Starfield's Unity: A Plothole as Big as Space
Starfield's "Unity" mechanic is an interesting take on New Game+, but it kinda backfires with a massive Plothole. You see, Unity lets you rebirth in a new universe as a "Starborn." Basically, they're saying you're now a fresh start, but remember some things from your last game, like stuff you learned. Cool, right?
But hold on a sec. The problem is, the game doesn't always play nice with your past knowledge. It can make the story feel a little wonky, and not in a good way.
Bethesda's Con Man, Same Old Trick
Let's talk about "The Starjacker" quest. You're hunting down this bad guy named Hannibal Eutropio. You find a guy named Adrastos Dakota who says he knows something. Turns out, Adrastos is Hannibal in disguise, trying to trick you into going to his chop shop so he can steal your ship. You're supposed to fall for it, right?
The first time through the game, no big deal. Your character doesn't know better. But after going through Unity, you're supposed to be smarter. You should know that Adrastos is just Hannibal being sneaky. But the game doesn't let you use this knowledge! It's like they just forgot you had a whole other life before this one. It's pretty immersion-breaking.
Starfield's Choices: More Like "No Choices"
During "The Starjacker", you'd think you could just grab Hannibal, right? You know it's him! But nope. The game doesn't let you make that choice. You can't tell your partner what you know, and you can't even beat up Hannibal. He just laughs it off and lives to con another day.
The problem is, Unity tries to be all fancy with this in-universe explanation, but it feels like they just threw it in there last minute. It's a lazy way to do New Game+. They promised choice, but instead, they gave us a bunch of forced choices that don't even make sense.
Bethesda's Pattern: Immersion Is For The Birds
Bethesda has a bit of a reputation for not quite nailing immersive worlds. You know how Fallout 3 kinda took away all the cool choices of past games? It was all on rails, and you rarely felt like you were in control. They've gotten better since then, but "The Starjacker" is a reminder that they still seem to prefer a very specific story over letting you have any say in it.
The whole thing just feels like a missed opportunity. They could have done so much cool stuff with Unity. They could have made it a real storytelling tool. But instead, they chose to have a con man escape over and over, and forced us to watch it happen.
There are tons of great games that don't give you choices, and that's fine. But Starfield? It's selling itself as a role-playing game. It's telling you that you have choices. But when you actually try to use your knowledge, the game kinda slaps you down. It's a little disappointing.
