Polar opposites among the ecstatic and the decidedly fearful crowds have revealed themselves as the game’s launch drew ever nearer. One of the paranoid gamers went on Twitter last night to lay out his ultimatum-performance. “Please don’t be a stutter-fest,” with a repetition of “Please don’t be a stutter-fest” thrice.
A screenshot was shared from the Steam page of Starfield-where the hype is vibrant, and whispers of every past Bethesda launch are equally alive. Those launches that were fantastic but made your GPU scream like a freaking jet plane, and dipped in terms of net/frames module really quickly, just like on a Monday, you know?
This now lingers on a more serious note: Any Bethesda games have a reputation, Skyrim having a great one, let’s mention the bugs. Fallout 76? We don’t talk about that. Starfield was supposed to be an entirely different case. New engine, years in development, and purportedly a massive Xbox exclusive under Microsoft’s pressure.
So the one thing we can take from that tweet is the utter silence. Usually, By now we would have seen a barrage of “SAME” and “It’s Bethesda, what did you expect?” Not so much this time. Perhaps too busy chewing nervously on their controllers to respond? Or, and this is really wishful thinking, they’re all crossing their fingers that Todd Howard has finally solved the problem of smooth launches.
For a few days, Bethesda has been showing positive signs about Starfield‘s performance, putting up a strong front, and delivering smooth gameplay demos. Demos, after all, are like Instagram: flawless until you see the real thing. With a game this big, a thousand planets to tip the balance on either side with so much possibility.
So what’s it gonna be? Is Starfield going to slip and slide or sit nervously like a boy at a spelling bee? Well, we won’t have to wait too long to find out. If history has taught us anything, it’s that Bethesda games are like a box of chocolates-sweet, but sometimes you bite one, and BAM! Some weird-crunchy thing hits your tooth. We are hoping for Starfield to be a smooth caramel.
Think really hard about breathing. And keep chanting, “Please don’t be a stutter-fest.” The gaming gods are, for sure, listening. Probably.
