Starfield’s Unity storyline is an intriguing take on a New Game+ mechanic, but it also opens up a main plothole. The Unity is a strange object at the center of the universe constructed by The Creators. Entering The Unity permits players to be reborn in a new universe as a Starborn. This is the game’s in-universe explanation for enabling players to commence a New Game+, retaining some of their understanding from the very first playthrough but losing issues like products and relationships.

While an in-universe explanation for New Game+ is a exciting twist on a familiar mechanic, a single would hope that Bethesda would have taken methods to make certain Starfield’s subsequent playthroughs would adapt somehow. One glaring instance of when this becomes a issue is when players are forced to go by way of particular story beats that do not make sense when they supposedly currently know what’s going to come about. What’s worse is that, in some situations, players are not even permitted to make selections primarily based on their prior understanding of the universe.

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Players Fall For The Same Con Even After Going Through Unity

This Happens During “The Starjacker” Mission

One glaring instance of Starfield’s New Game+ causing challenges with immersion is for the duration of a single of the game’s bounty missions, “The Starjacker.” During the mission, players are tasked with tracking down a criminal, Hannibal Eutropio. In the mission, players track down an informant, Adrastos Dakota, who tells them about an illegal chop shop becoming run by Hannibal and his associates. Later in the quest, having said that, it is revealed that Adrastos Dakota is Hannibal making use of an alias to trick the player into going to the chop shop so he can steal a ship from them.

Players falling for this trick on their very first playthrough tends to make sense, seeing as their character has no notion that Adrastos is truly Hannibal. However, just after going by way of The Unity, the player character should really know that they are becoming fooled. Since most other issues about their new universe have stayed the similar, it appears extremely unlikely that they would, for some cause, assume that this new version of Adrastos is not also just Hannibal conning them. However, the game does not supply any meaningful techniques to use this prior information and facts for the duration of the quest.

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Starfield Doesn’t Allow Players To Use Their Prior Knowledge Of The Universe

Players In New Game+ Should Remember Their Past Life

During “The Starjacker,” there is a point exactly where players could simply just apprehend who they now know is the true Hannibal, but are not offered the choice. There are no new dialogue selections to inform their bounty-hunting companion, Roach, what they know, and attempting to initiate combat against Hannibal is no excellent either. Players can shoot Hannibal as quite a few occasions as they like, but he in no way dies. This signifies players are forced to watch as “The Starjacker” plays out the similar way it did the very first time.

Not enabling players to use their understanding from their prior playthrough wouldn’t be an situation with a common New Game+ mechanic. However, simply because Starfield tries to justify its New Game+ with an in-universe explanation, it opens itself up to this sort of scrutiny. Instances like this result in The Unity to really feel much less like an actual storytelling device and a lot more like a lazy way for Starfield to get in on the waning recognition of multiverse stories. It was Bethesda’s selection to include things like this story element in Starfield, but it appears clear they weren’t equipped to see it by way of.

Starfield’s Plothole Continues A Disappointing Bethesda Trend

Bethesda Has Struggled To Give Players Agency In The Past, Too

Bethesda has earned itself a bit of a adverse reputation for its struggles with developing definitely immersive worlds. Perhaps a single of the most effective examples of this is how Fallout 3 took away the quite a few complicated selections presented in the franchise’s prior installments and replaced it with a largely on-rails story exactly where the player hardly ever feels like the protagonist in their personal story. While they have seemingly taken some methods toward enhancing the narrative solutions readily available to players in the years considering the fact that, Bethesda nonetheless appears a lot more intent on forcing players to practical experience by way of particular stories.

“The Starjacker” is a fantastic instance of a story Bethesda desires only to play out a single way and will not permit the player to have any agency more than. Even although the player’s character knows they are becoming scammed, they are forced to go by way of the motions. Starfield’s devs seemingly just liked their con man character so significantly they would sacrifice player immersion to let him escape an infinite quantity of occasions.

There are lots of video game narratives that do not supply the players any selections, and it is not inherently poor. The Last of Us has a single of video games’ most effective narratives and also only has a single way to play out. However, The Last of Us does not wrap itself in the veneer of a function-playing game that gives players selection or agency. Players wouldn’t count on so significantly out of games like Starfield in terms of selection if it wasn’t what they had been becoming promised.

Starfield

Platform(s)

Computer , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

September 6, 2023

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Strong Language, Violence