GameSpot gave Starfield a 7 and somehow that counted as bravery

I need to do something I almost never do: give credit where credit is due. GameSpot's Starfield review is the rare case where a major outlet actually said what everyone was thinking instead of what the publisher wanted to hear. A 7/10 for a Bethesda flagship title. On a site that gives Call of Duty games an 8 for simply existing. Jake Dekker woke up that morning and chose violence.

The headline — 'To Infinity, But Not Beyond' — is genuinely clever, which is more than I can say for most review headlines that read like they were generated by a random word picker. The review directly calls out the loading screens, the empty planets, and the feeling that you're playing a tech demo for a better game that doesn't exist yet. These are specific, useful criticisms. Novel concept for games journalism.

Where it loses points: the review still pulls its punches on the core design philosophy. 'Occasionally struggles under the weight of its own ambition' is a polite way of saying 'the ambition was a lie and the weight is your disappointment.' But hey, baby steps. In an industry where a 7 is considered a war crime, this review at least had the spine to not lie.

7/10. Proof that honest journalism is possible, even if it's uncomfortable.