Starfield review: A sci-fi saga for the masses

financialpost.com:

8.5/10 

There will be endless shorthand for Starfield , the first game set in an entirely new universe from famed American role-playing game maker Bethesda Game Studios’ in over a quarter century.

Some will describe it as Fallout 4 set in space. Others will suggest that it’s No Man’s Sky with a story, Star Citizen made accessible, The Outer Worlds on a grander scale, or maybe even a slightly less pompous Mass Effect .

These are all legitimate comparisons useful for wrapping one’s head around the game in a general way. But this sprawling open galaxy science-fiction space opera also has its own idiosyncratic personality that begins to emerge once you really start to dig in.

The game is set at the dawn of the 24th century. Humanity has long since spread outward from Sol, fleeing a ravaged and mostly dead Earth to set up colonies on planets and moons circling nearby stars. There have been powerful political movements and terrible interstellar wars, but an uneasy peace exists between the biggest colonial factions.

You enter this milieu as a lowly miner attempting to make a living zapping valuable ore in caves with a laser cutter. However, a quick series of events and a fortuitous encounter with a mysterious man changes your destiny, making you captain of a small ship and thrusting you into the vastness of space on a quest for a series of MacGuffins that will change how humanity perceives the universe and its place within.

It’s a compelling narrative inhabited by interesting characters eager to drop unexpected twists. But the real meat of the game is simply exploring the galaxy. 

The systems you visit are filled with planets, moons, space stations, and starships, many of which you can land on or dock with to