The long wait is finally over! I’m 23 hours in, so I still have many galaxies left, but you can read Game Informer’s Starfield review for more details. In anticipation of Bethesda Game Studios’ new open world RPG for several years, I, like many Bethesda Game Studios fans, let my imagination run wild. Related: How to Navigate Starfield: A Beginner’s Guide
It’s quite different from the studio’s Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises in some ways now that I’ve played a decent chunk of it. There is a lot more open world in those two franchises than in Starfield. As a matter of fact, Starfield feels more like a great sci-fi theme park than an open world adventure. However, players looking for a replica space-based Fallout or Elder Scrolls adventure may be disappointed. Related: Unraveling the Mysteries of Starfield: A Complete Timeline
A lot of Starfield’s sci-fi reminds me of Disney’s golden age, both the company as a whole and its first two theme parks, Disneyland and Disney World, right from the start. Space was imagined by Walt Disney and his Imagineers as a vast, beautiful frontier, ripe for exploration and human progress, free of dangers lurking in the unknown.
Despite Disney’s intent to sell entertainment, the theme park’s take on space felt extremely optimistic, the kind of bright-eyed joy that sells theme park tickets, despite a somewhat scary, short-lived Alien ride in Tomorrowland. Starfield shares this same optimism about space exploration and humankind’s place in it.Â