Bethesda Boss Calls Starfield a “Technical Marvel” Better Than Skyrim and Fallout, Todd Howard’s Other 2 Masterpieces

Since its release last year, Bethesda’s latest creation, Starfield, has proven to be a mixed bag. Some gamers absolutely love every bit of it, while others believe that Bethesda has lost its way. Either way, the consensus is that the space-action RPG is yet to live up to the expectations of being the new face of the RPG genre.

Many expected that the game’s first-ever expansion, Shattered Space, would pull the title from the abyss and place it right back at the top of Steam charts. However, the DLC hasn’t been received well by the players as Bethesda had hoped. Even though players believe Starfield is beyond the point of redemption, Bethesda’s boss states that it’s the best project the company has ever managed to deliver.

Bethesda Boss Calls Starfield the Company’s Best Project Ever

At the time of this writing, Starfield‘s current score on Steam sits at a “Mixed” rating, with only 58% of the overall reviews positive. Its first expansion, Shattered Space, is doing even worse and sits at “Mostly Negative.” All of this is quite bizarre, considering the resources Bethesda has put into developing this space-actionRPG.

However, Starfield‘s design director, Emil Pagliarulo, is still hopeful. While chatting with GamesRader, he said that even though Starfield hasn’t proven to be “everyone’s cup of tea,” it’s still Bethesda’s most ambitious project to date and the best work it has ever brought to the table.

We pushed ourselves to make something totally different. To just jam into an Xbox the biggest, richest space simulation RPG anyone could imagine. That we pulled it off makes Starfield something of a technical marvel. It’s also, in a lot of ways, the best game we’ve ever made.

Given Starfield‘s scale, it’s no surprise that Bethesda found it quite challenging to develop. On paper, the studio has managed to bring out a true technical marvel. The design director even believes that the game is even better than the studio’s top dogs.

However, this is quite a wild thing for Pagliarulo to say considering the fact that Todd Howard and his team have given us some genre-defining titles such as Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Morrowind, and who can forget, the Fallout franchise.

Even though it’s great that Bethesda tried its hand at something outside its usual games, the fact is that Starfield clearly hasn’t managed to deliver. The studio must take what it has learned from the failure of the game and implement the right solutions for its next-in-line title, Elder Scrolls 6.

Shattered Space DLC Debuts to Mixed Reviews on Steam

After finally revealing the game’s very first expansion earlier this year, it was clear that Starfield: Shattered Space was going to go to the next level and bring a full-blown horror approach. The DLC tasks players with investigating a cosmic threat on a new planet that’s packed to the brim with new weapons, gear, suits, and much more.

Although Bethesda tried its best to hype up Shattered Space DLC, it hasn’t gone too well among fans of the franchise. On Valve’s service, the story-driven DLC only managed to pull in less than 600 reviews in the first 24 hours, and only 43% of those were positive.

So, what’s the reason behind the expansion’s failure? Well, it simply isn’t worth the $30 price tag and fails to stand apart from the base game. Despite the steep cost, it doesn’t feature any new ship parts, gameplay mechanics, or skills.

Mind you, it took Bethesda over one year to develop Shattered Space DLC. Even the studio’s previous projects, which Pagliarulo believes don’t stand in the way of Starfield, had better DLCs as they offered tons of content.

It’s time for Bethesda to go back to the drawing table and bring something meaningful to its space-action RPG. Otherwise, the future isn’t looking too bright for the IP.

With that said, do you think Starfield is Bethesda’s “best” project ever? If so, let us know in the comments below.