A year has passed since Starfield first saw the light of day to what back then amounted to widespread hate. Soon, the game became the epitome of a punching bag as players all across the globe took turns to bash Bethesda's latest foray into the open world genre. Me being an absolute Skyrim fan, however, was unfazed by the hatred this game received and decided to grab it on the Christmas sale and give it a shot.

And I have been playing it since. Nonstop.

Starfield's premise is simple enough: you play as a new hire for a mining company who is trying to make a living out of piercing rocks with portable laser cutters. Soon, you stumble upon an unlikely object in the heart of the mine, something which sets in motion a series of events that sees pirates attacking your outpost and some bloke from an intergalactic guild of explorers come just in the nick of time to assist you whilst recruiting you to his organisation. Soon, you find yourself thrusted into the exhilarating heart of galactic affairs.

Speaking of affair,s there are three major factions vying for control of the Settled Systems: the United Colonies, the Freestar Collective and House Va’ruun. The United Colonies is the oldest of them all, being the product of a concerted attempt by Earth's erstwhile nations to colonise the universe in a political project transcending current political and national borders. Concurrently with their rise we see the birth of House Va'ruun, a secretive religious collective that worships a deity known as the Great Serpent. Finally, there is the Freestar Collective, an offshoot of the United Colonies. These factions have all been at war with each other, with the most recent conflict – the Colony War – shaping the events of the game.

I must say I am extremely appreciative of the whole lore surrounding the Colony War, however simple it may seem. Following a devastating stalemate that was taking a toll on both sides, the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective signed an armistice that put an end to the fighting. This armistice set limits and prohibitions to certain types of weaponry deemed immoral or excessive in intergalactic conflict whilst also stipulating that former war criminals should be judged and executed for their wartime deeds. The overt nod to Versailles pleased my historian heart and made for a rich, unique and relatable take on galactic politics that makes Starfield unique in a genre filled with other games that, however magnificent (like Mass Effect), often forego or ignore galactic politics.

The roster of these three factions is completed by the inclusion of two lesser factions: the Crimson Fleet and Ryujin Industries. The Crimson Fleet are the very same pirates that attacked you at the game's beginning; they and the United Colonies can be construed to be the only factions finding themselves in open conflict during the events of the game. The fifth and last faction, Ryujin Industries, is a gigantic corporation bent on ruthlessly growing at the expense of its opponents. This complex political interplay makes for rich and engaging storylines that characterise the factions of this game.

Note that so far I have emphasised how this game has extremely interesting and well-crafted storylines for its various factions but refrained from doing as much regarding the main questline and not without reason: the main quest is, arguably, Starfield's weakest point. Simply put, the main quest is completely lacking in appeal. There is no Mehrunes Dagon, whose passing into our world threatens to tear the fabric of our realm apart, nor is it about the coming of Alduin, the World-Eater, whose presence heralds the end of times. No, this is a mystery that if left unresolved, the universe at large could not care less.

The comparison with Skyrim is something that I deliberately brought up, for many have claimed it falls short of its illustrious predecessor and I can only say this is off the mark. Before Starfield came out I made up my mind to finish a long overdue second playthrough of Skyrim. Thus, fresh from Skyrim, I was expecting Skyrim in space, and Bethesda gave me just that – Nothing more, nothing less. I was expecting no revolution in gaming, just wanted the same sandbox feel of sheer vastness that Skyrim conveyed, but with ships and stars and lasers and intergalactic travel. And Starfield delivered. Most who complain do so with rose-tinted glasses: tirades about Starfield’s repetitiveness seemingly forget the excruciating boredom of dwemer ruins; complaints about how Starfield’s cities are small and underwhelming seem oblivious to the fact that Whiterun can be traversed from one point to another in less than a minute; also, those bringing up how buggy some quests are (something which I will get to deal with shortly) seemingly forget the despairing travails of getting the Dark Brotherhood questline to work in OG Skyrim back in 2011.

There are also those who unfairly compare Neon from Starfield with Night City from Cyberpunk 2077 (a game which I personally loathe), whilst forgetting that Cyberpunk can afford to have a single, sprawling city because it offers a linear, condensed experience devoid of variety. Starfield is all about breadth and scope: you can hop on your ship (which you can build yourself from scratch, buy from a ship builder or outright steal from another crew) and from there go to any of the dozens of planets the game has to offer. You can do anything you like. Feel like advancing the story? No problem, do any of the factions’ questlines. Feel like space roving and engaging in some good ol’ fashioned piracy? Pick a system of your choosing and prey upon an unsuspecting civilian freighter. In the mood for some radiant quests that give you just that fix of fulfilment without too much thinking to be done? Head to the HQ of whichever faction whose quests you prefer. Finally, you may just feel like losing yourself in the mindless, yet incomparably soothing experience of landing on an uncharted planet and scouring its every nook and cranny until you get every fauna and flora documented in your scanner – whatever strikes your fancy, Starfield has you covered.

As stated, however, the game is not without its flaws: there was a particularly infamous quest (“The Best There Is”) from the Crimson Fleet questline which took over a year to be properly looked into and solved, something rather egregious considering how central and game-breaking the bug(s) could be. Moreover, for the better part of a year we had no real in-game map or rovers of any kind. Thus, we spent months walking around planets, listlessly wandering without any kind of actually helpful visual aids. But the devs heard our complaints and the devs delivered, and did so brilliantly: we now have functioning maps and rovers that we can use to scour the surfaces of every planet we come across, saving valuable time whilst adding to the whole atmosphere of the game.

There is also the matter of the game’s last and all-too enduring Achilles’ Hell: performance. It is one of the worst optimised games out there. Simply put, the game looks significantly dated but takes a toll on your hardware as it were rendering photorealistic models. Starfield will routinely plummet into the 30s and 40s FPS. The devs have, admittedly, worked tirelessly on improving performance and have succeeded to moderate degrees, but the game is still severely lacking in the optimisation department.

Yet ultimately, despite its flaws I cannot help but enthusiastically recommend Starfield: it is a sprawling, immense game where the universe is your playground. To anyone who loves Bethesda games or sci-fi games in general (and all the more so if you happen to love both!), this is a game that you need to experience for yourself.

8.5/10

TL;DR: It’s Skyrim in space. No more, no less.