It was revealed recently that Starfield had scooped an award for the Most Innovative Gameplay in the Steam Awards 2023. This award came mere months after the release of Bethesda Game Studios’ space-faring RPG epic, which dropped in September and promptly picked up more than ten million players in the space of a week. However, as time went on, the holes began to show and flaws were pushed to the surface, with many players coming away from Starfield with a sour taste in their mouths.
That sentiment has clearly remained within the community, as the comments following the reveal of Starfield’s award are less than agreeable.
Is Starfield Innovative?
I played Starfield, completed it, and then moved on. That was midway through September, and I haven’t looked back – and probably won’t until Shattered Space, the game’s first expansion, is released. It was an underwhelming and thoroughly disappointing game that didn’t interest me beyond the end of the story, and I felt no inclination to repeat the game ad infinitum through Bethesda’s take on ‘New Game +’.
Following the reveal of Starfield winning the Most Innovative Gameplay award, users took to social media to stress their disappointment and dismay:
- ‘Innovative? It’s probably the least Innovative game I’ve ever played’ – Mark Horgan
- ‘What did it innovate? How to make the most boring game ever?’ – Warski
- ‘The most outdated mainstream video game in the last 20 years won innovative gameplay that’s f***ing hilarious’ – Cassie
- ‘My favourite innovation was the copy and paste animations and game mechanics from your other games’ – Jess
- ‘“Most innovative” My man, you literally force us to fast travel to 95%+ of the locations.’ – Genius Chad
- ‘What tf did you even innovate, how to make a bland, barren game and to have your modding community completely abandon it?’ – Mezoteus
- ‘What f***ing innovation though? It’s literally the same gameplay loop used by every other Bethesda game for the past 20 years. Absolutely wild that this shit won any award let alone one for INNOVATIVE GAMEPLAY of all things.’ – Rhogath
There were some positive comments thrown into the mix by fans and supporters, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the wave of negativity in the wake of this award being made public.
Recently, Starfield plunged to ‘Mostly Negative’ reviews on Steam, which many saw as an indicator of the ongoing disappointment with the game. There are things in the pipeline and Bethesda recently pledged to push updates to the game every six weeks, but it doesn’t seem like enough to win over an all too burnt-out gaming community.
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