Space and exploration often feel inseparable, but not in Starfield. According to the Xbox achievements stats, players in this game don’t explore the open world, and for a good reason.
On Oct. 30, a Reddit user highlighted that only 3.28 percent of Xbox players have completed the Boots on the Ground achievement that requires landing on 100 planets, indicating how few players are exploring the worlds.
“I definitely would’ve hit 100 planets before putting the game down had exploration felt more rewarding,” a fan wrote. The community agreed on a few changes that would incentivize exploration.
One of the suggestions was to have more unique points of interest. For example, in Fallout 4, the whole map is covered with locations that have their own background and story, even if just a small one. You could wander off for a few minutes and end up exploring a school with a secret Vault or accidentally find yourself a new companion.
The empty open world in Starfield has been an ongoing discussion as players are greeted with dull, desolate planets with little to nothing interesting on them. Sure, there are exciting locations and stories hidden among the stars, but in an open world with over a thousand planets, you’d expect something more worthy of your time.
Another part of the game that desperately needs a revamp is the temples and their minigame that players hate but still have to do to unlock powers. “The temples were extremely disappointing after just the first one,” a player wrote. The lack of variety in temples even caused players to use cheats simply not to do them 240 times during a playthrough.
Bethesda’s promises of a game with thousands of worlds to explore set fan expectations too high and several players wished the game was smaller. Pack all the content to a few planets or a single system and we won’t expect the game to be the next No Man’s Sky.
