Depending on where you were hanging out online this morning, it’s safe to say the reactions to the extended trailer for Bethesda’s Starfield have been decidedly mixed. Let’s take a quick tour around the social media traps to see what the internet thinks.
Among media professionals seeing the trailer for the first time (Xbox did not, to my knowledge, brief any Australian outlets on the contents of its showcase ahead of time), most seemed fairly happy with what they saw.
Ok Starfield looks pretty gud.
— Skill Up (@SkillUpYT) June 12, 2022
Overall, the vibe was complementary — you don’t get a first look at a new Bethesda RPG every day — with many taken with director Todd Howard’s demonstration of its sizeable universe.
Others were less easily convinced.
#Starfield being compared to #NoMansSky isn’t a bad thing. Combine No Mans Sky expansive exploration and discovery with Bethesdas RPG elements and storytelling sounds like a huge W to me.
— Erroneous Jim (@ErroneousJim) June 12, 2022
The comparisons to No Man’s Sky have been flying about all morning. When you put them side-by-side, the similarities are pronounced. Though Starfield will be a more curated experience than the proc-gen heavy No Man’s Sky, the two games have a great many factors in common.
😂🤣😂🤣 hmmm where have I seen Starfield before???…. pic.twitter.com/1qtL13sXOJ
— Mr. Harte in 8K (@ChrisHarte7) June 12, 2022
There’s also an argument to be made about creating an RPG at this scale. How can all of the game’s thousands of worlds have interesting, fleshed-out characters and stories? At what point does Bethesda draw the line and start choosing areas to pad the experience out? The argument below comes from Kotaku US editor Patricia Hernandez and her whole thread is well worth a read. Perspective, folks. You don’t have to agree, we just offering perspective.
the starfield pitch is no man’s sky + cyberpunk + fallout and that’s cool but also probably setting up for dissapointment
1k areas or whatever? how many times we gonna have the scale vs depth convo
f4 settlement system clear prototype&fun, but v hollow also
— Patricia Hernandez (@xpatriciah) June 12, 2022
There was also a significant segment of the audience that flatly refuses to trust Todd Howard.
(i will probably play starfield) pic.twitter.com/nyK5cqdILH
— Aidan (@cyanbIur) June 12, 2022
Others are still hanging out for The Elder Scrolls VI, whatever form that may eventually take.
Starfield got 1000 planets? One of them shits better have the entirety of Elder Scrolls 6 on it or I’m not playin that shit lmao
— Hatred🎃 (@yoHatred) June 12, 2022
Over on Reddit, people were more interested in poring over the details of the trailer in granular detail than issuing broad-stroke opinions.
Some immediately noticed nods to older games.
Others are scrutinising screens and video of the game’s solar system maps for details on words and galaxies.
Others still are poring over glimpses of the character creator in an attempt to divine what, if any, new systems or stats are driving the RPG gameplay.
Obviously, it’s still far too early to render any kind of final judgement on Starfield when all we’ve got to go on is a single 15-minute trailer. What we’ve seen today is only our first proper look at the game, and there’s a lot more to come. The game has been delayed for a non-specific date in 2023, but even that may not be concrete.
What did you think of the Starfield trailer? Love it? Hate it? Completely non-plussed? Wishing a thousand curses upon Todd Howard because you just want Elder Scrolls VI? Express yourself in the comments below.
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