Starfield's new live action trailer probably inspires more emotion than the entire game will
And that's not saying much
If you're keenly awaiting next month's launch of Starfield, Bethesda's new open-world sci-fi RPG, you can skip the new trailer. It's one of those live-action affairs with CG up the wazoo, complete with an 'epic' cover of Elton John's Rocket Man that would bring a tear to the eye of Zack Snyder*, and only Zack Snyder. It does not show the game at all, nor does it capture the thrill of escaping our Earthly bonds to find a load of grey rocks just like we have at home. But you can watch the trailer below.
And you can be sure that not a single quest in Starfield will inspire a fraction of the emotion that mawkish thing did.
As a huge fan of walking simulators where you explore vast alien worlds and get lost in alien cities and walk across the surface of a comet and witness apocalypses and that's all you do, Starfield looks so boring to me. I would rather have no formal tasks than Bethesda's customary endless boring tasks. A handful of good quests and interesting NPCs and pretty places can never redeem the huge amount of tedium and busywork and uninteresting systems. The boring stuff is not a neutral presence; it makes the game worse by wasting time and burying the few good bits. I understand that a colossal quantity of boring stuff will still inspire wonder because wow, it's amazing, I can't believe they put something boring over every hill and in every corner, but I do not find that remotely satisfying. Still, I look forward to all the mods people will make to add interesting, personal, silly, and monstrously sexual things to Bethesda's grey sandbox.
Sorry, I don't really write news posts anymore so I've had a lot of this bottled up.
Starfield launches on the 6th of September on Windows and Xbox Xeriex XS. It'll cost £60 on Steam and will also be covered by Game Pass subscriptions.
* A few minutes after I wrote this silly joke, Zack Snyder appeared live on stage to promote his new movie. Sorry. I think that's my fault.For more of the latest news and previews from Gamescom 2023, head to our Gamescom 2023 hub. You can also find everything announced at Opening Night Live right here.