10 Things No One Wants To Admit About Bethesda RPGs
8. The Combat Isn't Great
From draugr and dragons, deathclaws and raiders, and even space pirates, there's no shortage of foes to fight within the studio's titles. Especially since most objectives require players to clear out areas of enemies, combat is one of the main mechanics that players will engage with.
It's disappointing, then, that the combat has never been especially good,
No matter which game, every enemy encounter boils down to pressing a button to either whack them with a melee weapon or blast them a gun or spell. While the likes of shouts and VATS alongside Starfield's own collection of powers brought an extra layer to each fight, the clumsy controls and lack of enemy variety made every encounter feel the same.
Moreover, without a sense of weight behind attacks or strategies to use against different enemies, combat becomes a case of picking whichever weapon does the highest damage than anything else. Even with an abundance of perks designed to let players tailor their own gameplay experience, the boosts to stats that they provide don't make much of a difference during gameplay.
Compared to how different builds play in the likes of Cyberpunk and Baldur's Gate 3, Bethesda has fallen behind the modern benchmark.