I wanted to write down some sentences that have been rattling around in my head playing Starfield and this didn't fit a discord message so

At some point in Starfield you come across the tale of the Pilgrim. A figure who travelled the world in ages past in the search for Unity. You find diary entries from them describing how they tire of their deciples and their inability to understand their teachings. How they discard everything in the path to Unity, and eventually settle down and find peace in the moment. For a while.

As I played through Starfield in New Game+ I felt I could relate to this Pilgrim character and I found it interesting how the game reinforces that in the game design. As an ageless interdimensional being you have some perks. Space magic, knowledge of the future and a sickass ship and armor. Nothing you do from here will follow you on the next playthrough and nothing really matters except those things and the Unity. Building ships is mostly pointless since you already have one and you can't bring any equipment with you so any gun that drops does the job as well as the next. Sightseeing and exploring is a fun distraction for a while and maybe you do some quests that interest you. Worthless, in the grand scheme of things. Companions come and go, but they're always there the next time.

So what is there to do? What's the purpose of playing beyond investing in yourself and your growth?

Maybe the message of Starfield is something like "personal growth is the most important thing you can devote your life to". Or "settling down and living in the moment with your companions is what matters the most". It doesn't seem too farfetched if you were a character living in Starfield.

However, you're a player of a video game and a video game cannot give you endless alternate realities to explore. What you get is a curse. You are trapped in a Groundhogs Day nightmare. Every time through the Unity ( beyond the [Starborn] and Story Skip variants ) are the same. It's still Starfield, but everything except the rush to Unity is meaningless because anything you collect or accomplish will be gone. It's just another day of the same day over and over again.

Instead of ending your journey across the stars with the fulfilment of a finished story with characters that you've met and have travelled with you along the way. Maybe there is a nice story about personal growth and relationships sprinkled in there. Instead of all that what you end up with is the same six caves, the same 800m jog to another 160 temple rooms doing the same puzzle.

Starfield is a beautiful game and I genuinely enjoyed the 300 odd hours I put into it. But I think that my time might not have been so different to the Pilgrim in the end. I started out in the idealistic Constellation, daring explorers of the galaxy. I then tried to steward humanity like some galactic angel as the Emissary. Finally, after seeing everything in every variation and grown jaded to the wonder of space, I became the Hunter.