Fallout 76 is no longer Bethesda’s least popular game on Steam, as players complain about bland gameplay and a lack of depth and variety.
There’s been a lot of mixed messages about Starfield since its release, with Bethesda trying to influence the review process in their favour and many gamers surprised to find that you can’t travel between space and a planet’s surface via anything but a cut scene.
Thanks to Bethesda’s machinations the Metacritic score has been volatile, but the current total of 84, while not amongst the highest of the year, suggests that despite some negative reviews the game has hit the spot for many people.
You’d expect a similar response on Steam, where the game has regularly been in the top 10 most played titles, but in actual fact it’s the lowest rated of any Bethesda Game Studios title (i.e. any of the role-playing games made by the main internal studio of the company).
At time of writing, 71.67% of Starfield user reviews are positive. That compares to 93.88% for Skyrim, which is Bethesda Game Studios’ highest rated game on Steam.
Oblivion is second at 93.76%, then Morrowind on 93.14%, Fallout 4 on 81.88%, Fallout 3 on 79.05% (78.52% for the non-Game Of The Year Edition), and Fallout 76 – which was pilloried on launch for being a broken mess of a game – on 71.75%.
Despite what you might already be thinking, the majority of complaints, at least in the last few days, are not about the bugs and glitches. Although they are an issue for Starfield they’re less than Bethesda fans are used to and most of the reviews are concerned with the gameplay itself.
‘This game has no soul at all. It is sterile. Corporate. Bland,’ states LXXVII.
‘Starfield offers an ambitious journey within a universe that lacks the depth, variety, and richness that could have set it apart,’ says infek`sk, in an impressively lengthy review.
‘The more I play Starfield the smaller it feels. Infinitely smaller than any of Bethesda’s previous titles, which is ironic considering the scale of the universe they are attempting to create,’ says IAmPattyJack.
Even some reviews that are flagged as positive are very critical of the game, with Prometeusz suggesting that, ‘This game is overhyped. It’s good, but it’s just that – good. It certainly isn’t a ‘gaming Messiah’ like Bethesda and Todd want you to think. Don’t buy it for full price, wait for discounts.’
The long-term reputation of Starfield remains unclear, with not every professional review in yet, so the Metacritic score could still go up or down.
That’s also true of the user reviews on Steam, but while the game is about to fall out of the top 10 most played titles, according to Microsoft the game has seen over 10 million players so far.
Such a massive userbase is due to the fact that the game is available, at no extra cost, on Game Pass, but what the actual sales figures are will probably never be known.
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