Starfield

Play it on: Xbox Series X/S, PC
Current goal: Unlock the remaining achievements

Starfield has absolutely dominated this past month for me. Since August 31, basically all I’ve played is Bethesda’s massive space romp. I have complicated feelings about Starfield for sure, and find so much of it very disappointing, yet here I am, ready to spend another weekend in this digital galaxy.

Read More: Starfield: The Kotaku Review

This weekend I’m really zoning in on the nine achievements I have yet to unlock. They require a push to level 100, and some serious fieldwork gathering rocks and plants. I’m totally here for it though. My issues with its segmented world aside, I love walking through these spaces, picking things up, gazing at the night sky, taking photographs, and working on my outpost building chops.

Outpost building in particular is making me really appreciate the amount of planets that are in this game. Setting up each new base requires me to pay close attention to the resources available, and spend some time hunting down an optimal place to mine for essential materials. So far, I’m finding that with this as the central activity, everything else about the game gets pushed to the margins, and the things that often take me out of the adventure—like its repetitive interior spaces and not-so-smart AI—don’t feel that agitating when they’re not taking up the spotlight.

The freedom to take this game at my own pace and focus on what I choose to focus on is calling to me. Combined with mods (I can’t live without StarUI, for example), Starfield is feeling like a stack of TTRPG books whose fundamental rules aren’t the greatest, but still offer a core concept that draws me in. In Bethesda’s latest, there’s enough engaging material and tweakable rules that I’ll make my own fun, no matter what the vanilla experience is like. — Claire Jackson

And that’s it for our game picks on September 29, 2023. What games are you playing this weekend?