Highlights
- Starfield suffers from an excessive amount of loading screens, which hinders the gameplay experience and breaks immersion.
- The Elder Scrolls 6 should consider addressing the issue of loading screens to avoid a similar problem and provide a smoother, more enjoyable experience for players.
- The future of Bethesda RPGs should prioritize limiting loading screens to allow players to explore worlds more efficiently and avoid a slow and fragmented game experience.
After years of anticipation, Starfield has finally arrived, and now all eyes are on The Elder Scrolls 6. With Starfield, Bethesda has once again shown audiences why it is one of the biggest names in the RPG genre. Even though it has never tackled the outer space sci-fi genre before, it seems to have done it extraordinarily well. Now, it is set to return to its fantasy roots with The Elder Scrolls 6, and while that's a long time coming, TES6 really needs to consider dropping one annoying feature.
Starfield is often hindered by the sheer amount of loading screens players will encounter. They cannot go very far without running into one, and that can often hinder the experience. The Elder Scrolls 6 is a ways off, yet there is a strong chance it also suffers from the same problem. Hopefully, Bethesda takes the time to address the issue, because players should not have to go through dozens of loading screens during their fantastical adventures.
Starfield Feels Too Fragmented Due to Loading Screens
Starfield may be a great sci-fi RPG, but that does not mean it is perfect. One of the most annoying aspects of the game is probably its loading screens. Players will run into these constantly as they explore the universe They will see them when they enter their ship, when they take off, when they fly to new planet, and when they land. This problem is not reserved to space either, as each city seems to be filled with them as well. Players cannot even navigate cities like Neon without hitting multiple loading screens on their way in.
The sheer amount of loading screens slows down the gameplay experience and breaks down immersion. It makes everything feel a bit more fragmented as players cannot do anything without running into a couple of loading screens along the way. One or two would be fine, but Starfield is filled to the brim with them. In the age of SSDs and virtually no loading screens in some of the biggest games, it feels strange that Starfield would suffer from so many. While there is a lot going on within the RPG, it feels like there is a needlessly large amount of loading going on.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is years away, and gaming technology will surely evolve by then. Video games will probably be doing new unique things, hardware will have gotten more advanced, and players will be expecting different things. Hopefully, that means that Bethesda will take advantage of that by limiting the loading screens. Already, games like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and No Man's Sky seem to have done that, so there is seemingly no reason The Elder Scrolls 6 could not as well.
The Elder Scrolls 6 will likely be a very advanced fantasy RPG, so it will probably have to rely a bit on loading screens to deliver its experience. However, that does not mean that almost everything players do should involve one. This has been a problem for most Bethesda RPGs for years, but it is definitely the most evident with Starfield, and it needs to stop. While it may take some work, the entire experience will probably be better for it.
Players want to explore these worlds as fast and efficiently as possible, yet they are unable to. They do not want to walk for a bit, wait for a bit, walk some more, and then repeat the entire process over again. This leads to slow and fragmented games, which is not really what RPG fans want. Hopefully, the future of Bethesda RPGs is a bit more forgiving when it comes to loading, but players will just have to wait and see.
Starfield is available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.