As part of a presentation on June 11, Bethesda presented its new SF role-playing game “Starfield“, which is set to be released in 2023. The presentation sparked a discussion among fans of Star Citizen, which has raised $588 million through crowdfunding but still cannot show a release date. Are the games comparable or not?
This was the presentation: On the evening of June 11, Bethesda showcased its new SF role-playing game Starfield (via youtube), having previously looked at the showcase for Xbox.
In the presentation, the Bethesda magic is invoked: Starfield is not just a “Bethesda world” but a galaxy. One sets off, gets distracted from the main task, and realizes two hours later that one has stumbled into a new adventure.
The presentation had some highlights:
- Players will meet and hire companions – the player can even engage in romantic affairs with them, like in Mass Effect.
- Crew members can also be hired, granting the ship additional bonuses.
- The emphasis of the presentation was on the freedom of the game and the size of the galaxy: players do not have to be heroes but can also sell sandwiches.
- A system reminiscent of Lego allows players to assemble their ships.
- Bethesda emphasized the action and role-playing aspects of Starfield.
Presentation garners many compliments – Was the highlight of the evening
How was the presentation received? The presentation was very well received by many viewers, as evidenced by the reactions in the Twitch chat. Some joke that “typical Bethesda game” not only means “a lot of freedom” but also “a lot of bugs” – but overall, Bethesda has impressed.
Among the games that Xbox showcased on June 11, it was certainly the highlight and seemed to have deserved the “presentation all to itself” and filled it completely.
Notably, viewers often commented in the chat something like “This settles Star Citizen” or “Star Citizen is now dead.”
“Starfield brings what I wanted from Star Citizen – decades earlier”
How is this being discussed among Star Citizen fans? Very differently. At the same time as the gameplay presentation, there was a discussion about Starfield (via reddit). There are three positions:
Some people immediately expressed their enthusiasm for Starfield:
- One user says the spaceship customization totally convinced him, it’s much better than in Star Citizen, which he has been playing since 2016. You can engage in piracy, dock to ships, there is food and water – it’s all totally crazy.
- A second user believes Starfield looks fantastic and is a “day one must buy”.
- A third says Starfield seems to offer what people wanted from Star Citizen – just decades earlier. A reference to the long development time of Star Citizen, which some accuse of suffering from “feature creep”. The head Chris Roberts does not see it that way.
A supporter of Starfield writes:
“So far it only reveals Star Citizen. Starfield seems to focus on what most people want and what the game should be. Except for the multiplayer part, which is significant but currently does not exist for most in Star Citizen, Starfield covers everything I want in Star Citizen.”
A second group of users hopes that the release of Starfield will now put pressure on Star Citizen. Exemplary for this is this quote:
- “Let’s hope this leads to the Star Citizen developers finally stepping it up.”
The presentation had something of LEGO at times:
Fans criticize comparison: “That was just an extended commercial”
A third group, however, firmly supports Star Citizen:
- “That has nothing to do with Star Citizen. You click on a city and a cutscene takes you there.”
- “So, how many friends do you want to play Starfield with?”
- “Look at the character creation. It all looks very basic. The hair is just bad […] To say Starfield is like Star Citizen without having played it is not a very reasonable position. Everything they have said so far is just a showcase. I’ve heard the same from many games. The livestream itself is nothing but an extended advertisement that makes a big effort to say what people want to hear.”
Bethesda showed that you can meet your biggest fan in Starfield:
It is said that the people who praised Starfield here are not even fans of Star Citizen, but belong to the “Star Citizen” haters who come from the Reddit about “refunds” for Star Citizen.
Before the presentation, a leak about Starfield was already released:
