Recent reviews by jdmac020

I picked this game up because a coworker raved about it, right after release. He called it "Skyrim, in space" but in a complimentary way. I had never played Skyrim (don't ask me how), but the screenshots he shared were enough. I was hyperfixated on Valheim at the time, so I didn't actually play very far till a year later.

Since early December, 2024, Starfield's been my hyperfixation game. I've been on it nearly daily, multiple hours a day. I dragged out completing the game, because I was constantly finding new things and getting absorbed in the role playing, the base building, the leveling. At some point, I finally started looking at reviews -- and was *shocked* at how much people hate this game. It's upsetting to realize that people who don't want the game have likely ruined the chance for it to be iterated on and made even better.

I have the advantage of never playing a BGS game before, I think. I was able to take this game as a stand-alone experience. I also hadn't been plugged into the hype, and got into it with zero expectations. I can't relate with most people who have found the game disappointing (or worse).

The story telling is delightful. The depth and intricacies of the quest lines are largely amazing, and the simple dumb ones are (usually) amusing. The grinding feels at a minimum, and totally optional. The skill tree stressed me out at first, but it's not like I was being prevented from doing things in the game at lower levels. I spent 375ish hours on my first playthru, being pretty thorough, and apparently still left things undone.

It's a piece of art made by people, which means there are flaws. I spent something like 12 hours messing with the outpost system, absolutely entranced in the process of building a system that fed raw mats into manufacturing -- then realized that was it, I'd maxed it out and probably never needed to touch it again. There's glitches, a couple borked quests, inventory issues. Some quest lines DO feel half-finished, or wrap unsatisfactorily. But none of this has stopped me from being sucked into the universe.

If you enjoy RPGs, space operas, gun/laser fights, and having options that aren't always "Shoot this NPC" then you'll enjoy Starfield. Extra so, if you're willing to enjoy something for what it IS instead of hating it for what it isn't.

Stardew is peaceful, soothing, and low stakes without being boring. It's surprisingly story driven, and has oodles of content with a pretty low learning curve. If you're looking for a game to chill out to while still getting invested in, this is the one.