Space: the final frontier. If you have a craving to jump into a virtual spaceship and enjoy exploring the infinite galaxies, we’ve got you covered. Star Citizen and Starfield both advertise themselves as space exploration games, but both offer different experiences.
Let’s cut to the chase—neither is perfect. However, both can scratch that space-traveling itch if you don’t mind the shortcomings, and there are quite a few of them. So, if you’re stuck picking between these two, let us help you decide.
Starfield or Star Citizen: Which should you buy?
Starfield has lots of gameplay options but is limited because of its game engine
Starfield was one of the most anticipated games since its first reveal in 2018. The game was officially launched in 2023 and critical reception ranged from mixed to mostly positive. Don’t get us wrong, Starfield isn’t a bad game, but because of Bethesda’s outdated engine and console optimization, the game had to sacrifice quite a lot to even run correctly.
For better or worse, Starfield is a Bethesda game at its core. This means you have a lot of freedom when it comes to your playstyle. You can go in guns blazing or take a stealthy approach. Or better yet, talking your way out of difficult situations can be quite effective.
This is all complemented by a new leveling system where players must complete a skill challenge before progressing their skills.
There is a decent story, but you can completely ignore it if you want to explore the galaxy at your own pace. The game has unique gameplay mechanics when you finish the main story campaign and unlock everything.
Unfortunately, being a Bethesda game also means some gameplay mechanics are better than others. The combat doesn’t always feel great, character animations and AI movements feel dated, the inventory system is as inconvenient as ever, and there are loading screens everywhere. Space traveling is probably where the game is at its weakest because it’s practically non-existent. While the ships and space battles can be fun, traveling from one planet to another is reduced to a loading screen, which really breaks the immersion.
There are also performance issues that have, thankfully, improved after a few patches. There are bugs, weird glitches, and the game is locked to 30 FPS on Xbox consoles.
It’s also worth mentioning you can play Starfield at a very affordable price. While you can buy the game normally, you can also subscribe for a month or two on Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass and enjoy the game fully while your subscription lasts.
With that said, if you can look past the issues and focus on the good bits, Starfield can be quite a fun and rewarding experience, especially when played on PC with a few mods for good measure.
Star Citizen offers infinite possibilities, but the game isn’t even fully out
Star Citizen is a game where you get to explore, fight, and try to make your mark on the expansive Star Citizen universe, according to the game’s official website.
Unlike Starfield, Star Citizen is more of an MMORPG, meaning you’ll encounter and often engage with other players. You can still play solo, but the game is more fun with other players.
While a separate mode called Squadron 42 has a story, Star Citizen isn’t narrative-heavy and will mostly let you do whatever you want in the game. You can explore the universe in your ship, mine for ores, smuggle things, and even own land. Unlike Starfield, you do get to fly your spaceship from one planet to another. Star Citizen is also a gorgeous-looking game.
As of writing this, Star Citizen is currently in its Alpha 3.2 phase, meaning the game still has a long way to go before it’s fully available. The game was announced on Oct. 10, 2012, when it raised over $2 million USD from crowdfunding. However, that didn’t stop the developers from hosting more crowdfunding campaigns in the years that followed. CitizenCons, as they are called, are crowdfunding events for Star Citizen where the devs show off the new features in the game and try to raise even more money.
Nine years after its first announcement, Star Citizen raised around $400 million, and we imagine that number has increased significantly since. To play the game in alpha, players must pay an upfront cost of $45 for the base or $85 for the premium version.
Additionally, players can purchase land, insurance, and ships for real money, sometimes costing well over $500 per ship. Quite expensive for a game that hasn’t properly been released yet.
If money isn’t an issue for you and you don’t care about it still being in development, go for it. Many have been following and playing Star Citizen religiously since it was first announced and are having a fun time, regardless of the game’s development.
Final verdict: Starfield or Star Citizen?
As much as we’d like to recommend a game like Star Citizen, where you can do whatever you want in a virtual universe, we have to go with the safer option and pick Starfield. While not perfect, Starfield is fully released, knows what it has and doesn’t, and costs a fraction of what you could potentially spend to play Star Citizen.
Maybe one day, when Star Citizen is properly completed and released and eases down on microtransactions, we could revisit this topic and perhaps even change the score. Until then, we recommend you stick with Bethesda’s space RPG.
