No Man’s Sky Achieving an Impossible Milestone 8 Years Later Proves it

Starfield is Bethesda’s brand-new IP, joining the likes of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Joining the leagues of such beloved franchises meant that there was a lot of anticipation placed on the game’s release, especially since it had a long development cycle.

However, Starfield, even with its unique space exploration setting, never managed to live up to the hype. Todd Howard and his team tried fixing things with the Shattered Space DLC, but that didn’t deliver either.

Many in the community believe that the space RPG is beyond fixable, but there’s still hope, considering No Man’s Sky has reached a milestone that no one could’ve predicted at its launch.

It’s Time For Starfield to Learn From No Man’s Sky

When No Man’s Sky initially dropped, it was a disaster. There were signs that something wasn’t right with the game, and no early review copies were sent to reviewers. Then, the game debuted, and it proved to be a mess. All the broken promises hurt Hello Games as the final build wasn’t anything that the developer promised.

Even PlayStations’ top executives criticized the developer for overpromising on features. The game was review-bombed to oblivion on Steam and rated “Mostly Negative.”

No Man’s Sky all-time steam reviews turn Very Positive 8 years later
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Hello Games could’ve abandoned ship, but learning from this failure, it decided to fine-tune the game and bring a bunch of updates that it had promised at launch.

Fast-forward to 2024, and after eight years of continuous updates, No Man’s Sky has managed to reach “Very Positive” reviews on Valve’s platform for the first time. With the no end in sight and Worlds Part 2 right on the horizon, the game’s upward trajectory will only get even stronger in the upcoming months.

The game’s resurgence proves that with hard work and dedication, any failed game can be brought back to life, which is something Todd Howard and Bethesda must do for Starfield. Currently, the game sits at a “Mixed” rating on Steam based on over 105,000 reviews.

It’s already been confirmed that Bethesda has diverted its full resources towards The Elder Scrolls 6. However, Howard could always prepare a team of the studio’s best leads or even outsource the further development of the space RPG to another studio. This will allow the game to reach its potential and finally establish itself as the next big thing by Bethesda..

Starfield Must Get Rid of Loading Screens

Well, if Bethesda decides to hop back on and fix the space RPG’s core issues, the first issue it must deal with is loading screens. These interruptions completely ruin the game’s immersion, transforming exploration into simple teleports rather than a seamless journey.

From entering buildings to moving between rooms, everything in Starfield has a loading screen. In other space exploration titles like No Man’s Sky and Star Citizen, the ship serves as a vehicle that takes players everywhere they want to go.

However, Bethesda’s space RPG locks travel behind a loading screen. All the ships in the game feel like purely cosmetic additions rather than tools for adventure. It ruins Howard’s promised sense of freedom and wonder.

Alongside loading screens, there are also issues with repetitive quest designs and a lack of depth compared to all the recent game releases like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. Let’s hope Bethesda takes note of these issues and brings the necessary fixes.

With that said, what do you think Bethesda needs to bring to Starfield? Let us know in the comments below.