Starfield Metacritic Score Hits New Low

Is Starfield not as good as Fallout 4 and Skyrim?

By Tyler Fischer

Starfield's Metacritic score has once again fallen, giving the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC game its lowest score so far. When reviews for the game went live on August 31, the PC version boasted a score of 88 an the Xbox version had a score of 87. Since then, the game's scores have fallen a bit, which is fairly normal. It's rare for a game's Metacritic score to rise over time, and while sometimes scores never move, more often than not games with a high volume of reviews will decline over time. To this end, both the PC and Xbox scores have fallen a bit. 

The Xbox Series X version has specifically dipped from 87 to 85. Meanwhile, the PC version has dipped from 88 to 87. And tying into the theory above, the platform with the higher volume of reviews -- the Xbox version -- is the one that has dipped more, though this could all come down to the fact the game does not run as well on Xbox Series X as it does on high-end gaming PCs, which most reviewers will have used to review the game on PC. 

To put these number into perspective, Bethesda Game Studio's Fallout 4 has scores of 84, 87, and 88 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions respectively. Meanwhile, Bethesda Game Studio's Skyrim has scores of 92, 94, and 96 for the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360 versions respectively. In other words, Starfield is a bit off the pace of Skyrim and now arguably coming in lower than Fallout 4.

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As for the user scores on Metacritic, they are much lower but this game is reignited the console wars so it's impossible to gain any valuable insight via its user scores. Further, Bethesda and Xbox are unlikely to care about these user scores because it's not stopping anyone from playing the game, which is apparently the former's biggest launch ever in terms of player count. That said, it's also the first massive release from the former since its games started being included with Xbox Game Pass subscriptions on the day of release. In other words, much like the Metacritic user scores, it's not easy to extract much insight from this.

"During my time with Starfield, I've gotten lost in caves and abandoned research facilities for no real reason at all, only to come out much richer with off-the-books 'quests' completed and a more fleshed-out world to show for it," reads the opening of our review of the game. "I've also gone up against more bullet sponges than I care to recall, with some enemies floating away comically in a low-gravity environment after a single smack while others soaked up shotgun shells like their spacesuits were as alien as some of the lifeforms you'll come across. Across those journeys, I've experienced the highs and lows of companionship, such as finding the perfect crewmate only for them to end up abandoned when they returned home bugged and unable to speak. Suffice it to say, Bethesda is definitely back."

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