Starfield - It took 20 hours to like it

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Gameluster shares their Starfield experience:

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It Took 20 Hours, But I Finally Started Liking Starfield

When looking up the aggregate review score from a site such as Opencritic of Bethesda's recently released Starfield, you'll see the game standing at a more than commendable 87% as of writing this, with a bright orange border around its box art signifying the mostly positive scores the game has received from critics. Delve into the individual reviews, and you'll see a slew of perfect scores, a number of nearly-perfect scores, and a handful of above-average scores. Yet, an ongoing notion permeates throughout some of the gaming community that the game is somehow "divisive." Crosshairs could be pointed at both IGN and GameSpot, arguably the two largest (or at least most widely known) outlets, who both gave the game the dreaded "7/10," which in this industry may as well be considered a "mediocre" score as far as the public is considered-thank you North American academic grading system. Though that may be a tad unfair as I think the conversations surrounding Starfield have been muddled for a while now due to the otherworldly expectations shackled upon Bethesda's shoulders.

I will say, however, that when actually reading the critical reviews from both ends of the spectrum, it isn't easy to gauge a through-line in terms of Starfield's quality. Irrespective of whatever score the reviewer gave, their words painted a story that confused me. Still, two things seemed to be clear. Firstly, Starfield is a Bethesda RPG through and through, which may be great for some, but not so much for others. Secondly, Starfield gets better the more time you invest into its universe, making Bethesda's head of publishing, Pete Hine's statement of how the game "doesn't get going until after you finish the main quest" more than just a marketing ploy. It's this very point that, though I had read from multiple trusted critics, didn't fully understand. But now I'm twenty hours into the game, and not only am I beginning to realize what Hines and critics alike meant, but am starting to feel that Starfield might just be the first time I go from detesting a game, to possibly loving it; making for the aforementioned notion that this is a "divisive" video game to be actually (somewhat) true.

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