Many users online feel that Ubisoft Massive’s Star Wars Outlaws is executing the planet landing system better, leading to criticism of Starfield’s handling of the feature.
At Ubisoft Forward 2024, Star Wars Outlaws made a powerful impression as developers highlighted the game’s combat, world design, and space travel. The gameplay walkthrough also demonstrated the mechanics of interplanetary travel, prompting online fans to draw parallels with Starfield.
In the Bethesda RPG, space landings are achieved by choosing a landing spot and waiting through a loading screen while a repetitive cutscene plays. This was criticized by some players for breaking immersion, as constantly sitting through loading screens in a game focused on exploring planets can become tiresome.
Star Wars Outlaws takes a comparable approach, making slight adjustments to maintain the immersive experience. Rather than abruptly cutting to black, the camera pans in as the ship descends into the atmosphere of a planet. This allows viewers to witness the Trailblazer (piloted by Kay) darting through the clouds and gracefully gliding over the planet’s surface before reaching its destination, offering a picturesque view of the location.
Although the landing sequence remains a cutscene, it allows players to follow a pre-determined path instead of abruptly fading to black like in Starfield.
This is exactly how landing on planets in Starfield should’ve been, really wish Bethesda figured out how to do it like this rather than black screens…Star Wars Outlaws looks great! pic.twitter.com/e8TKHx5b12
— Ameer (@SynthPotato) June 10, 2024
After the presentation, many users on X gathered around a popular post to express their admiration for this system and suggest that Starfield could have benefited from a similar feature.
The caption of the post read, “Landing on planets in Starfield should have been like this. Many in the comments section also expressed their wish for Bethesda to have implemented this method instead of using black screens.”
One user praised, “This is fantastic! I love how effortlessly it works,” while another pointed out, “I am happy to be playing Starfield again, and although it has improved, the traveling still breaks the immersion.”
Despite some criticism, there were also users who defended Starfield and pointed out the significant differences in the scope of its games. They emphasized that unlike other RPGs where players are limited to a few predetermined locations, Starfield allows players to land anywhere, making it impractical to implement a similar system in the game.
The discussion regarding this subject is expected to continue for several months, as fans have expressed their admiration for Star Wars Outlaws’ approach. It is possible that a mod for Starfield could strive to incorporate a similar aspect into the game, or that Bethesda may consider implementing it in the Shattered Space DLC. It will be intriguing to witness how Outlaws’ story aligns with the events in the Star Wars timeline.
Leave a Reply