Starfield, by all means, should have been a slam dunk. Given that Bethesda is the studio behind beloved RPGs like Oblivion and Skyrim (even if those lauded titles seem to shrink in the rearview mirror with every passing year), their take on a sci-fi universe they didn't buy off someone else was something I was excited for. For a game that has supposedly been in the oven – or at least in Todd Howard's head – for more than a decade, however, Starfield fell woefully flat, leaning hard on janky procedural generation tech in favor of the detail-packed, handcrafted worlds Bethesda Softworks is known for.
It seems Starfield might soon breach containment, however. Reputable Xbox insiders have reported that Starfield will launch on PS5 sometime this year, sometime after the launch of its first expansion (which we also know nothing about). Timed exclusives are nothing new, but a system-seller like Starfield making the jump so soon is a little concerning. An initial outpouring of critical praise at launch has since dimmed to something far more lukewarm as the game's honeymoon period wore off and the cracks became more apparent, so perhaps this is simply a matter of timing – restarting the hype train, so to speak.
Hopefully, that first expansion – and a new influx of players – will be what Starfield needs to make its virtual universe feel a little more alive. It really could be great one day.
Previously: Solid reviews for Starfield, Bethesda's open-world space game
