I love this game. Despite its shortcomings and ever present bugs, I've poured more average hours per week into this game than any other game in the past decade, maybe ever. As a working man and a father, I seemed to lack the will for long game sessions. They don't seem to be that enjoyable anymore. But this game changes that. It turned out I still very much love games, but I just haven't found THE game. And this game is THAT.

Some people criticize the lack of seamless transition in space travel and atmospheric reentry, citing NMS as an example of how it should be done. But I loved NMS, and yet the part I find most tedious is the minutes I spent traveling between planets. I ended up using teleport as much as I could. The novelty of seamless space flight wore out pretty quickly to me, and I found Starfield's fast travel system to be more to my liking.

Another thing: Progress in NMS is slow unless you scour the internet to find that 'quick way to get ahead in NMS' system. Starfield takes you fast, or slow if that's what you like. I found myself blazing through quests one day, and then just lazing around qoing sightseeing the next. It's your choice. And being a Bethesda game, Starfield also has that 'get rich quick' or 'get OP quick' too, if that's what rocks your boat.

And the best of all, as any good RPG, Starfield gives you purpose. You're not just some lost wanderer of cosmos looking for some singular end goal in a lonely singular existence. Starfield has that, too, as people who speed run New Game+ ten times over can attest. But if you're willing to step off the beaten path, you'll find plenty smaller meanings along the way, in helping the oppressed and downtrodden, toppling the megalomaniac, eradicating galactic menace, or engage in the dark inner workings of mega corporations. Or you can just be a pirate and give the middle finger to everyone and the universe.

Or you can role play like me. Just becoming a silly boy, loving the same woman over and over, in every universe.

No. That last bit was not about Andraeja. Like, eww. :P

Addendum:
The criticism about the performance of this game is valid, although since it is a single player experience, I don't see the lower frame rate as much of an obstacle to enjoy this game. And the latest update, as of November 22, 2023, gave DLSS option and improved the frame rate tremendously.