I know this might be tempting fate, but Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield really could be one of the best games of all time; it’s certainly one of the most hotly anticipated upcoming Xbox games out there and, with the Starfield release date ahead of us, we could be in for a treat. We might not know all the ins and outs of what this game has in store for us, but if even a fraction of what Starfield fans think the renowned Skyrim re-releasers can deliver is true, we’re looking at an unmissable experience. As a PS5 player with a soft-spot for Mass Effect and a love of Fallout, Starfield FOMO is very real – overwhelming almost. I desperately need Bethesda’s Starfield Direct on June 11 to put an end to that – one way, or another.
With the Starfield Direct date fast-approaching, my excitement for Bethesda’s new release really has never been higher. It’s been over two months since we last learned anything about Starfield – and I’m still reeling from the revelation in June 2022 that there will be over 1,000 Starfield planets to explore. But, without an Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, or a beefy enough PC to run it well, I find myself with an unshakeable fear that I’m going to miss out on a truly epic game. There’s going to be at least 23 Starfield ship customization options available, with who-knows-how-many parts to pick from. How could I not be worried about missing out on that?
Of course, there is a simple solution to this particular predicament I find myself in – it’s an expensive one, sure, but a simple one nonetheless. All I really need to do is buy an Xbox, right? Then, not-only do I have access to an entire catalog of Xbox Game Pass games, but I also have the hardware to play Starfield. On paper, it sounds perfect – but, as you may very-well know, it’s far from that in reality.
While not quite as bank-breaking as a new PC, consoles are expensive – and I’ve been burned by this sort of console-exclusive FOMO before. As someone who has casually enjoyed Zelda games in their youth, the release of Breath of the Wild in 2017 was very exciting. I was holding out on buying a Nintendo Switch, and did so for a short while, but – as much as I enjoy some of the best Switch racing games like Mario Kart, BOTW eventually swayed me – and what a mistake that was. A few hundred dollars later and I was looking at around ten hours of time in Breath of the Wild before I got bored of it. I’m not going to go into the details of that now, but it was a costly mistake where I let my FOMO get the better of me. And, history seems to be repeating itself.
So, that’s why I am desperate for Bethesda’s upcoming Starfield Direct to cure my FOMO. I either need to be 100% convinced to splash the cash on an Xbox for this one game, or I need to be so underwhelmed that I’m unbothered about it going forward. It’s a strange sentiment, I know, to want a game to either be epic or terrible, but I can’t live in this purgatory any longer.
I’m not the biggest fan of the shooting mechanics in the Fallout series, so if we see a few more Starfield weapons in action and they look a little janky, that could work. However, I am quite a large fan of Fallout’s branching conversations and the SPECIAL system it employs. So, if we get a better look at the Starfield skills on offer and how they affect gameplay, I’ll likely be convinced.
Also, as exciting as it looks, Starfield’s ship customization also really does sound exhausting. If it looks as overwhelming as it has done in the past, this could be my ticket to FOMO freedom. However, if we get a better look at ship-to-ship combat and the – hopefully – seamless transition between space and surface, I could very-well see that ticket torn up and tossed in the trash.
I know there’s quite a few rather excellent-looking upcoming PS5 games, and I know I can’t wait to bribe my way through Assassin’s Creed Mirage, but there’s nothing on the way quite like Starfield. Bethesda’s RPGs continue to be some of the best RPG games out there and I have no doubt that Starfield will break that trend. So, albeit rather selfishly, I am begging for this game to look average – at least – in some way. In scope, scale, design, and detail, it looks like Bethesda is going to knock it out of the park and into orbit with Starfield – and, for PlayStation players, that means either necking a hard-to-swallow pill, or forking out for an entirely new console.