When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut and explore the stars. The space shuttles were still in service, and I vividly remember when Atlantis was the last shuttle to land. Ending the Shuttle program. They were dogshit on a technical level, and they terrified me. At least the thought of taking off in one. And yet they were a marvel to my tiny little brain. I still remember going to Johnson Space Center in Houston and seeing the Saturn V rocket in its glory. Seeing how huge it was, knowing this was what took us to the moon…I was starstruck. Walking all the way from the first stage with it’s 5 (?) F-1 engines, still technically the most powerful rocket engines ever built, all the way to the command and service module…incredible. It felt LONGER than a football field. I still can’t believe humans created something that massive.

I remember having this fascination with the solar system, and learning that we lived in a Galaxy full of billions of solar systems and billions of billions of planets…that understanding was mindblowing to me. We know so little about our own origins. The life that very much exists elsewhere that we haven’t found yet. In the grand scheme of it all, we are insignificant in comparison to the scale of the universe. Every baby that has been born, your marriage, your worries or anxiety, wondering what your next meal would be. It’s nothing. Our existence is just a small fraction of the universal timeline. So why not make the effort to expand our own race? Learn more about what it means to be human, in such a large sandbox? We could give ourselves a legacy. And maybe even understand the origins of our own existence, our own universe. I truly hope we do someday. I want us to be greater.

And now, in 6 days, I get to play the game I’ve dreamed of playing since I was 10 years old, and have been waiting to play for 5 years. Starfield gives me that dream I’ve always wanted. An extensive, detailed galaxy full of hundreds, if not thousands of planets to explore. Hell we don’t even know how many, as much of them are procedurally generated. (Still not entirely sure if anybody wants to confirm, I could be entirely wrong) Each with it’s own background, planetary components such as an earth like atmosphere or a barren wasteland. Or even a gas giant. Hell, even the GRAVITY is impacted. (NO YOU CAN NOT LAND ON GAS GIANTS. SICK OF SEEING PEOPLE ASSUME YOU COULD LAND ON JUPITER.)

It’s what I dream of doing to this day. I would drop everything if I could just to get that opportunity. If I could have the opportunity to go to Mars, knowing I would have to stay on the planet and die, I would still go.

This is probably the stupidest thing to nerd out on and rant about. I know. It’s quite an overreaction. But this game and Star Citizen, (despite that games flaws and shitty practices) are a glimpse at not just what our current computational technology can do, but what humanity could achieve in reality. Something very important to me. It’s our destiny to be amongst the stars. We’ve managed to land on the Moon, and soon we’re going back. After that, we land on Mars. And after THAT…I truly believe that landing will set a milestone. It will change everything. Maybe not in my lifetime, but we WILL have colonies on other planets within the next 100 years.

Bethesda Game Studios has given me the greatest gaming experiences of my entire life. I first played Skyrim after launch in 2011 at my friend’s house. I had to wait a year to buy it on my own as my Mom didn’t wanna spend 60 dollars on it. So she bought me Oblivion first, which was absolutely incredible for me. Never played any game like it. Then she finally bought me Skyrim. I immediately fell in love with the RPG elements, the atmosphere, the lore, the world that they had built. Skyrim is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played, and now BGS is taking that formula they know so well, to the stars.

This game is a glimpse into the future. And I could not be happier. I don’t care if this is overly long, or maybe it seems like an overly obsessive post over a video game. Either humanity is going to stay stuck here forever, or eventually we will become a space faring civilization. There’s no in-between. Games like this are important for inspiring that dream. One that will become reality. I know there is a lot of speculation and uncertainty regarding this game. I get it. But I don’t believe in negativity and I don’t think this is another NMS. I think Bethesda has a perfectly fine track record and Fallout 76 was simply a fluke. No studio is perfect. That being said, I understand this game won’t be for everyone and that’s fine.

But neither was Skyrim, and it’s considered one of the greatest games ever made.

6 days. I’m ready for history.