Since its announcement back in 2018, Bethesda’s Starfield has been subject to a fair amount of hype and intrigue from fans, with many hoping it will be the next great RPG from the developers of Skyrim and Fallout 4.
Despite May’s reveal that the game’s release has been delayed until 2023, it seemed that heading into Xbox and Bethesda’s 2022 Games Showcase, anticipation for Starfield hadn’t been duelled too much, with Microsoft selecting it as the title to provide the showcase’s final bombshell that would leave players satisfied with what they’d seen.
However, the sections of gameplay that featured in the extended Starfield glimpse presented during the broadcast by Todd Howard seem to have produced conflicting reactions from players, many of whom seem somewhat underwhelmed by aspects of what they saw.
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This is the subject of a recent thread on the forum ResetEra, which began with a poll asking users to rate how they felt about Starfield’s graphics based on what they’ve seen of the game so far, with “it looks great”, “it looks alright” and “it looks ugly”, serving as the options for those voting.
The poll certainly did receive some votes, with 923 people taking the time to cast their ballot. Of these 923, it seems that the vast majority have mixed feelings regarding how the game looks, with “it looks alright” having received 56.4% of all votes, 521 to be exact, to run away with the victory.
Trailing behind was “it looks great”, with 28.5% of the vote share, thanks to 263 voters, and “it looks ugly” finishing last with 15.1%, courtesy of 139 voters.
Some users took to the comments to explain their decision or offer explanations as to how their view didn’t quite fit into the three categories, with players’ differing expectations of the game emerging as the dominant theme behind their wide spectrum of opinions.
For example, user cgpartlow said: “for a Bethesda game at that scale, I think it looks great. It's not mind-blowing but certainly a step up from their previous titles.”
The extreme ends of the spectrum were showcased by two users whose conflicting views of the publisher’s established titles seemed to colour their perceptions, with TrashHeap64 saying: “I love the aesthetic. Graphics look good to me, but I'm also the type of person who thinks Oblivion is still a gorgeous game” and FellowTarnished sharing their view that it looks: “pretty ugly, but it's a Bethesda game so it was never going to look good.”
Other users suggested that they weren’t too concerned, as they believe modders will likely improve on the game’s graphical fidelity post-release, as has happened with previous Bethesda games.
Obviously, everything could change when players finally get their hands on the game, but for now, it seems that its first impressions might not be as positive as Xbox and Bethesda might have envisioned.
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