this year are just another, older game but with a ton more stuff. Starfield is Fallout 4 in space, Tears of the Kingdom in BOTW but after a timeskip. I'd assume Spider-Man 2's the same case, but it'll be a bit before we see if that or FF16 is the bigger GOTY contender from the PS perspective.

I have no idea what my GoTY will be yet. I don't care about technical prowess or how expansive a game is, or a number of other reasons. I base my choice of GoTY on pure enjoyment.

So far, the games I've enjoyed the most this year are TotK, Hogwarts Legacy, Marble it Up, Dredge, and Sea of Stars. I still haven't played Oxenfree II, and Spider-Man 2 hasn't even released yet.

I want to play Baldur's Gate 3, but I've never finished Divinity Original Sin, nor have I started Divinity Original Sin 2, so it'll be a long time before I play BG3.

As for Starfield, it isn't a bad game, but for me, it's a highly disappointing game. It feels unfinished and lacking basic features past Bethesda games have had, among a myriad of other issues I have with it. To be fair, Starfield was the first Bethesda game that didn't interest me when revealed either. I'm not even sure why, it just doesn't resonate with me so far.

I will say it's gotten better once I finally left New Atlantis and and started aimlessly wandering, which I've always enjoyed most about Bethesda games. It did take far too long to get to that point though.

@Kaloudz

I haven't had much interest in Starfield, and that's since it was first announced. Elder Scrolls 6 is what I want, and unfortunately it will be nearly 20 years between the release of Skyrim and the hopeful release of ES6. That is far too long for my liking.

That said, I've found Starfield hugely disappointing and in many ways a step backwards from previous games. That's not even mentioning all the streamlining Bethesda has been doing to their games to gain wider appeal ever since Oblivion.

Not unlike the simplification of the Mass Effect games as they progressed. I'm actually a bit worried about ES6.

Best game I've played this year so far, alongside Hogwarts Legacy. I've not played Baldur's Gate 3 or Phantom Liberty yet though.

Starfield is good but a bit dull and to much fast travel haven't played it since starting lies of p if that was any fallout or elder scrolls game I would be addicted one big open world suits Bethesda RPGs better then a dozen medium ones I will play it again but would only give it about 7 out of 10 hopefully when I get back into playing it the game will improve

Top 3.
1. Street Fighter 6
2 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
3. Starfield

I don't count re-releases of older games so Metroid Prime Remastered and Resident Evil 4 remake are left off the list (awesome games, though, highly recommended to fans or people who never experienced the originals). My top 3 is also still subject to change with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Sonic Superstars, Spider-Man 2 and Forza Motorsport set to come out among a few others.

Starfield is one of the hardest games I've ever played to parse into a final score or to compare with other games. It's captivating and unique. It's massively deep. It's a game you can get lost in for hours at a time and achieve very little! Yet the storys are excellent and crack on when you want to be entertained. The visuals are stunningly beautiful for a game on its scale. The combat is decent.

That said there are many things wrong with it. There are moments of boredom. There are too many loading screens. Ship travel is very disappointing verging on pointless and the world feels off when you really think about it. There are a lot of reasons why immersion is shattered which is actually much worse than in skyrim or fallout 4. Travelling on foot is a mini game as is inventory management and the in game economy. It desperately needs more to really rise above those groundbreaking BGS titles. More of what? I'm not sure. There are many simple suggestions I could make but it would take a lot to make it work in line with what I think people expected from it. It suffers badly from it's own scale and ambition. How do you even begin to fix that?

But it's a start. It's a game that tells me BGS are returning to form. They bit off far more than they can chew with starfield but I am very excited to see what learnings they take forward into the next elder scrolls title. It should be incredible based on what I've seen here. There are many issues introduced by starfield's genre and setting that will be a moot point in the elder scrolls universe.

@Dan1283 I think most people are overwhelmed ,that they've got an exclusive game on xbox thats actually good ,they've released nothing but mediocrity for a long time ,sure ms bought the game ,but just take the win,its a good game, it won't win any awards though,like you said far far better games released this year.

Definitely not in a GOTY discussion for me. RE4 remake, Diablo 4 and Zelda yes.

@tallythwack thats spot on its the start of something special for xbox especially with forza hellblade 2 and avowed

For me ZTOTK is the best game of 2023, Starfield is next, for now.

I get the notion that Microsoft 'bought' the game, @tallythwack, but the Starfield we have received is not the Starfield that Bethesda would have released one or two years ago had Bethesda not been bought.

Microsoft afforded Bethesda the luxury of time and money that they would not otherwise have had. Truth be told, had Bethesda not had that additional year or two, the game would probably be smaller in scope and scale, and on a par with the terrible state in which Fallout 76 was released. Would it been a good game two years after release? Probably. Would it be as good as the game we have now? Probably not.

I get that those PlayStation only gamers that are unable to play the game are somewhat salty, and I can, to some extent, understand that saltiness. However, the truth is, that the Starfield that released a week or so ago, is a far superior version of the game than they would have played had it released on all systems a year or two ago...

Top 2, tied with final fantasy. 16 but behind tears of the kingdom.

It is my favourite game released this year but I have only played hi-fi rush, Hogwarts, totk and sea of stars. Looking forward to see if I like BG3 more (I expect not as I am not that big into Crpg)

@Moonglow I agree that the choice to do what you want is what's good. I never like building and customisation tools. 40-odd hours in and I've not even looked at ship or outpost building (and I've also stuck with guns I've found or been given).

It might mean I miss out on some things but I get to play the game in a way I enjoy.

I think it's great everyone can play to their own style.

It’s weird. I love Bethesda games but they are never my GoTY. They provide this amazing sandbox but they don’t move me. I care about the worlds and many of the people but I have yet to really be emotionally impacted by a Bethesda game. Meanwhile ToTK has put me through the emotional wringer. But totally my third favorite game this year (finally got around to working on Horizon FW over on PS5 and loved it). Plus I will likely be playing until TES6 comes out.

Right now, its third after Hogwart's Legacy and Remnant 2, but there's still quite a few games coming that I'm really looking forward to-Super Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, Forza, Avatar and AC Mirage.

Can I be honest? I don't even remember all the games I've played this year. Gonna have to do a check at the end of the year and then rank what I've played. But if you asked me right now I'd say Starfield because I'm having way more fun than I thought I would.

Definitely near the top if not the top. But I like other games this year as well, especially the remakes and remasters from Nintendo and Capcom. 😉

That said, I love Starfield and have put the most time in to it.

I suppose it would be in my top ten this year as I haven't even played ten new games yet (or even five maybe?)
Personally though I played a few hours and realised it just wasn't for me despite loving Fallout/Elder Scrolls.

this game is certainly no mass effect frankly its probably not even as good as outer worlds

After 25-ish hours I think I'm pretty much done with it, and my overall take is that it's pretty mediocre. Some good moments, but it lacks the sense of exploration and discovery that made Skyrim and Fallout interesting. Trudging across featureless deserted planets towards a distant marker is just tedious, and I think Todd Howard's "it's meant to be dull" explanation makes it worse. The Bethesda jank and the limitations of the Creation engine are also getting kind of tired now - apart from the improved visuals (and even those feel behind the curve - my heavily modded Skyrim looks better!) it feels like little has changed under the hood since Oblivion. The sad truth is that, based on Starfield, my anticipation for Elder Scrolls VI has all but disappeared now...

It's a second tier game to me, I still love it and expect it to improve over time with mod support and Bethesda making improvements as well as the DLC. But being objective it is an 8/10 game with a +/-2 swing depending on how much you want to role play in that universe.
Compare that to BG3 and TOTK which are 2 near perfect games (although I've only played the latter so going off the reviews for the former) and then you have RE4, Jedi Survivor, SF6, Diablo 4, Sea of Stars(likely to be the indy nom) and likely Spider-Man 2 and Mario Wonder all heavy hitters that are going to be pushing for a spot on any GotY list, it will be likely Starfield doesnt appear on many lists.(I didnt add Hogwarts to that list as I fully expect it to be omitted to avoid any controversy and Forza as racing games are always left out)

@Fiendish-Beaver pure conjecture on your part ,shame they couldn't use this special buyout magic on redfall

Played a few hours, wasn't for me. It won't register anywhere on my favourite games list. Glad some people are enjoying it though.

Pure conjecture, @tallythwack? How do you work that out? Bethesda were due to release the game two years ago. Even under Microsoft management the game was supposed to release a year ago. So what do you think happened during the past two years? The game was just sat there in its current, completed state for the last two years whilst everyone at Bethesda went on holiday or something? No, they were working on the game and making it what it is today. It stands to reason that it is a better product now than it would have been two years ago. That's not conjecture. That's a reasoned and provable fact.

Pure conjecture is your argument, completely ignoring the fact that Bethesda have openly stated what they have done under Microsoft management, and how different the game is. Obviously you would not wish to acquaint yourself with such matters as it does not aid your agenda in bashing everything Xbox and Microsoft related.

I see you come one this site often and knock Microsoft, Xbox and proclaim anyone that has a more supportive opinion of Xbox than your own as being 'fanboys', yet you are blinded by your own disdain for Xbox and its users to the extent that you simply dismiss the opinions of others.

As for Redfall, I agree that the game should probably have either been canned or delayed. I guess that you do at least have that reasonable argument to fall back on though...

I'm enjoying it. I'm about 35 hours in and intend to play for much longer.
But in no way is this GOTY material for me.
1 Baldurs Gate 3
2 Breath of the wild Tears...
3 Hogwarts

All the above excell in a way that Starfield just doesn't for me.
However, its a great game and well worth anyone playing it.

I don't think it's topping BG3 so it's my second.

Then why bother to come to this site, @tallythwack, and espouse nothing more than contempt for Microsoft, Xbox and it's users? You clearly have nothing better to do with your time than come here and spit venom...

@Fiendish-Beaver by venom,you mean opinions that don't fit in with yours,I own an xbox ,so I come to this site for xbox news, sorry if that upsets you ,but thats the way its gonna be,I do apologise, if I dont brown nose uncle Phil at every opportunity.

I'm not expecting you to agree with all, some or indeed any, comments in here, @tallythwack. However, if you look through your recent comments, there are none that are remotely supportive of Xbox in the slightest. Furthermore, what you have done is belittled the opinions of others on here calling them 'fanboy's' etc. Why? Because their opinions don't count? Count less than your own? Or are simply wrong (by your metrics) because they differ from your own?

So you own an Xbox? And what does that mean exactly? That it gives you permission to come to this site and say whatever you like, even if it annoys others that come here too? Does ownership of an Xbox entitle you to denigrate those with an opinion that does not match your own?

I would put money on the fact that, whilst you may own an Xbox, that you in fact regard it as your second, or even third, console, and that you primarily game elsewhere. If I am wrong, then coming here to simply dispense disparaging comments to other site users, rather than attempt to speak civilly to others that have a more considerate tone is even sadder. Just trying to speak to others in the manner that you would prefer to be spoken to would be a good start...

It doesn't rank for me. Not that it's a bad game, it's just a pretty standard Bethesda game...which I've come to realize just aren't something I jive with. Outside of Skyrim, I've never particularly enjoyed their games, and Starfield is kind of a perfect encapsulation of everything I dislike about them.

I wanted to love this game. Pre release, I thought it'd be right up my street. But, around 25 hours in and I'm thinking, "this is a good game". I wanted to be blown away. I wanted to be having 6,7 or 8 hour sessions in game. But I'm just not.
Games I've enjoyed more and spent more time in this year are (there's a few that even surprised me) :
1. Ghost Recon wildlands
2. Transport Fever 2
3. Forza Horizon 5
4. Call of the wild: The Angler (told ya!)
5. No Man's Sky.

Now, No Man's Sky. If you take Starfield, add atmospheric entry to planets, space to planet atmosphere dog fighting, full planet exploration, surface vehicles, easier to navigate menus.... Then take away better graphics. You have No Man's Sky.

I just think Starfield could've and should've been so much more. Sit in ship, fast travel. Go to space, fast travel, find a pre designated landing spot... Fast travel. The game IS good, it's immersive to an extent. It's just not great. And it should've been.

Aggregate review sites have Starfield in 62nd place for the year, and it's due to move down further as more releases displace it further.

That being said, aggregate reviews don't mean much and the 61 games that scored higher include a lot of re-releases, remaster, and DLCs.

It's been a big year for games. I think if you narrow it down to best new IP, Starfield is easily in contention for GOTY. Otherwise, it hardly breaks top 10 for me among the other heavy hitters that came out this year by 3rd party publishers.

@Fiendish-Beaver I speak in a civil manner to those that return the favour,if something deserves praise I give it,if you make a comment that others don't agree with ,you get attacked ,accused of being a 'pony' 🙄 and asked why are you on the site if you don't agree with microsoft..how ridiculous,no discussion ,no back and forth on why they think I'm wrong,just a fanboy outburst, that sounds like captain caveman in my head,its not just myself ,its everyone that dares question the decisions made, by uncle phil.

@evan23 have to agree tragically flawed is a great way to put it. I've been playing it for the past week. I'm a bit addicted. But honestly I've never seen a buggier AAA game. I had less issues playing Cyberpunk. Like cyberpunk had graphical glitches here and there, but this is crazy.

Let's be fair about this, @tallythwack; your response to my comment regarding Starfield was to call it 'pure conjecture'. That is not a 'back and forth' . That is an outright dismissal of my statement, and it is not like I did not take the time to speak of my opinion.

Also, I don't see any people here 'brown nosing Uncle Phil'. In fact, I don't think anyone, other than yourself, has even mentioned Spencer in this comments section. Indeed, if you take the time to read through the comments, you will notice a trend of stating that Starfield is not a Game of the Year contender. That's hardly fanboyism, is it? If anything, that's people expressing what might be regarded as negative connotations towards Microsoft because they are not entirely supportive of the foundations of the game. My understanding of the word 'fanboy' would refer to someone that is blind to the games, or companies, failings, and who can see no wrong in what they (the company etc.) are doing. That is simply not what I see when I read through all the comments. If I were to take the time to reply to each and every one of the remotely negative (towards the game) comments on here, then the vast majority of people would have had a reply from me. So my response to you is hardly that of a 'fanboy', is it, or is your definition of a fanboy someone that does not agree with your opinions or comments?

Top spot for me. Time flies by when i play it and i always can't wait to go back for more. Usually i'm a big zelda fan but TOTK didn't click for me. Felt like a lot of work at times. the controls weren't very intuitive. First mainline zelda i haven't beaten in a long, long time.
Least favorite game i finished this year: Final Fantasy 16.

@Fiendish-Beaver
Conjecture:
an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information.

And the point still stands, @tallythwack. Starfield was worked on for two years longer than it was initially going to be. Surely even you can accept that it will have been improved upon during that time? If you cannot accept that, then the only other alternatives are that they deliberately worsened the product during that two years, or that they went off and worked on something completely different because Starfield was completed two years ago, which makes no sense whatsoever.

So what happened during that two year period? Polish, bug-squashing, and improvements at the very least. It's all obvious stuff really, and thus it stands to reason that the game released this September, is a better product than would have been released two years ago. There are even articles about what they have done during that period, should you care to look. To deny something so obvious is to be simply bloody-minded, or argumentative just for the sake of it...

@Fiendish-Beaver what you changing the narrative for ,your original point was that starfield is the better game ,because it isn't on ps5 ,all I said was that was conjecture on your part ,unless youre a part of starfields devs,which you are not ,as im sure you would have mentioned it,in your 3 day rant.

You need to re-read what I wrote, @tallythwack. I did not say the game was better because it was not on the PlayStation. This is what I wrote:

However, the truth is, that the Starfield that released a week or so ago, is a far superior version of the game than they would have played had it released on all systems a year or two ago...

So, I was essentially saying that the game has been improved over the past two years, and thus is a better game than it would have been had it released then on the PlayStation. Undoubtedly, without the money, and time afforded by that money, provided by Microsoft through their acquisition of Bethesda has meant that the game has been improved in the intervening two years since Bethesda was bought. Or, to put it another way, had Microsoft not bought Bethesda, then Starfield would have released at least year ago, and possibly two, and would not have been the same quality of game as was released earlier this month. Two years has meant it is a far more polished game than would have released two years back.

That has very little to do with it not releasing on the PlayStation. I say very little, because Bethesda have said that being able to concentrate on just one console has enabled them to focus their attention on just the Xbox. So whilst that is not what I said, or was even implying, there is actually some truth to the statement that you attributed to me.

However, essentially to paraphrase my point, had the game released two years ago on the PlayStation (and the Xbox) then the game would likely have been the bug-fest that we saw with Fallout 76, and which so often plagues Bethesda games upon release...

@Kaloudz

Yeah, I didn't even realize it until I started to look for all the Bethesda game release dates. Time has been flying by, I would have thought Skyrim was about 10 years old.