Highlights
- Starfield and Cyberpunk 2077 are both popular games, but some players feel that Cyberpunk 2077 has superior animations compared to Starfield.
- Cyberpunk 2077 senior designer Patrick K. Mills defended Starfield against these criticisms, explaining that Bethesda prioritizes giving players freedom and a vast number of locations, rather than focusing on elaborate animations.
- Mills acknowledges that players may want more cinematic scenes in Starfield, but highlights that achieving this comes at a cost and that a game cannot excel in every aspect like the best in the field.
A Cyberpunk 2077 developer has defended Starfield from critics saying that the animations in Bethesda’s RPG are inferior to those in CD Projekt Red’s game. Starfield and Cyberpunk 2077 are two of the most talked about games of the moment that present players with different fictional versions of humanity.
Starfield is a sci-fi RPG where players take on the role of one of the last space explorers searching the galaxy for artifacts. Meanwhile, Cyberpunk 2077 players have returned to Night City with the release of the Phantom Liberty DLC, which adds new content and a story featuring actor Idris Elba. Although the games follow different premises, this isn’t stopping players from feeling that Cyberpunk 2077 does better than Starfield in certain respects. Starfield has been the target of more criticism, and the defense has come from an unexpected source.
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Cyberpunk 2077 senior designer Patrick K. Mills defended Starfield from criticism saying that the game’s animations don’t match up to Cyberpunk 2077. On Twitter, user SynthPotato has said that going back to Cyberpunk 2077 showed them how outdated Starfield‘s animations are. In response, Mills explains that Bethesda and CD Projekt Red have different ways of dealing with cinematics. The designer says that this isn’t Bethesda’s focus, which instead concentrates resources on giving Starfield players a high level of freedom. Mills also argues that Starfield has more scenes with a rotating cast of characters and a “mind-boggling number of possible locations.” As such, working on more elaborate animations would make Starfield “be in development forever.”
Mills also says it’s fair for players to want Starfield‘s scenes to be more cinematic, but “that it comes at a cost.” He recalls gamers saying that Baldur’s Gate 3 should have DLC to “be real-time,” or that all RPGs should offer the gameplay and narrative of Larian’s game. Starfield has been heavily compared to Cyberpunk 2077, putting extra pressure on gamers’ expectations of Starfield. Mills finishes by saying that a game can’t have every feature executed at the same level as the best in the field, but this has little to do with the engine used.
Comparisons between famous games happen on a daily basis, and it’s no different with Cyberpunk 2077 and Starfield. The two games are at distinct moments, however, with Cyberpunk 2077 bringing its redemption saga to a close with the release of the Phantom Liberty DLC. Starfield, meanwhile, is at the beginning of its journey to make a name for itself. While the base game already provides hours of entertainment for players, the upcoming Starfield DLC has high potential to add even more to the game.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Starfield is available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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