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It was a little over five years ago in June of 2018 when Bethesda Game Studios announced they were making a new game set in an entirely new universe. They called the game “Starfield.” Bethesda didn’t give us a release date yet. In truth they really didn’t give us much at all, just that they were working on a new roleplaying game set in space. I have always been a huge fan of science fiction and Bethesda’s previous games, so when I saw Starfield I knew immediately that I had to have this game. The thing with Bethesda is they have a tendency to let everyone know they are developing a game but will make you wait to play it and make us wait is exactly what they did.

After a five-year wait Starfield finally released on XBox Series X/S and PC on September 6, 2023. A month before I let my boss, family and friends know that I would probably be impossible to get a hold of as I would be exploring the far corners of the galaxy. Starfield gives you a lot to explore. Before the game was released Todd Howard, the director of Bethesda Game Studios, boasted that Starfield would have over 100 star systems featuring more that 1,000 planets to explore. Bethesda Game Studios has always been known for making large worlds for you to explore but nothing came close to the size Starfield promised. The main plot of Starfield is set around collecting mysterious artifacts that give the first person to touch them a mysterious vision. What the visions mean and who created the artifacts is completely unknown. Your story starts on the Argos Extractors Mining Colony on the moon Vectera. An unknown client has hired the company to investigate an “anomaly” and as the newest member of the team you are sent in to find this anomaly. As it turns out the anomaly is the first of the artifacts. After finding the artifact the client who hired you shows up on Vectera and introduces himself as Barrett. You soon learn that Barrett is a member of a group called “Constellation” whose mission is to find these artifacts and uncover their purpose and who created them. Constellation has only found one other artifact that was discovered by Barrett himself. Barrett is the only other known person to have experienced the same vision as you. Seeing this as an opportunity, Barrett offers you membership in Constellation, gives you his starship and asks you to meet with the rest of the group.

From this point the game opens up and lets you do whatever you please. If you want to continue the main story right away, you can do that. Maybe you want to start exploring the universe and meet its inhabitants. You can do that as well. The game really lets you forge your own path through the universe. You can be whoever you want in the world of Starfield. Personally I chose to become a Ranger with a group called the Freestar Collective.

The Freestar Collective is one of five factions that you have the option of joining. Each faction the game offers is vastly different not only in appearance but in what they offer the player. The Freestar Collective is a confederation of planets whose main goal is the preservation of individual freedom and who closely resemble cowboys and lawmen of the wild west. The United Colonies (UC) are a republic who consider themselves to be the successor of the long gone governments of Earth. The UC believes that law and order must be maintained even if it takes away from a person’s individual freedom. At the start of the game these two factions have recently signed an armistice ending a decades long war between them. Tensions are still high, but peace is maintained. The game leaves it up to your own morals and values to decide who are the good guys. There are other options if you don’t feel like these are the right fit for you. Maybe you want to join The Crimson Fleet, a band of pirates who pillage and loot ships and colonies at their leisure. Do you want to be a ruthless corporate spy? Well you should check out Ryujin Industries, the megatech corporation. Unlike previous Bethesda games, Starfield also gives you the opportunity to join all of the factions if you wish. There is also the option of simply ignoring them all and going about your journey of discovery with Constellation. Who you are and what you choose to do in Starfield is for you and you alone to decide. The game never forces you into joining factions or doing something you aren’t interested in.

You can also choose how you interact with the characters you come across. There are a lot of scenarios you encounter that you can try talking your way out of. If you can manage to say the right things to someone you can often avoid a violent encounter. If that isn’t your style you can always rely on your wide variety of weapons for the more action packed route. You may find yourself somewhere and you spot a stack of cash or a cool unique item sitting on a table. You can try and steal them if you’d like.

It’s important to remember that how you interact with the world around you will often change the way people view you. On top of that if you get caught committing crimes you’re going to end up with a bounty on your head. If that bounty is small you may just find yourself in a jail cell and every item you stole seized by whatever authority arrested you. Of course you could always try to evade capture, avoiding jail, and ending up with an even higher bounty.

It’s a rare thing for a game to give you so much freedom of choice. Most games force you down a certain avenue to continue a story. Even in Bethesda’s previous flagship franchises such as Fallout you are always forced to take a side. It’s a very refreshing take and it certainly makes you feel like you are truly living within the world of Starfield. I’ve talked with different people who have been playing and it’s amazing to see how differently our play-throughs have gone so far. The world is so massive and there is so much to do. Even though the main story is the same for everyone, it's exciting to see how each player has their own sense of identity within the game.

I could go on and on about how much I love this game. It really is an amazing gaming experience. But instead of letting me go on and on about Starfield I recommend you go check it out for yourself.

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