Starfield (Video Game)

Title: Starfield

Platform: Windows, Xbox Series X/S

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Rating: M for Mature (17+)

Year of Release: 2023

Number of Players: Single player

Genre: Action role-playing

Plot Summary: Starfield is a space-themed role-playing game where your character is part of a space exploration group trying to uncover the truth behind some mysterious artifacts, that different parties in the game are also trying to get their hands on. It is an open-world game, allowing players to explore the galaxy at will (or at least as far as your spaceship and your flying abilities will take you!). While there are various quest objectives the player can follow, the player can also randomly fly to different planets, land at random locations, explore, and often find something interesting. Some planets have vegetation, some planets have life forms, some planets have both of those, and some planets have none! It is a big solar system out there! While this is an action role-playing game, the game plays like a regular “shooter” versus the turn-based mechanics seen with many role-playing video games.

Quality of the Media: Bethesda Studios is a legend in the video game industry, with quite possibly one of the best video games ever created (Skyrim) on their resume. There was a lot of anticipation for Starfield, and it suffered from some delays in its release, so when it finally came out, I think some people had overhyped it in their own minds. It truly is a beautiful game, with outstanding graphics. I could do without some of the loading screens when transitioning from place to place, but overall its visually stunning.

Opinion: Starfield is a fun game! It was starting to get a little stale (I do not want to give away any spoilers here) but they just recently released updated content called “Shattered Space” which I am excited to check out. This is another game that received the dreaded “M for Mature” rating, but again I am calling nonsense on that. For any teens that are interested in space, like space movies and tv shows, like role playing games, etc., they are going to like this game. There is nothing in this game that cannot be seen on network television, so I am not buying the Mature rating. Go play this game and have fun!

Library Program: This is a tough one for a library program as it is a single player game versus multi-player. If the library were hosting a “game night” where there were multiple consoles to play, this could be one of the games offered. It would be a good game to open a dialogue with the teens on space, space travel, and artificial intelligence (there is a portion of the game where the player interacts with A.I.).