Stop comparing Starfield to Cyberpunk 2077, designer says

Bethesda Game Studios' new action role-playing game Starfield has picked up a raft of positive reviews, but there has also been some criticism of bugs and of the visual detail in the AAA game's 1,000 explorable planets.

A video went viral on social media after comparing the game against Cyberpunk 2077, suggesting it lacks the detail and realism of CD Projekt Red's 2020 title. However, Cyberpunk 2077 senior quest designer Patrick K Mills says the comparison is unfair and hypocritical (see our roundup of the best Xbox Series X prices if you're looking for a console to play on).

A video shared on Twitter by The Doctor comparing Starfield's detail and realism with Cyberpunk 2077 has notched up over 19 million views and over a thousand reposts. Mills was one of those reposting but he was critical of the comparison, noting that Cyberpunk 2077 also received ridicule on its release. 

“How times have changed," he wrote. "This fake criticism is actively harmful to the way the audience interacts with the medium and I hate it, but it’s very funny to see after how many hundreds of these were made to ridicule Cyberpunk 2077."

Some of those commenting on the video agreed that it was unfair, noting that Cyberpunk 2077 also received plenty of criticism at launch. Others argue that Cyberpunk 2077 is so good that it's unfair to use it as a bar to measure other games. 

"Cyberpunk's one of my fave games of all time but I still think comparing a game on launch vs a game that's had years to get polished is pretty odd. I think we all remember how shit cyberpunk was on launch because of the pressure to make it run on consoles, and that it took years to shine," one person responded. "I remember when people were comparing cyberpunk to GTA 4," someone else wrote.

Of course, there is one area where reviewers have agreed that Starfield's visual fidelity shines: its onions. See below for the best prices for the new game. For more titles, see our pick of the best Xbox Series X games.