With a brand-new gameplay overview, Starfield is looking better than ever, but it may never be the Halo killer many players already believe it is. Showing off various features of the upcoming sci-fi RPG, the gameplay overview provided some details about Starfield’s story, setting, and various systems. Despite the controversy it created about its potentially lackluster performance, the Starfield Direct made a great showing of its subject game, drawing favorable comparison to the smash-hit Halo series.
Halo, however, has quite a pedigree for the still-in-development Starfield to live up to. Originating in 2001 with Halo: Combat Evolved, the series has provided four generations of Xbox consoles with a number of critically acclaimed, bestselling, must-have titles. However, in recent years, the Halo franchise has been in dire straits. Any suitable franchise with similar traits is poised to steal its crown, but Starfield just doesn’t have what it takes to sit on the same throne.
Of course, that could always change. Bethesda could announce a multiplayer mode for Starfield after release, as DLC or even a free add-on to promote the game’s campaign mode. While this would be a bold move for Bethesda, which has an infamously rocky history with online multiplayer, it wouldn’t be too much of a challenge to surpass Halo Infinite. Plagued by a pay-to-play battle pass function, missing features, and broken promises, Halo Infinite hasn’t achieved anything near the success of Halo 2, for example. Any competent, space-set multiplayer game that allows for custom modes and learns the lessons of Halo Infinite’s flaws could replace it. With all the money and power of Bethesda behind Starfield, it’s at a unique advantage.
Perhaps a better point of comparison to Starfield is Mass Effect. Beginning in 2007 with the game of the same title, the Mass Effect franchise has always been renowned for its engaging stories, open space exploration sequences, and impactful player choices. In its heyday, it was often compared to some of Bethesda’s earlier open-world RPG titles, like Skyrim and Fallout: New Vegas. However, the future of Mass Effect is murky. Although there’s another game planned, developer BioWare hasn’t said anything about it since 2020. If Starfield is half as successful as Microsoft and Bethesda want it to be, it has a solid chance at becoming the Mass Effect-killer; it’ll have a harder time taking down Halo.
However, Halo has been on a downward trend for a long time, and the time is ripe for a substitute like Starfield to rise up. Following the first three Halo titles’ success, countless imitators popped up. As many battle royale games as there are today, there were once just as many online multiplayer FPS games. The market grew oversaturated, and, by the time of Halo 4’s 2012 release, the genre was already tired. Halo 4 also saw 343 Industries replace Bungie, the originator and longtime developer of the Halo series. That didn’t necessarily result in a decline in…
2023-06-17 21:30:06
Article from screenrant.com
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