Bethesda Game Studios has a reputation for creating some of the most immersive Role Playing Games available on the market. It might not have a treasure trove of titles in its decades in the industry, but each one, starting from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind all the way through even 2018’s highly criticized online multiplayer title, Fallout 76. And, while Starfield somewhat lives up to the studio’s reputation, it doesn’t quite match up to the expectations by both users and critics alike.
Make no mistake, Starfield has been drawing in players. Ahead of its launch, roughly a million players logged on to go and explore the cosmos while it later logged six million just a few days after coming out.
Unfortunately, as time passed by, and more critics got a chance to enjoy their own adventures, Starfield’s Critic Score on Metacritic on the Xbox Series S/X, which started at 87 as the game went live on August 31, has dropped down to 84, as of the time of writing.
Most developers would love to have their game have a Critic Score of 84 on Metacritic. But, as has been established in the past many times already, Bethesda isn’t just any other studio. It’s one of THE studios in the gaming industry. As the kids say these days, Bethesda is HIM. The only problem? Starfield isn’t IT.
Here’s a rundown on the Critic Score of every previous Bethesda game on Metacritic:
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – 96
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – 94
- Fallout 3 – 93
- Fallout 4 – 88
- Fallout 76 – 49
Basically, Starfield can only trump Fallout 76 in Bethesda’s storied lineup, which isn’t saying much.
To put this further into context, Starfield’s Critic Score of 84 is more than ten points lower than current Game of the Year frontrunners: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate 3. If we factor only games that came out on the Xbox Series S/X, Starfield isn’t even in the Top 5. Leading the pack is Forza Horizon 5 at a 92 followed by Microsoft Flight Simulator at a 90 with Psychonauts 2, Hi-Fi Rush, and Halo Infinite, all tied at 87.
Again, 84 is still technically not the end of the world, but it’s not what you expect from a Bethesda game. Don’t forget, Microsoft bought ZeniMax Media to make Starfield exclusive on the Xbox Series S/X.
Many years ago, the gaming industry was rocked by talks about bonuses given only to developers if their games had a high Metacritic Score. Bethesda, specifically, required a minimum of 85 from Obsidian for Fallout: New Vegas for a hefty payday. Fallout: New Vegas ended up only getting an 84 Critic Score on Metacritic on the Xbox 360, which, in hindsight, is a score that’s much lower than it deserved.
Perhaps the only saving grace for Starfield now is for the critics of tomorrow to look back and “regret” giving it a score as low as 84 (and dropping).
Still, in a day and age when review bombing seems “normal” – Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 16, and Horizon Forbidden West were all victimized this year alone – Starfield is the only one that many saw as a GOTY Contender to achieve a score this low. Diablo 4, which is currently being ridiculed for its low Twitch numbers and failing to draw a crowd to a live event, scored much higher than it did.
The worst part is that Starfield doesn’t seem to be converting anyone outside of the usual Bethesda fanbase, which is a problem. Initially, Starfield helped Microsoft sell more Xbox units, but it remains to be seen if it can sustain this. Not to mention, a quick search online will tell you that most of the reviews from casual audiences, although not quite as negative as most make it out to be, is middling at best.
Besides, it was somewhat expected for Starfield to get review bombed as it has since become trendy for internet trolls to trash Bethesda’s games since the honeymoon period of Skyrim ended. Even the best-selling single-player RPG of all time isn’t spared from this predicament. Yet, there’s a difference between the casual gamer telling everybody that Starfield is a bad game and critics highlighting the flaw of what should be a system seller.
For a Bethesda game, anything lower than 84 would mean that Starfield is close to hitting rock bottom.
Thankfully, this hasn’t happened yet.
What’s clear here is that Bethesda and Microsoft has landed itself a solid game. They might not completely admit it, but Starfield didn’t stick its landing, at least critically. It’s a divisive game, with a huge split between people treating it as the next big Bethesda game and those who see it as just another game.
If it’s any consolation, a common sentiment about Starfield is that the foundation for an all-time great is there – Bethesda just needs more time to flesh things out. Maybe, just maybe, in an ideal world where the COVID-19 global pandemic didn’t happen, Bethesda would’ve had a chance to build on the infrastructure that’s already there and turn Starfield into a game that doesn’t need to rely on an expansion and DLCs as well as mods to fully realize its potential. Alas, this wasn’t the case. It’s easy to see where most of the valid criticism is coming from – Starfield is just Skyrim but in space, when it was marketed to be so much more.
With Starfield coming out as polished as it is, Bethesda’s task now is to expand on what exists – and, while they’re at it, fix some of the game’s literally glaring issues.
Fingers crossed, the conversation regarding Starfield will be much better a year or two from now. But, if we’re talking about this year alone, Starfield isn’t close to winning any significant accolade at all.
