Starfield's Recent Review Rating Has Dropped To 'Mostly Negative' On Steam

It's an okay game, but personally, I think it's probably Bethesda's worst RPG yet. It's a "massive universe" they gave you to explore... except you do it almost entirely through menus to just skip to points of interest immediately and bypass any form of traversal, meaning they could have just cut 90% of the game and it'd play entirely the same.

I don't 100% agree with No Man's Sky procedural generation, as it can seem repetitive, but repetitive content is better than no content. They need to seriously revamp Starfield if they want a lot of their playerbase to want to return to it.

Realistically I would expect such scenario.. not because the game is truly bad, but because expectations have been set too d*mn high (and not delivered on).
It's not my GOTY, I don't think it's even in top 10. But with cooler head and opened eyes, it's also not terrible. It's mediocre (as heavy of a burden as that is).

I think it’s probably better not to update every little change on reviews. For steam at least you actually have to buy the game to review. So highly unlikely it is being review bombed or anything. It’s sitting mid 80’s which isn’t exactly bad.

It is what it is.

Those of us that think it’s a decent game won’t be swayed by those that think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Just as those that think it is amazing won’t see the faults that others do.

Starfield would have been awesome if they had focused on 20-30 planets instead of over 1000, if they had written an adult sci-fi story with interesting characters, and also left the current day politics out of it.

I don’t think it’s fixable just because they add some vehicles or local maps. Vehicles will just highlight the flaws with random generated events and places on the planets.

I would fall into the mixed review. I hate to keep beating a dead horse on here, but I loved the idea and the aesthetic of Starfield. When I sat and thought about how I felt about the game when I would turn it off for the night or whatever. I was just blah with it. The idea is great but what they delivered is not. Land on a planet...nothing is happening...ship lands, people get out, walk around you kill them easily and continue to walk to nothing. The game really needed another 3-4 years of development to add interest. It is a stale game.

Tried to love it, but I can’t stand the mix with western RPG and shooter mecanics, I should face the fact that i’m a JRPG guy. (But im giving Baldurs gate 3 a chance nonetheless)

That's because Starfailed is bad.

This game wasn’t for me but the discourse around its review score still going on is beyond exhausting.

I don't think it deserves to be mostly negative, I would put it on mixed personally. But I can understand it. I have to admit I forced myself to push through with Starfield more than any game previously. I found the stories and game world very absorbing, but there were so many design decisions I found to be a bit baffling. Navigation was a chore. They didn't justify the scope they went for imo (should have made it smaller and more curated) and it felt unnecessarily fragmented in many respects. Had it released a generation earlier, I think people would have been much more willing to overlook its design flaws, but for this generation.. I think most of the criticism is completely fair.

I'm guessing the rise of players having the time off from work over the christmas period, that gives those the opportunity to finally play it has given the game a lower review score.

Sick of hearing about what people think of the game lately

Let’s not pretend that it’s not skewed though. These negative reviews are pointed, people got daggers for Bethesda and even more so, Todd. Gamer culture is awful like that. It doesn’t really deserve that level of derision but whatever. I wonder what the reception would have been like if FO76 never happened.

I played Starfield at launch on Series X, and then put it down to play through Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 and Phantom Liberty. Then I got distracted by Final Fantasy 16 again. But now I’m back to Starfield. I like the game, and I can see the frustration of a game that didn’t meet the expectations of many players.

This game would greatly benefit from its own “2.0” overhaul if it would open up the environments and remove many loading screens. As it currently stands, this isn’t possible due to the design structure. Even so, I still enjoy the game for what it is, rather than disliking it for what I would have preferred.

Each to their own!

You would think so, but the gaming community doesn't work like that. People are hell bent on bringing Starfield's users reviews to the level of the venerable Redfall.
.....better not pay too much attention or take it to heart😅.

People love to "destroy" things for not living up to the hype. Everything Bethesda releases from here on will get review bombed for the foreseeable future.

@Trmn8r Seems weird For people to buy a game specifically to review bomb as steam does not let you review a game unless you own it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - its a typical Bethesda game and not this amazing 'First Party' AAA game that defines that Console or pushes beyond what '3rd Party multi-platform' games offer as they are not built specifically for the Hardware - as we have come to expect from Gears/Forza or from Sony's first Party games.

I think 'expectation' - because Bethesda stopped being a multi-platform Studio owned by Zenimax into a Microsoft owned first party Studio, expected Bethesda to suddenly 'evolve' from F76 or Fallout 4, their previous games that were 'awful' at launch into the Coalition or Naughty Dog overnight...

It's typical Bethesda - For better or Worse. The same 'Janky' interactions, facial animations etc, the same basic RPG format - just spread out across many Planets instead of a large square open 'world' (or area on a world). If it was Islands and you had to sail to and from Islands, the travelling would get tedious too - especially if much of the Water was empty space and combat only took place around the coast...

@Trmn8r

Everything Bethesda releases from here on will get review bombed for the foreseeable future

You are probably right. The thing that'll give them some respite is their insanely long time frame until TES6 releases.....perhaps by 2030😉.

It just is what it is. I wanted to like Starfield but I cant force myself to be a fanboy or imagine things. Writing is too safe and generic, visually its empty and exploration is weak.

I have over 250 hours into starfield and I have to say, the longer I played it, the less impressed I was. It is definitely a game that wears on you as you play it for longer.

Unless they make some substantial changes to the game, I don't think it will maintain the long-term player base that games like Skyrim have.

Is it worth playing? - Yes
Are there amazing things in Starfield? - Yes
Is it an amazing game overall? - No
Does it deserve a Mostly Negative rating? - No

The reality it that Starfield's high unique player counts are probably due to it being on game pass and lots of people trying it out.

It probably gets roughly what it deserves.
I have out just over 60 hours in on series x.

It could have been so much more and had more modern development designs and systems.

It’s has some really good moments but system wise feels like a ten year old game in places.

I've said this before. But it is worth repeating.

Is starfield perfect? Absolutely not. Is starfield enjoyable and lot of fun? Absolutely yes! Hating on the game is just trendy and the cool thing to do. Willing to bet majority of people have not even played the game and just hating on it. And out of everyone that "legitimately" played the game I'll bet for like 5 mins then just quit not giving it an honest chance.

What other space games are there (like this) space exploration, that you guys reccomend?

These reviews are holding me back from buying it.

@somnambulance I have found it to be an 8.5/10 experience for sure.

@The-Chosen-one Check out the OpenCritic reviews. 182 critics give the game an 85/100 average.

@InterceptorAlpha Bummer, you can buy Steam games, play it for up to 2 hours, review it, and still get refunded afterwards. Guess you didn't think of that one now did ya?

@KvallyX

Thanks for that, how many hours do you have in it?

The last space game i played whas, elite dangerous, on pc, loved that game, bot got a bit bored of that one. Thats why i am looking for something new.

@Trmn8r You are woefully over estimating the effort people are willing to put in. And any refunded game has a big flag on the review stating it was refunded.

It takes two seconds to see that around half of these reviews are from non-refundable steam keys.

And even scrolling through reviews of with 2 hours or less play time, you're hard pressed to find refunds. Further more the majority of negative reviews have way over 2 hours clocked.

It takes 5 seconds to verify this instead of making your baseless claims.

Personally the game it a solid 6-7 for me. But I absolutely understand why people don't like it.

Christmas was just two days ago. That means at a maximum they put 48 hours into it. Those reviews must be spot on... /s

@InterceptorAlpha Hah you said furthermore. You do a lot in 5 seconds lol!

@CaptainCluck my issue is the companions, all of them part of the same faction and they treat you like a child/hate everything you do. The best companions seem to be the one's you find like Sanon.

If this was multiplatform guaranteed it wouldn't be treated so harshly....it's a good game...yes it might be outdated but it's still a good game and brilliant in certain areas

Starfield is the new Days Gone. The extremely vocal minority who love it keep it in the news giving everyone else the opportunity to continually point out it’s ample flaws.

I haven't played it yet, wasn't ever really interested until I saw the developer direct and it looked really good. But from day one this seemed to have missed what the majority of folks were expecting from the game. Since I haven't been following it closely I'm not sure if it was their messaging/marketing or players expectations but it definitely didn't seem to be the juggernaut folks expected it to be. Now it also seems to still be a big hit and success so it's also no Redfall. I'm hoping I enjoy it when I do give it a try....when I don't know lol.

@The-Chosen-one On console? None. Closest would be Corvus or Everspace 2.

It would have been Elite Dangerous, but that was abandoned on console.

My go to is current Star Citizen, but that's on PC. Eve ks also good but lacks the exploration part.

It’s all about opinions. But I don’t really understand the level of dislike for Starfield.
It’s expansive , loads of exploration and the battles are some of the best I’ve played in over 33 years of gaming.
It looks amazing and the soundtrack is Star Wars esque. Very John Williams.

It’s not for everyone of course but I can’t quite get my head around how much it has been blitzed.

@RBRTMNZ I just wonder what flaws. Personally it’s one of the best games ive played in the last few years.

@StylesT if it had been multiplatform then I think it would have got better reviews.
There is an u doubted bias in media to push PlayStation as the only console.

75/100 for me, still playing. It’s enjoyable but constantly underwhelming and disappointing. Bland storytelling is my biggest grievance!

@BaldBelper78 To name a few, fast Travel, exploration, animation, performance, inventory management, boring tasks to apply skill points, terrible way finding, empty planets. It’s great that some people can still find fun with the game but that some fans won’t admit or acknowledge the flaws, and think it is a GOTY, is the reason everyone keeps making fun of the game.

@RBRTMNZ empty planets in space. Who knew?

@BaldBelper78 It’s not space though. It’s a video game. Sometimes realism and fun are not compatible. This was one of those times. The game would be better with less planets. Fun games make up some reason that others cannot be visited like they were rendered uninhabitable by past wars.

@RBRTMNZ each to their own. Personally think it’s one of the best games in recent years with a crazy amount of hours to be played.

The issue can be how it was hyped up as being some out of the world experience when in reality it’s just another ugly looking rpg that gets repetitive unlike the infinite possibilities they spoke about or exaggerated.. Bethesda needs to do different style of games to switch it up and show they don’t abide to one art style which will being in newer and younger demographics . Doom is nice but why not a third person spin off to rival dead space ? Think outside the box and nobody would complain if they are being creative

Phil is also showing his age with the games he tends to promote aside from his indie fetish which is cool but won’t grow the brand while PlayStation creates household franchises and names .. Bethesda Rpg seems to have a niche

I subscribed to GamePass for a month when It came out so I could play it, but hype got the better of me personally because I didn’t like the game at all. Stopped after about 30 hours of gameplay without feeling it was going to get better. Spent the rest of my months sub playing Forza Horizon 4 and Sea of Thieves.

It wanted to be an excellent RPG with all the best bits of Elite and No Mans Land and it failed.

Was a massive undertaking and a great effort, but sadly it fell short.

I did loads of side missions initially but eventually I was satisfied just to complete the story so I could reclaim the internal disk space.

@BaldBelper78 Ain’t nothing wrong with that. I’m glad you enjoy it. Jedi Survivor was my favorite game of the year despite its ample flaws. All I’m trying to say is the reason this game gets so much hate is that it’s fans can’t seem to acknowledge or even discern that it is extremely flawed and then go online proclaiming it one of the best games in years.

Starfield is like No Man's Sky or Cyberpunk 1.0. Maybe, BIG MAYBE, it will be great in a few years. But right now it's stuck in mediocrity. Every time I fire it up it's like looking at a 360 game, with less interesting writing. Is it wrong that I can't stand Sarah?

The main story and characters are absolutely abysmal.

The environments are lame and repetitive.

Fast travel with no real feeling of exploration.

Bad menu system.

I found it to be very … Boring. I’d still rather play Skyrim.

@Xeno_Aura I'm sure if they wanted to, or Microsoft pushes them to, they could pull a Cyberpunk and turn everything around with a massive update & a meaty DLC. But Bethesda seems adamant the game is amazing and non of their ideas could possibly be flawed, so if such a thing were to happen it'd likely be Microsoft forcing them rather than doing it willingly.

Oh no!

*goes back to enjoying Starfield

@Kaloudz Or the negative reviews with +100 hours of playtime (saw one with +250 hours). Why put so many hours into a game you don’t like?

People can review bomb Starfield all they want but the bottom line is that the game is a success and there is nothing anyone can do to change that. It personally wasn't my cup of tea, but for those looking for a space RPG it will definitely scratch that itch. The only issue I see here is that the game was over hyped and no matter what released it was going to see these kind of reviews.

This world is too beautiful...
I wanted more depictions of bad people, cults, poverty, discrimination, etc. I thought those aspects contributed to reality in Skyrim and Fallout.

@InterceptorAlpha
Yeah on pc, space games like this id like to play with with mouse and keyboard lol.

This comment section, confinced me to give it a try.
As for steam reviews, i never check steam for reviews, its mostly toxic cry babys.

Not so sure the monitoring of every shift in steam rating is a healthy obsession that supports worthwhile discourse?
Its clear some people love the game.
Its clear others do not.
Its certainly not an undisputed huge hit, and given promises of a generational game we would play for years, its under-delivered. I dont think Bethusda have what it takes to deliver something ground breaking any longer, sadly, and this title proved it to me.
I played 120 hours and had some fun in with the frustration, but its a 7/10 game at best and the faithful were promised so much more.

Im looking to Obsidian to deliver something considerably better designed with Avowed this year, and look forward to that.
Delighted some are still having a lot of fun with starfield, but on balance, in a year filled with many great titles, it doesnt belong in the top 10 for me.

I've been playing Starfield over the last few days while it's been the Christmas break and it's ... alright. But I've been increasingly annoyed by:

• navigation, which is a pain in the backside flicking through the various map screens
• the constant loading screens when you open a door, get on the metro, transition to a new area etc.
• the bugs - my least favourite being unable to switch to third-person in a firefight, as my character's head, hands, and feet disappear and I can't move.
• the characters who I'm struggling to care either way about
• landing on planets at just enough of a distance from a point of interest to make getting there take a minute or two
• most of all, the encumberance system, which is some ***** (as all encumberance systems are).

After reading about the forthcoming update, I'm going to put it down for a while until that's released in the hope it mitigates some of the above.

I like how people are just assuming people who bought it are going to be truthful in a steam review. If it's in vogue to hate on it and you get 2 secs of attention then I'm sure people will give a negative review even if they like it. As most gamers are D*ckheads these days.

@Rob3008

This game wasn’t for me but the discourse around its review score still going on is beyond exhausting.

I know right. It's almost as if a certain Xbox-focused website doesn't need to keep reporting on it. Look out for tomorrow's breaking story: Starfield's Steam User Review Score Drops By An Extra 1%

Total flop game. Everyone's realized it's mediocre and has already moved on.

Yea I stopped playing when I kept running into missions where I'm level 12 and the current story mission im on has me fighting level 20 creatures.

Im on one space mission where i have to take out 3 ships. My ship is like level 13 i think. The ships im fighting are 14,10, 20.. Clearly i take out 14 and 10, but what chance do you think I have with the level 20 after taking damage from the previous 2 ships.

Next i am doing a mission, i cant remember what planet. But I have to wait 24 hours, so i go sit down and move time forward 25 hours... tried to finish this mission for 2 weeks, and everytime I moved time forward the game froze.

and the 3rd mission i'm trapped in, im in a deathloop basically because the game auto-saved when i have no energy, and i have the thugs, and security officers from this planet chasing me. A simple mission to take out 3 thug hide outs, after taking out the first one, it alerts every NPC on the planet, and they all start attacking me. So on 2 levels I have everybody attacking me, nowhere to get ammo or med packs.

It’s because the game was over hyped and in the end dull. It was a loading screen simulator more than space exploration game!

And what has the PC version got to do with the Xbox version? The PC version has loads of issues that do not apply to the console version, just like most recently released games that also gets a PC release be it 1st or 3rd party titles.

Well...it's tutorial sucks and I actually like the game

I played starfield on my Rog Ally when it released, got about 22 hours in, forgot where I was and picked it back up when I got my series X for Xmas! At first I was feeling abit mehh I was exploring this barren planet trying to 100% research for credits and making a bit of a rubbish outpost. I didn't know if I was gonna bother carrying it on but then a few cool stuff happened in space getting attacked by bounty hunters and getting hooked on the crimson fleet quest line, being a pirate then making my way to neon etc. I definitely think there's some good fun to be had with this game if you can find it. I guess it's just about getting past all the load screens, annoying inventory management, barren planets with f**kall on them etc. It could of been so much better but at the same time it's a decent game if your willing to put up with some of the crap to get to the enjoyment. I hope Bethesda does a No mans sky and a cyberpunk and gives it some 2.0 treatment in the future as it really could hit the 9 and 10's in the ratings but for me it sits somewhere between a solid 7 and 8 at the moment. It might improve as I play more or maybe it will go downhill either way it has my attention for the next few evenings!

I typically don't gel with Bethesda games. I had tried Elder Scrolls Oblivion when it first came out and was bored after hours waiting on a kick.. Same experience with Skyrim.. and Fallout. I mainly tried those games since everyone was raving about how great their games are and open to new tastes.

But it took Starfield stroking my childhood Astronomy interest of planet exploring and adventuring that hooked me instantly. Maybe overtime this interest will fade from the amount of testimony on the barren lands but right now 40-something hours in it's a solid 7-8 for me.

The more i played the less i liked. With each of the (many) girl bosses i was able to suspend disbelief less and less.

It's not my type of game. I hate space. I don't like guns. I just like melee combat on green beautiful land. I don't mind a bit of magic too. Just not shooting.

Most want to hate the game because it is an XBOX exclusive. The game is about a 9 for me but wow, if it released on PS5 it would have been the best thing since sliced bread. The media would have been drooling over it. Tired of the Xbox hate in the media. The media better pucker up because the long game of MS is going to blow the socks off of many haters, like Metro Uk gaming, Eurogame, Kotaku, IGN, rock paper et al. Why people don’t want all systems to succeed is beyond me. I guess praying to a plastic box makes one’s self esteem feel better.

Oh no it got bad reviews on Steam... anyway,

@cburg
' I guess praying to a plastic box makes one’s self esteem feel better.'
If you cant see the irony of that statement after your post....

People who dislike this game do so because it was over promised and has some very clear issues. It would have been picked apart and considered dissapointing on any platform of course. The victim mentality is a really poor card to play and is clearly BS.

Haters gonna hate.