Bethesda's Starfield Hits Meteoric Low on Steam

One user pointed out that Bethesda added too many planets that are devoid of quality content. The user explains that if Bethesda opted for a lower number of planets that condensed the content it would have been better for the game. Being overly ambitious in terms of scale has hurt the overall gameplay.

Others complain that dungeons feel empty or disconnected from the lore of the game. Players feel that completing the dungeons isn't worth it because of the lack of variety and lore. Bethesda's attempt to populate the empty space with procedurally generated content has apparently backfired.

"It really felt like they misunderstood what people liked about exploring in Bethesda games," user Modron_Man said. "Speaking personally, I loved going into new dungeons in Fallout and TES to see the little stories that they had; infinite same-y dungeons really doesn't work as well for me as a lot of dungeons with their own micro-stories."

The Steam score is significant because it comes from a community that actually had to shell out for the full $70 price. And unlike Metacritic, which has been review bombed by trolls, gamers need to own a copy of the game to give a rating on Steam.

With that said Starfield will be getting official modding support early next year. The Shattered Space DLC is also coming to the game in 2024. Given how Skyrim improved with the expansions and community-generated content, Starfield may see a rise in ratings when the new content arrives.

However,it is quite worrisome that AAA games need more content in the form of mods and DLCs to actually make it a good game. Games should ship in the best possible state but it hasn't been the case for many games especially highly anticipated titles like Redfall and Starfield. Hopefully, Bethesda has some magical plan to satisfy users and restore the studio's reputation as the premiere RPG maker in the industry.