“I always wanted you to go into space, man”! is that iconic line from Babylon Zoo’s song Spaceman, which feels like the perfect way to launch into the PlayStation 5 release of one of the most anticipated space-faring experiences of recent years and my own adventures into this space cowboy narrative. ‘Starfield’ is making its official PlayStation 5 launch to a whole new audience with developers and publishers Bethesda Game Studios’ sprawling sci-fi universe. Starfield isn’t just another open-world RPG; it’s a bold leap into a galaxy of possibilities. So strap in and let’s warp drive into space.

Starfield is set in the distant year of 2330. It follows a spacefarer who begins as a miner before discovering a mysterious alien artifact that triggers a strange vision, which pulls you into a group called Constellation, a group of explorers seeking more answers about humanity’s place in the universe. You travel across systems to hunt down more of these artifacts, which, along the way, you uncover more questions, and then you need to find the answers to them. If you want a more in-depth look at the game’s stories and mechanics, you can read the full coverage of the game here. You can also read the first expansion, Shattered Space, here. If you are interested in seeing how it plays on the PlayStation 5 or more information about the new DLC, Terran Armada, keep reading.

The Terran Armada expansion throws you straight into a full-scale crisis, where a rogue faction of military deserters has built an army of relentless robotic soldiers, and I can guess what you’re thinking: iRobot is coming to life. This group of soldiers is called “The Terran”, which all run for one goal: to unify humanity by force. From my time playing through it, the story really kicks off as these machines launch coordinated attacks across settled systems, turning places that once flourished into warzones.

You’re pulled straight into the fight through key hubs like Anchorpoint, a space station located in the Algorab system, which becomes the central meeting location of all allies, missions and intel of the ever-growing threat. The entire time you are sitting there thinking what psycho made these, and no, the answer is not Dr Alfred Lanning from iRobot, as cool as that would be. What made the experience stand out was how seamlessly it blended its narrative into the gameplay system.

I found the “Incursions” system to be quite engaging. It’s a repeatable endgame experience that keeps throwing you into those high-level combat scenarios, which include things like major incursions that will lock down an entire area and force you to fly in manually to reclaim them, and with my flying skills, that ended worse than better. Along the course of the adventure, you gain access to new weapons, gear and ship upgrades, which felt necessary if you were like me and liked customising your ship.

You can expand your ship with expanded cockpits, structural pieces and even double-deck hab modules. One of the more interesting parts of the story is your new friend “Delta”, who is a Terran-like robot who offers a different perspective on the conflict and becomes a key part of the journey. By the end of it all, you are not sure if you fought off an enemy faction or uncovered something bigger, but I’ll let you figure that out.

The controls are fairly intuitive once you get used to the layout, but they do cover a lot of systems between on-foot exploration, combat menus and ship gameplay. If you are on the ground, you move around with the left stick, sprint with L3, crouch with circle and jump with triangle, which took me a hot minute to get used to.

If you are in combat, you have the standard R2 to fire L2 to ADS and R3 for melee, with most of the interactions being handled with the X button. The DualSense touchpad plays a big role as a shortcut, letting you quickly open your inventory, map, missions and character stats without having to dig through multiple menus, which made it super enjoyable.

When it came to ship controls, I learnt I couldn’t fly a ship to save my life. I was all over the joint, but that was a user error, not the game. You had R2 and L2, which would handle the ship’s weapons; L3 to boost around; and R1 to let you switch between flight modes. Again, targeting is mapped to X. The controls were nice and responsive; however, some features were not utilised, like the adaptive triggers and haptics. If there was any feedback, it was super light, so it didn’t drag me in as much as some other PlayStation 5 titles.

Starfield keeps its grounded sci-fi art style, leaning into a realistic, NASA-inspired aesthetic rather than the flashy space-fantasy look we keep seeing. The game’s colour palette stayed quite natural, which really fit the theme.

There were occasional neon pop-ups from UI elements, space stations, and some designs, but everything stayed natural for the most part. It created an atmosphere that felt grounded and lived-in, rather than the flashing lights and over-styled environments.

The environments are incredibly varied, shifting from barren rocky terrain to harsher alien landscapes to more industrial locations to dense space stations like Anchorpoint. I liked that some planets felt so lifeless and empty, while others felt like they had a new lease on life. The game didn’t hit that jaw-dropping feeling on all planets, but it was definitely close to hitting the mark and was super enjoyable.

The sound design actually blew me away; it did much of the heavy lifting for the title’s immersion, especially with its atmospheric approach to space travel and exploration. There was the perfect mix of quiet, ambient audio from wind on the planes to distant mechanical hums to ships flying overhead. The developers did a fantastic job on the audio. The soundtrack leaned into that sci-fi tone, which had me eager to listen, and the dialogue had an almost cinematic feel.

One of the coolest PS5-specific touches was how the DualSense speaker was used. If you didn’t have your headset plugged in, radio calls and communication chatter would come through the controller itself, giving it a real radio feel and sounding heaps cooler. Obviously, you do need a headset, but to listen to the audio in-game tracking movement in combat, making sure no one is sneaking up on you.

Starfield on the PlayStation 5 feels like a massive, ambitious journey that doesn’t always hit perfection, but absolutely delivers on scale, immersion, and player freedom to create your own story. From uncovering the mystery of the artifact to fighting robots in Terran Armada, it constantly gives you something to chase, whether that’s the story, exploration or building the coolest looking ship.

Written by: Hayden Nelson