Charming dullness

A universe full of possibilities. Skyrim in space. The next big thing. Starfield has been given many attributes that the role-playing game can adorn itself with. And while some are enthusiastic about the unique NASA punk setting, excited about assembling spaceships and enjoying the great shooter gameplay, others are annoyed. Annoyed by constant loading times, vacant and boring planets and lackluster quests.

I myself have not yet been able to set foot in this universe, but after the mixed reviews and due to my huge pile of shame, I have no ambitions to do so in the near future. I'm not put off by it, but I'm not really hyped either. Maybe at some point, like with Cyberpunk 2077, which I haven't played yet either - which I hope to change soon.

The score

A huge role-playing game in an even larger game world naturally requires a sufficiently extensive musical accompaniment. Inon Zur, who has been providing Bethesda games with his compositions since Fallout 3 , took on this colossal task. And this is exactly how the Starfield score sounds: like Starfield-Score: wie Fallout in space. Of course, this is somewhat exaggerated and unfairly abbreviated, but fragments that are reminiscent of Zur's work for Fallout 4 or Fallout 76 do in fact crop up again and again in the 80-track OST. With his drawn-out strings, wind instruments and occasional vocals, the Israeli-American strikes a similar chord, creating a feeling of both vastness and abandonment in the same way.

Unlike in the post-apocalypse, the positive tones and hope predominate in Starfield . The emptiness of space is not oppressive and frightening, or full of danger as in the Fallout-games. Although these also exist, they only play a minor role. No, instead it invites us to explore and takes us on a journey.The score is almost meditative for long stretches and is the direct counterpart to a thoroughly styled Mass Effect, in which almost every moment is choreographed. Not least due to the different game concepts, free space is the dominant motif here, which the music in turn generates with a lack of motifs.

On the one hand, this leads to the deceleration I have already described above, to this peaceful flow - but on the other hand, it is also somewhat ... boring. Which doesn't have to be a bad thing in an age in which a concept like boredom seems to have been forgotten as a result of permanent barrage of stimuli. For me, who feels like I'm looking for the next kick every second, listening to the score was an almost cathartic experience.

There is no rollercoaster of emotions here, no leap from highlight to highlight. The score of Starfield flows along at a leisurely pace, only occasionally interrupted by individual pieces or moments within the tracks that make us sit up and take notice. With a running time of 5.5 hours, it takes its time. Time to take a deep breath, time to look into the distance. So this album is not for a quick snack, but rather a long, drawn-out chill-out session with dessert and kicked-up legs - a quality that cannot be measured on my rating scale. But anyone looking forward to a feast of unique and rousing melodies à la The Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age will be disappointed when they close the airlock.