WhileStarfieldhas many fans, it’s clear that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. RecentSteam reviews ofStarfieldare mostly negative, indicating that a significant portion of Bethesda’s fanbase is disappointed with its new title. It could very well prove to be a redemption story, as Bethesda’s continued support and release of DLC of the game could improve its current reputation, but it’s certainly not where the game would ideally be right now. Under it all, the good and the bad, there is a key throughline however:Starfielddoes not feel like a 2023 game and doesn’t live up to the anticipation set after games likeSkyrim. This very real shadow also hangs over another hotly-anticipated title, perhaps the most anticipated video game ever,Grand Theft Auto 6.
After years of anticipation self-imposed by fans, Rockstar Games would confirm that it was working onGTA 6in February 2022, sending the hype into overdrive. Nearly two years would pass before Rockstar revealed the first-everGTA 6trailer, which focused entirely on story, characters, and settings with no gameplay, and somehow that anticipation has only grown a hundredfold. With this unreleased title, Rockstar Games has broken records on social media like Twitter and YouTube, andGrand Theft Auto 6has already won an awardfor the most anticipated game of 2024 and beyond from PlayStation Blog.
While one is a crime game and the other is a Sci-Fi RPG,StarfieldandGTA 6have more in common than someone might think. They are both successors of some sort to some of the best video games of all time, they both come over a decade later, they both come from developers whose releases have proven to be seminal events just about every time, and much, much more. The reality is they both face the same challenges, and in the eyes of many,Starfieldfell short. The scary part is the anticipation forStarfieldfeels like it was always miles away fromGrand Theft Auto 6, before the latter was even properly revealed, and ifGTAis going to avoid the same trappings thatStarfieldfell to, it cannot walk the same road.
Starfield and GTA 6 Open-World Design
While it’s possible to point to any number of challenges thatStarfieldandGrand Theft Auto 6both face, two things seem to be the biggest frontiers: the open-world formula and the cultural relevance of the titles. The fact is thatStarfield, when players are on a planet, tactilely feels likeSkyrimandFallout 4. There are a few new bells and whistles, sure, but sayingStarfieldfeels like a game from 2011 and 2015 is not the appeal it needs for many. It’s hard to even say ifSkyrim’s open-world approachwould be as loved as it is if it were released in 2023, instead of 2011. The fact is Bethesda’s open-world design can be seen in many games from other studios, partially taking away that studio game identity on top of everything else.
The worst of it is that, in many ways,Starfieldfeels like a step back. Outside of towns and entering dungeons,SkyrimandFallout 4were open-world gamesin the purest sense. The constant need to move from one planet to the next necessitates frequent fast travel onStarfield’s behalf, which pulls away from the immersion. It’s not necessarily realistic for someone to climb mountains, jump around them, and work around invisible barriers to go from one place to the next, but it’s part of thatSkyrimexperience. It is a fond frustration fans will constantly remember;Starfielddoesn’t have that identity.
GTA 6faces this very same challenge, if with one huge, perhaps worsening caveat. No one genuinely knows whatGTA 6gameplaylooks like, and they may not for most of 2024. Anticipation is only going to build in the meantime, and while that’s not necessarily Rockstar’s fault,GTA 6’s gameplay has to live up to modern hype, to the hype ofRed Dead 2,and to the hype ofGTA 5. Red Dead 2is a marked improvement overGTA 5, but the fact is they are two very different open-world experiences. The former is a slow, methodical, serious, and immersive experience, while the latter is a fast-paced, over-the-top satire of society and crime. The question of how Rockstar improves and innovates onGTA 5is a serious one because, if it can’t, it could end up beingStarfieldall over again.GTA 6could end up feeling like a 2013 game releasing in 2025.
It’s worth pointing out that theworst reviews forGTA 5on Metacritic are the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions. They have notably fewer critic reviews, but one part of each lower review is because of how little of an improvement it felt. 79 and 81 are not bad, but they are not good for aGrand Theft Autogame. If the gameplay ofGTA 6is too similar to GTA on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, it seems the ultimate direction would be the same.
This isn’t to say it can’t do it, but that shadow still lingers as it did withStarfield. SomeGTA 6fans think Lucia’s ankle monitor will be a map limiterin the game, that’s an interesting step but not enough, and it’s ultimately speculation at this time.
Starfield and GTA 6 Cultural Relevance
Skyrimkickstarted a decade-plus of memes, mods, community interactions, discoveries, lore dives, and fan theories, ultimately making it one of the most influential games in the industry. Even non-gamers who have never picked up a controller are likely aware ofSkyrimor have encountered its influence and relationship with modern culture.Starfielddoesn’t have any of that. Perhaps it’s because of its more realistic, more grounded NASA-like approach, but it’s easy to recall any number ofSkyriminfluences, characters, factions, and so forth. It’s not the same withStarfield, and wherever Bethesda’s misstep lies, it’s hard to seeStarfieldever becoming the same cultural juggernaut asSkyrim.
Then, there’sGTA 6. Rockstar is going all in on the general meme-ification of Florida, showing off things like the Florida Joker, adapting “Florida Man” headlines into its graphics, and satirizing elements of social media, party culture, and the modern-day person. In this way, perhapsGTA 6has an advantage thatStarfieldnever did with the latter being an imagined, pseudo-realistic future in that it’s immediately more relevant now.GTA 6is more anticipated, however, thanStarfieldperhaps ever was, so the same question bears asking: is it enough to ensure thatGTA 6is on the same level asGrand Theft Auto 5, the most profitable entertainment product of all time?
If the anticipation keeps doubling down and tripling down and quadrupling down on so little information with no real expectations, it becomes so much harder to predict. That shadow lingers overGTA 6’s pre-launch hype as it now does overStarfield’s post-launch period, just as the question of its open-world approach lingered over both in development.
The Future of Starfield and GTA 6
The ideal future is clear. Bethesda keeps working onStarfield, releasing updates, DLC, and patches that bring the game full circle to its pre-release anticipation. Updates can make some of its open-world drags more fun, while introducing new features that at least stand out. Its future content could add more to the base game, to the point where at least it is culturally relevant to some, if not all, gamers in the industry. At this point, it’s uncertain thatStarfieldwill ever hit the same heights asSkyrim, but there is a future where theStarfieldprotagonist is able to stand within the same echelon asSkyrim’s Dragonbornand belong there.
The ideal future forGTA 6is much scarier.GTA 6lives up to the hype in the ideal scenario, perhaps somehow making that anticipation seem like it wasn’t even enough. It launches to amazing reviews, it defines a generation, it innovates on theopen-world crime genre, it accomplishes something no other developer has done, it becomes culturally relevant for the next 20-30 years, and it sets a standard in terms of commercial success that makesGTA 5look paltry in comparison. That is theGTA 6the current levels of hype, as it continues to build, predicts.
Hopefully,Starfieldcan step out of this shadow, whileGTA 6manages to chase enough of it away that it doesn’t collapse on its own weight.
Grand Theft Auto 6
WHERE TO PLAY
Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
