As Chloe Sevigny would put it, “it’s recently come to my attention” that Starfield—Bethesda’s latest AAA title, a space-faring RPG—will be releasing imminently—September 1, to be exact, and good lord, that snuck up on me.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I haven’t been tuned into this game at all. For one, Baldur’s Gate 3 has clearly had my attention locked down pat. For another, It’s simply been so long since we had any “good” news about a Bethesda title, and Starfield was certainly not the sort of game I was expecting from them.
When the game was first announced in 2018, I was definitely curious, but we didn’t get proper information about it until this year—nearly five years later. And while I’m generally in favor of “show, don’t tell” approaches to PR, I have to say that I’m not sure this was the game to pull that approach with. It seems like Bethesda was really banking on the fanfare for this game being generated by company loyalty from fans, since this is as far a departure from their usual style as I’ve ever seen.
By that, I mean that the general design of the game is … bland, in the most neutral way possible. From the UI to the character design, there isn’t anything about Starfield that grabs my attention, other than the fact that it seems to have the general Bethesda layout. And I suppose that’s what draws people into Bethesda games: their free-to-roam, customizable experiences. But I just haven’t really been “grabbed” by anything they’ve laid out thus far, even though the graphics are impressive.
As it is, the one thing about this game that got my attention was a random little Easter egg they threw in, referencing one of their hallmark franchises, The Elder Scrolls. Obviously, I am talking about the Adoring Fan, who will be a full companion in Starfield:
The Adoring Fan is one of the Elder Scrolls’ most infamous characters, and the subject of many early YouTube memes. If you beat the Arena questline in the game Oblivion, a young wood elf will run up to you and excitedly beg to follow you around. From here on out, you can have a little buddy to tag along with you—a little buddy who serves no real purpose, other than to “worship the ground you walk on.” Knowing gamers, it makes sense that a lot of things like this ended up happening instead:
As for Starfield, look, I don’t want to be a Debbie downer, but I’m a little shocked by how relatively lackluster the facial animation and rigging is on these NPCs. I remember when everyone made fun of the dead-eyed NPCs in Mass Effect: Andromeda, but here we are in 2023 seeing similarly dead-faced NPCs in a Bethesda game. I suppose, to be fair, the best facial animation I saw in a Bethesda game was in Fallout 4, so maybe it’s just not their forte.
As far as the inclusion of the Adoring Fan, I get the reasoning behind it: They’re taking a risk putting one of their most beloved IPs on the backburner to try something completely different, so they need to include things that will draw the attention of their fans with expectations. It certainly worked on me. I don’t plan on playing this game any time soon, but if it weren’t for the inclusion of the Fan, I honestly wouldn’t know a single damn thing about this game. This game is just being presented as such an odd anomaly, coming from such a massive studio.
It’s not even that I prefer fantasy titles with no wiggle room whatsoever; I’ve played and enjoyed sci-fi titles. As examples, I loved Mass Effect, was very impressed with Fallout: New Vegas, and really looked forward to The Outer Worlds leading up to its release. But when considering the differences between the advertising for The Outer Worlds and Starfield, I can really chalk them up to one crucial thing: For all its flaws, The Outer Worlds was absolutely brimming with character, while Starfield takes itself almost too seriously to impart any sort of personality.
It looks gorgeous, and I’m very curious about those dinosaurs it keeps teasing, but beyond that, I just don’t know how to feel about this game. Maybe I’ve just been waiting for the next Elder Scrolls too long to have properly psyched myself up.
I suppose all we can do is wait and see. Will you be playing Starfield, and if so, what about it is interesting to you?
(featured image: Bethesda Softworks)
