the game's imagination rarely extends beyond the sci-fi archetypes we've seen many a time. It doesn't have much to say about humanity leaving Earth behind and doesn't really reckon with the realities that dictate the world--our world--that inspires its very premise. In the periphery, you can learn about how life is sustainable across the galaxy or tease out lore on how governments and religions evolved, but Starfield struggles to integrate that into its core ethos. I didn't come in expecting something poetic like the Carl Sagan books I read growing up, awe-inspiring like The Outer Wilds, or as intricate as the sci-fi lore built over the course of the Mass Effect trilogy. But I did want something more than the pared-down Bethesda template transposed over a space setting.