Redfall, Arkane Austin's highly anticipated co-op shooter just launched, but unfortunately, it's far from the exhilarating vampire-hunting experience we were hoping for. In our Redfall review, we said, "Not even awesome vampires and world design can redeem Redfall's repetitive gameplay, which becomes progressively more monotonous the longer you play." And with Redfall proving distinctly underwhelming, all eyes are now on Starfield to see if it can knock it out of the park.
The pressure for Starfield to be anything other than perfect is reaching nuclear fusion https://t.co/6noBEtfRyzMay 2, 2023
Hoping Starfield is a slam dunk for team #Xbox.May 2, 2023
Twitter user DomsPlaying points out that while Microsoft will undoubtedly want Starfield to be a success, it "isn't some make-or-break moment" as the company's trump card is its highly popular subscription service. They write, "MS is the least reliant on individual 1st party hits because its most important exclusive is Game Pass."
While it may not be the be-all and end-all, many feel that Starfield needs to be successful for the sake of Microsoft's reputation. User Lakerjon24 comments, "Xbox needs a way to fix the reputation they have now of releasing mostly bad broken buggy content lacking games. It's getting quite pathetic." On top of that, as many others point out, Microsoft might see a dip in its Game Pass subscriber numbers if Starfield fails to deliver.
There are a fair few who think that Starfield will suffer from the same issues as Redfall, but it's worth remembering that it and Redfall are two very different games made by different developers, with only their publisher Bethesda Softworks (owned by Microsoft), tying them together, and the quality of one doesn't necessarily have any bearing on the other.
Over on the Starfield subreddit, user Exo_soldier argues that with Redfall, Arkane's expertise "did not match the needs of what makes an online game great", but when it comes to Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios is in much more familiar territory. They write, "Creating open world single player RPGs that have won numerous awards and recognition in their active history." Equally optimistic that Starfield won't crash land, another user comments, "If there is one thing I can count on for failure, it's an online game. Not worried about Starfield."
We've still got a bit of a wait to find out if Starfield does deliver the "Skyrim in space" experience promised by Bethesda Game Studios boss Todd Howard, as the game previously planned to launch in the first half of 2023 has been delayed to September 6. We'll have a better idea of what to expect this summer, though, as the studio is hosting a showcase dedicated to the ambitious space-faring RPG on June 11.
Check out our upcoming Xbox Series X games guide for more titles coming to Microsoft's new-gen console.
