Highlights
- Starfield's melee combat options are lacking in variety, with no blunt weapons being available and the bladed options being largely dominated by knives.
- The lack of creativity in melee weapon design is a step back compared to Bethesda's previous games, like Fallout 76 and Skyrim, which offered more distinctive and inspired designs.
- While it's possible to create a good melee build in Starfield, the slim selection of melee weapons is disappointing and doesn't match the creative potential of other aspects of the game.
Starfield is an ambitious title, but there's one issue with the game's melee combat options that can be difficult to ignore. Whether it's regarding players trying to make a melee-focused build, or those who want a melee weapon in case of emergencies, most players will notice the issue sooner or later. While it's not something that can completely ruin the game, it's worth questioning, especially when Bethesda's past efforts are taken into account. After all, Starfield is a major title for the company. When expectations are so high, it sticks out when something isn't up to par.
Although plenty of Starfield's combat takes place in space, players need to be able to defend themselves outside of their ships as well. To that end, the game features several different types of weapons for the player to outfit themselves with. There are many firearms, ranging from pistols, to shotguns, to long-ranged rifles. Befitting the futuristic setting, there are also lasers and particle beam weapons as well. For players who prefer fighting up-close, though, there is the option to either fight unarmed, or use melee weapons. Each weapon class also has combat feats that ensure any of them can be reasonably used in a build.
Starfield's Melee Weapons Suffer From a Lack of Variety
The main obstacle players will face when making a melee build in Starfield is the weapon variety. With the exception of unarmed combat, every melee weapon that the player can find in Starfield is a bladed weapon. The lack of blunt weapons means that there are no hammers, crowbats, bats, or any other blunt object that could conceivably be used as a weapon. In addition, the vast majority of these weapons are different varieties of knives, with a couple of short swords thrown in. The only truly unique-seeming melee options are the rescue axe and Va'Ruun Painblade, which have their own distinct silhouettes.
Starfield's lack of variety in melee weapons hurts it in the long run. Even the best melee weapon in Starfield looks like a regular Va'Ruun Painblade. Considering that the game takes place in space in the far future, it feels like more creativity could have come into play. Ideas like force fields, hard light, and lasers could have been used to make some truly unique melee weapons. In fact, the lack of laser blades alone is surprising considering how popular of a trope they have historically been in futuristic stories. For a game with so many futuristic themes, Starfield's knives largely feel stuck in the past.
The most unfortunate part of Starfield's melee weapons is that Bethesda has done better in previous games. Fallout 76's arsenal of melee weapons includes some truly eclectic and inspired designs, and that tracks back to the main Fallout games as well. Even though Skyrim only had seven main weapon types, they still felt distinctive due to how each crafted weapon looked different. For instance, the elegant, golden Elven Weapons looked worlds away from the barbaric-looking dragonbone weapons. When Starfield takes place in the future and essentially just offers players a set of knives, it feels like a step back compared to what came before.
It's possible to make a good melee build in Starfield, but the weapon selection won't be particularly exciting. Although the eventual mod tools for Starfield will likely lead to many newly-created weapons, it can be disappointing that the vanilla game's melee selection is rather slim. Starfield managed to include some interesting ideas, from customizable starships to space-based superpowers, so it is especially odd that the same creative potential didn't come through when the time came to design melee weapons. While melee combat is functional in Starfield, the lacking weapon variety is easily its biggest problem.
Starfield is available now for PC and Xbox Series X/S.