So, I've had a chance to put some real time into Starfield and... it's just not a good game.

I think the problem is that Bethesda has its head stuck too far up its own ass. This is the epitome of a Bethesda game, but unfortunately, that's not a good thing. They've doubled-down on Fallout 4, one of their weakest entries, to make this.

The biggest problem the game has is that the vast majority of the content is fetch quests gated by half a dozen loading screens. You get a mission from one dead-eyed NPC and then you fast travel to your ship (loading screen), take off from the planet (loading screen), travel to a new system (loading screen), land on the new planet (loading screen), spend 5 minutes tediously walking to the destination, then deliver your quest to another dead-eyed NPC.

Along the way, you'll scan the same dozen or so resources on incredibly same-looking, desolate and empty, planets. When you do finally find a point of interest by exploring a planet, good luck: There's a good chance that it's one of the many copy-pasted environment elements that get old quickly. I learned to ignore "Cave" markers very early on.

There are also systems to build custom outposts and ships, but it just begs the question... why? The outposts pretty much are just there to mine and manufacture pieces to make more outposts. The ship designer itself is an uninteresting module-based pain in the ass. And what do I need a custom ship for if I can only fly them in limited little environments in orbit?

That brings my to my next point. Spaceflight. As mentioned above, it's pretty much just reduced to loading screens. The only time you get full control of the ship is during space combat sessions. In these sessions, you adjust your power for max weapons/shields, point your ship at the enemy, and then hold the mouse button down. If they deal enough damage to you, you press the repair button. That's it. That's the entirety of actively-controlled spaceflight in Starfield.

Also, this is a space game where you don't have to worry about fuel. Fuel automatically appears out of nowhere and refills your tanks every time you land, which is a truly baffling game development decision.

Finally, I just want to note that the hacking minigame in Starfield is *awful*. And worse, the rewards for hacking are usually garbage, and the lock levels seem to be random. If you see a "master lock", don't expect there to be anything good behind it. I've actively stopped looting locked containers, even though I have the security skill maxed out, because they're more trouble than they're worth.

Also, just to mention the story, without spoiling, I will say that there are elements of the story that are actually pretty interesting. Unfortunately, they're delivered by dead-eyed automatons staring straight at you with no cinematic framing and generally awful voice acting. I feel less like I'm living the story and more like it's being recited to me by a bored schoolteacher.

Now, I do want to note one positive about the game: Especially for a Bethesda game, this game is shockingly stable. In 40 hours, I didn't have one crash or serious bug.

But ultimately, my review boils down to this:
Too much missed potential.