Looking back on 2023, it’s interesting to remember the early predictions. Many thought it would be a showdown between Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield. Baldur’s Gate 3, a large-scale fantasy game from a smaller developer, seemed to be up against Starfield, a brand-new sci-fi title from a well-known studio promising a groundbreaking experience.
The difference in reception was actually quite significant. Baldur’s Gate 3 became one of the most celebrated video games ever released, receiving incredible reviews and selling very well because it’s considered one of the best role-playing games ever created. Starfield, however, received a much more mixed reaction and often felt overshadowed by the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 and its characters.
Starfield first came out three years ago and has been consistently updated with new content and expansions. Now, PlayStation 5 owners can finally play it, as it’s no longer exclusive to other platforms. The big question is whether the game has gotten better since its initial release in 2023, or if PlayStation players will have the same issues that Xbox players experienced when it first launched.
A Universe Full of Ubisoft Map Icons
Starfield’s opening is arguably the weakest in Bethesda’s history. The game begins with you playing as a space miner who discovers a peculiar metal piece, which causes a strange, otherworldly vision. A few days later, a ship lands nearby, bringing a visitor who reveals the metal is actually an Artifact. This Artifact is a relic from a long-lost civilization, and you’re drawn into the search for its origins by Constellation, a group dedicated to uncovering the secrets behind these mysterious objects.
After just ten minutes, players get their own spaceship and are free to explore most of the galaxy. Continuing the story with the Constellation ship unlocks the main quest – a search for powerful Artifacts. Along the way, players encounter many different factions, each offering numerous side quests and storylines to pursue.
It’s not hyperbole to say that Starfield has the worst intro of any Bethesda game.
Starfield’s introduction falls flat because it doesn’t immediately draw players into the game’s world. It lacks a sense of urgency or a significant challenge – you’re simply dropped into a universe to wander. The initial goals, like collecting artifacts and earning money, aren’t very engaging, and it takes far too long for the quests, particularly the main storyline, to become truly interesting.
Players expecting Starfield to undergo a major transformation similar to Final Fantasy 14’s revival will likely be let down by the PS5 version. This port feels like a missed opportunity to significantly improve the game. Starfield seems to assume players will be captivated simply by its existence, which could be why it rushes into giving you freedom. It should have spent more time building the game’s world and, crucially, explaining why the Artifacts are so compelling – a quick glimpse of space just doesn’t cut it.
Starfield’s Universe Lacks Grit & Intrigue
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A weak beginning isn’t a dealbreaker if the rest of a game is strong. However, Starfield’s biggest problem is its universe – it simply doesn’t feel as captivating as those in other role-playing games. Many of the planets are repetitive, offering only a few basic locations like research stations and enemies to defeat, which quickly makes exploration feel dull and unrewarding.
Starfield isn’t without its beautiful places – some planets are truly stunning and live up to the game’s ambitious scale. The cities, especially Neon and New Atlantis, are also highlights, surpassing anything we’ve seen in previous Bethesda role-playing games.
Many planets in Starfield feel repetitive, consisting mainly of similar environments with just a couple of abandoned research stations. This makes exploring new worlds quickly lose its appeal.
The main problem with Starfield isn’t its graphics or gameplay, but rather its characters and overall atmosphere. While the game aims for a clean, futuristic look—think a beige and muted color scheme similar to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—it ends up feeling sterile and lacking the sense of a real, inhabited world.
The characters and groups you can join in this game are unfortunately quite bland. They lack memorable appearances, personalities, and histories, making them difficult to care about or even remember. The factions especially feel like simple collections of familiar ideas rather than fully developed parts of the game’s world.
Starfield definitely has some standout story beats and well-designed dungeons, featuring truly thrilling moments that are up there with Bethesda’s best work. However, these highlights are infrequent, and much of the game feels bland and repetitive, requiring patience to reach the more engaging parts.
Starfield’s Ships are a Highlight (Except During Combat)
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In Starfield, you’ll quickly need a spaceship to get around, and the game provides you with one early on, plus funds to personalize it. Each spaceport features a mechanic who can sell, repair, and help you extensively customize your ship using the game’s ship builder.
Honestly, building ships in Starfield is the best part of the whole game. It’s super easy to design them from the ground up, or just tweak the ones you already have until they’re exactly how you want. I bet a lot of us will probably end up sticking with that starter ship, the ‘Frontier,’ and just keep upgrading it as we play – it’s way more fun than constantly building new ones!
Starfield’s ship builder is the undisputed highlight of the game.
The game features a huge variety of weapons and rooms you can add to your ship, all impacting how fast and agile it is during battles. What really stands out is how fully integrated the ship is into the game world – adding rooms like an engineering lab actually changes what you see inside. You can also customize the ship’s interior, giving you tons of design freedom, as long as you have enough in-game currency to purchase everything you want.
Unfortunately, the spaceship battles aren’t the strongest part of the game. When they work well, they feel like a slow, deliberate duel, but often they’re chaotic and frustrating. The 3D space makes it hard to keep track of enemies, forcing you to constantly turn and re-target while they have a clear shot at you.
Image Via Bethesda
As a Starfield player, I’ve found the ship’s faster-than-light travel system is really cool – you manage your ship’s power by shifting energy where it’s needed, like giving weapons a boost, strengthening shields, or speeding up jumps. But honestly, it can be a bit tricky! I’ve definitely been caught trying to reroute power and ended up taking a beating from enemies while I was at it.
Starfield’s ship combat has a targeting system that briefly slows down time, letting you focus on specific parts of enemy ships – like weapons or engines – to disable them and eventually board. You can also easily manage your ship’s power while using this system. However, while it simplifies combat, it also makes it less exciting. Instead of quick, dynamic space battles, you end up slowly damaging enemies, which feels counter to the intended fast-paced action.
Building and customizing ships in Starfield is really fun, particularly when you have plenty of credits and unlock lots of upgrades. The only downside is the ship combat, which can be frustrating since it’s required for some missions.
Starfield’s Universe is No Skyrim
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Players will eventually leave their ship to explore planets on foot, and that’s where Starfield truly feels like a Bethesda game, much like Fallout. Expect a lot of shooting, finding keys and picking locks, searching for loot in containers, and talking to characters to try and avoid fights.
Starfield’s gameplay isn’t quite as engaging as previous Bethesda games like Skyrim and Fallout, and it took me a while to figure out why. Skyrim lets you become incredibly powerful, fulfilling a fantasy of personal strength. Fallout, on the other hand, focuses on surviving a harsh world, starting with limited resources and gradually gaining better equipment to overcome bigger challenges.
Starfield feels most like previous Bethesda games, especially Fallout, because the way you play – exploring, completing quests, and repeating that cycle – is very familiar.
Starfield doesn’t quite capture the feeling of becoming more powerful or mastering unique abilities. While the game has a skill system, it mostly just unlocks things rather than making you feel significantly stronger as you level up. It also lacks a traditional magic system; the special abilities you eventually gain are limited and function more as temporary combat boosts than as game-changing powers.
You’ll primarily improve by upgrading your ship and gear, spending time on both. Designing your ship is enjoyable, though the actual combat feels a bit weak. Finding and equipping new gear is similar to games like Borderlands, with a constant search for items with better stats and special effects. Plus, there’s a deep upgrade system that lets you further customize and enhance your equipment.
The biggest issue is that this doesn’t really change how combat feels, and it quickly makes all the dungeons and fights blend together. It doesn’t help that you soon encounter the same types of enemies over and over – pirates, robots, and aliens – who, despite looking different, all attack in the same limited ways. This makes battles repetitive, which is a major problem for a game so focused on fighting.
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One of the most common criticisms of the initial release of Starfield was how the universe is divided. Unlike previous games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim, which featured one continuous, expansive world, Starfield is made up of many separate areas.
A lot of Starfield involves navigating fast travel menus. Even with the recent update, which helps a bit, you’ll spend a significant amount of time traveling between locations just to have a single conversation, complete a small combat encounter, and then travel back again. This constant back-and-forth can become repetitive and makes you wish there was a way to communicate and complete tasks from a distance.
Honestly, one of the most frustrating things about Starfield is shopping. I get that in games like Skyrim or Fallout, small settlements shouldn’t have everything you need, especially if they’re far out of the way. But in Starfield, it’s not just limited stock – shops run out of money really quickly! You’ll be trying to buy healing items or upgrade materials, and the vendor will just be flat broke after a few transactions. It’s super annoying!
A frustrating part of Starfield is constantly traveling the galaxy searching for Adhesive, a vital item for improving weapons and spacesuits. It’s surprising how little there is available, even in major settlements – one large spaceport on a populated planet only had three jars!
The game’s weight limit system is really frustrating – just like in games like Fallout and Skyrim, carrying too much drains your health and prevents fast travel. This makes it tough for players who like to collect everything, and leads to a lot of time spent managing their inventory. PC players can fix this with mods, but unfortunately, PS5 players don’t have that option.
Ultimately, it’s the accumulation of small frustrations that become truly irritating. It’s not one big problem, but a constant stream of minor annoyances that slowly wear the player down over time.
How is Starfield on PS5?
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Starfield performs very well on the PlayStation 5. On a standard PS5, the game consistently achieves 30 frames per second when exploring outdoor areas and 60 fps inside. Throughout my experience, I only encountered one crash and a few minor issues with enemy characters not reacting as expected.
Starfield makes excellent use of the DualSense controller. The adaptive triggers make shooting feel impactful, and you can even hear radio chatter directly through the controller, enhancing the sense of being contacted by other ships.
In terms of performance, Starfield runs beautifully on PS5 hardware.
So, what’s new with the game? Starfield is launching on PS5 alongside the ‘Free Lanes’ update. This update lets players jump directly to planets within a star system, simplifying navigation and potentially starting unexpected events.
The recent Free Lanes update does speed up travel within a star system, though the improvement is fairly small. I might have just been unlucky, but many of the random events felt dull – short, unimportant chats with characters who would quickly fly away.
To be fair to the team behind Starfield, they were upfront about the Free Lanes update and the PS5 version – they didn’t promise major changes. The main game and story are still the same, with this update adding improvements and some new things to enjoy.
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Closing Comments
The PlayStation 5 version of Starfield could have been a turning point for the game, allowing developers to address feedback, stand out from the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, and reach a new audience. Unfortunately, this opportunity was missed – the PS5 release feels very similar to the original 2023 version. Starfield feels both overwhelming and surprisingly shallow, with a lot of complexity that doesn’t quite come together. It’s a game with a lot of potential that doesn’t fully engage the player, offering a vast amount of content that ultimately feels unfulfilling. While not a terrible game, it lacks the depth and immersive quality of Bethesda’s best titles, so fans looking for that kind of experience might be disappointed.
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2026-04-07 18:46