Starfield players argue game still lacks Bethesda’s most important feature

Starfield Bethesda FeatureStarfield / Bethesda

Fans of Starfield feel like the iconic studio Bethesda failed on an important aspect of the game, particularly for a game focused on space exploration.

Starfield was one of the most anticipated games of 2023, with the space explorer developed by fan-favorite studio Bethesda, known for some iconic titles like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series.

Both Elder Scrolls games and Fallout gained immediate acclaim from fans, renowned as some of the best Open Word/Sandbox games, featuring expansive worlds to explore with easter eggs galore.

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Starfield managed to emulate some of the success of Bethesda’s other games, reaching the number one spot on Steam Charts, and selling incredibly well.

However, despite the game’s success, players still feel like Bethesda didn’t quite nail an aspect that made previous games so immersive: enjoyment in just “wandering.”

Starfield fans think Bethesda made it too “rigid”

One Starfield player complained about the game being too “rigid,” and that one of their favorite things to do, “wandering,” was completely missing from Bethesda’s newest release.

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The Starfield player, who admitted that they had “thoroughly enjoyed most of the game,” had one issue that they found prevalent throughout:

“I feel like I’m missing what was my favorite part of Bethesda games, the wandering between point A to point B and getting lost in random buildings, settlements, or side missions I find along the way. Everything in this game feels very rigid.”

Others agreed with the sentiment, and some were disappointed with Starfield being pitched as the pinnacle of Bethesda exploration games: “It is pretty ironic that the exploration game is by far the least rewarding of exploration.”

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But not everything agreed that Bethesda had done a bad job with making exploration feel immersive and unpredictable, rather pointing out that the issue is how players themselves are going about their exploration: “I will recommend to people to at least jump into the orbit of the planet instead of directly to the surface. That’s where a lot of the funny random encounters and some quest hooks exist.”

However, as the original poster stated, most people who have played the game have thoroughly enjoyed it, and despite feeling that the exploration aspect of the game is quite rigid have found other areas of the game where they can express their creativity – like building insane, “hamburger” ships.

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