Regardless of the quality of the writing, they certainly had more interesting ideas in their lore and settings that added something to the experience. That’s what Starfield is lacking.
Starfield is the first and only Bethesda game I haven’t really liked. It’s got all the same gameplay elements, but it’s lacking the world building and interesting stories. The lore is bland as fuck, barely scratches the surface of what you’d want to know, and none of the stories really lean into actually telling you about the world in a fun way, opting instead to give big blocks of dialogue that are nothing but history and exposition. Where is the environmental story-telling they’ve always had? Is the blandness of the world simply a matter of it being new and young and not having nearly as much history as Elder Scrolls and Fallout to build on? Have they simply lost their touch? Believe me, I have tried to like this game. I am a huge fan of space stuff and Bethesda games, but it just doesn’t have that certain something that makes their games actually fun.
If you like Soulslikes The Surge is a really good sci-fi take on the genre. It succeeds in the vagueness, the atmosphere, and the combat. It has a bit of a gimmick with how you obtain parts by targeting and dismembering limbs which is really fun. However the story kinda goes off the rails near the end and the last few areas of the game are arguably the worst designed levels of the game. Plus the boss fights can be a PITA despite being super cool design wise.
I don’t see it brought up as often as things like Nier or Mortal Shell though, and IMO it’s better than both of those.
DMC grades you on the “rule of cool.” It’s not about being good. It’s about looking good, and is based on how many times you can hit something without missing or being hit; often you’ll take out an enemy pretty fast without getting even a B rating, and I feel like getting through the game faster is better than keeping a weak ass enemy in the air for 1000 hits. So found it much easier to ignore than Hitman and other stealth game rating systems, as those really do kinda judge how well you did since they focus on being stealthy. Sure you can go in guns blazing and kill everything to win, but it’s a stealth game. You’re supposed to be sneaky. The scoring reflects that.
To be specific, it’s build engine mechanics, with modern game ideas, in a cyberpunkish setting; so it’s got a little bit of all those things in it. It’s great!