According to Emil Pagliarulo, a veteran of the company, it is clear that Starfield is now one of the flagship IPs of the company…

Starfield celebrated its first birthday last month. It’s been a year since Bethesda’s first original IP in decades, a long-awaited RPG that shook the internet in a way rarely seen. Not least because it proved to be highly divisive among players. However, Starfield’s design director, Emil Pagliarulo, made it clear that whether you like this space adventure or not, it’s “the best game we’ve ever made” and a technical challenge the company has never faced.

Pagliarulo, who has enriched Bethesda since the release of The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon expansion, sat down with GamesRadar to celebrate the release of Starfield’s first expansion, Shattered Space, and to look back at the release of one of the company’s most divisive games. In connection with this, Pagliarulo revealed his ideas regarding the ambitious sci-fi title, highlighting the challenges and successes behind the creation.

He said the development team aimed to create something completely different and unique from Bethesda’s established franchises, such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

“That we pulled it off makes Starfield something of a technical marvel,” he said, highlighting the enormous effort required to develop the game under the Creation Engine.

Pagliarulo also pointed out that the development of Starfield showed how eager fans are for the next instalment of The Elder Scrolls. At the same time, he emphasized that the game has its own specific identity. He also said that Bethesda is deeply proud of the technical achievement that allowed it to create such a massive space opera role-playing game.

Of course, he did not miss the opportunity to talk about the divisiveness of the game. After all, despite the enthusiasm before its release, Starfield did not meet the expectations of the players. Although reviews were primarily positive, many fans felt that it failed to live up to Bethesda’s previous genre-defining titles, such as Skyrim and Oblivion. Still, Pagliarulo believes Starfield stands alongside those classics, cementing its “preeminent place among the company’s core IPs.”

The first Starfield-expansion received mixed reviews

With the first expansion, Shattered Space, already on the market, the next step will be to add more content to the RPG. However, reviews of Starfield’s new content weren’t as good as expected. While it was received on Xbox with many positive reviews, the situation is entirely opposite on Steam. With a favourable rating of only 36%, it far fell short of expectations…

Source: GamesRadar