After racking up about 20 hours in Starfield during its release weekend, it’s as good a time as any to throw my hat into the first impressions ring, the TL;DR of which is Starfield has so far been an enjoyable but imperfect experience. It’s different but also familiar, as if Bethesda simply placed a new sheen over old mechanics.

Don’t think I wasn’t at least a little bit worried going in after seeing the plethora of extremely mixed early access reviews that plastered my feeds. In fact, they brought back more than a few Saints Row reboot hesitations. During that early access week, I really starting thinking that maybe I should just wait on playing Starfield; especially since Baldur’s Gate 3 was in my queue, too. However, after staving off Bethesda games for the better part of a year, the heart wanted what the heart wanted, and before I knew it, Namira, my silent, grounded, empathic, and creative United Colonies native, who innately knew how to fly a spaceship and wield a pistol, was taking to the stars. Her journey so far has been interesting, and very, very “Bethesda.”

I like Bethesda’s RPG formula: its knack for storytelling through both words and imagery, its affinity for lived-in spaces, its wide-ranging choice of perks/skills, and its ability to make players go off the beaten path to want to find something new. I have so far enjoyed interacting with the various people who have crossed paths with Namira, who has received some nice bonuses for choosing certain directions and dialogue options. (Yes, yes, there are artifacts to find for Constellation, but her attempt to become a United Colonies Vanguard soldier has led to a humdinger of a story!) Mechanically, Bethesda added climbing and vertical transversal, which, though minor and possibly the only new mechanic that keeps Starfield from being nothing more than an Elder Scrolls/Fallout clone, is truly a game-changer. With my character’s physicality and booster pack, I feel like she could go anywhere.

Starfield also comes with a good character creator that offers at least a few new options that differentiate it from other Bethesda RPGs, including the choice to equip different backgrounds and traits, the latter of which do come into play during the game.  I’ve only visited a few spots in Starfield’s universe so far, and I’ve not been doing much general planetary exploration, but what I’ve see and done has been compelling and has made me eager to take in more. I’ve had enough impressive conversations with random individuals to make me think that all those boasts about Starfield containing hundreds of thousands of lines of dialogue true. Not everyone in Starfield has something to say, but when they do, it’s probably worth listening.

Speaking of everyone in Starfield, the game appears to be only human-centric. Not that Bethesda ever claimed that it would be otherwise, but still, it’s a little disappointing. We’re talking sci-fi human in the sense of Buck Rogers or Battlestar Galactica, in which the heroes, villains, and general populace are all like you and me, only with space-y outfits and laser guns. Technological progression has progressed to the point of warp drives and interplanetary colonization, and yet, I couldn’t get a cool cybernetic arm, nifty eye implants, or live out my days as part android, at least? For reasons (that are actually excellent outlined in a “museum” in the main hub of New Atlantis that I highly recommend visiting), humanity has dispersed itself to systems nearby Earth, and the only alien life anyone’s found is that of flora and fauna, some nice, some very, very naughty, and all very silent, or just angry. I get the claims to providing a “real space” experience, but…it’s a game. Did no one think to add some alien species that didn’t just sit there or want to kill us? Star Trek has been bantered about by way of comparison to Starfield, but that it is definitely not. There hasn’t been an alien antenna or bumpy forehead in sight. Or, in my sights so far, anyway.

Aside from the dull take on humanity’s future, the most egregious downside to playing Starfield has been navigating its convoluted system of menus. I mentioned Mass Effect: Andromeda earlier, because until Starfield, it had the worst user interface in a game that I’d had ever experienced. Starfield blows Andromeda’s unpleasant menus out of the water, what with the number of buttons I have to press to get to anything I need. Thank goodness I can still “favorite” weapons and attach them to the d-pad, at least, because trying to get to them during a firefight is embarrassingly bad. And forget about space travel. It takes six, seven, a dozen clicks to get things set via the game’s “star map” menu. Even then, as everyone knowns by now, there’s no actual flying through space in the game. You get a take-off scene, arrive, maybe get into a fight with some pirates (the combat mechanics stink, too), punch more buttons to land, and then get a landing animation. Woo-hoo. What the game doesn’t tell you is that it’s all completely optional. You can, in fact, simply fast travel from destination to destination, any destination. As a fast travel fan, once I discovered I could skip all the extra cutscenes and space battles and nonsense, I started jamming my way from spot to spot, happy to be free of a dozen button presses to get anywhere. Of course, for many, this is a huge gaping hole in the “space game” experience, so I get why it has drawn plenty of ire.

I still have quite a long way to go with Starfield, and the good news is that I feel very positive about what’s to come. Yes, the game lacks in some ways and isn’t perfect, but I’ll admit that it’s comfortable. I don’t know that Starfield represents any sort of giant leap in Bethesda’s formula, but at least it doesn’t feel, at this point, regressive, like Saints Row, or unpleasant, like Cyberpunk 2077’s early days. I am looking forward to uncovering Constellation’s story, along with all the untold ones that pop up unexpectedly. I’ve met with a few surprises so far, and there’s still so much to do, as I’ve yet to get into ship modifying or outpost building. More Starfield adventuring awaits, and I’m here for it.

All images, including lede, were captured by author during Xbox Series S gameplay of Starfield (© Bethesda Game Studios).