User somehow drops negative Starfield review on Metacritic 85 days before launch

Starfield
(Image credit: Bethesda)

We're still months away from the launch of Starfield, and nobody outside of developer Bethesda's chosen circle has had the opportunity to play it yet. Despite that, one enterprising Metacritic user has already found a way to drop a negative review for the game.

The review, posted by a user called Joppsta360, begins in predictable fashion: "Bethesda - because making games that work out of the box is less important than figuring out all the ways to extract as much money from your bank account as possible."

From there, it's all memes. "Starfield Super Special 76 edition includes the expected disappointment. Comes with a shot glass so you can participate in the recurring Internet Historian drinking game. Take a shot every time Todd Howard lies. Or don't, you will be dead from alcohol poisoning 5 minutes into the 20_ minute masterpiece highlighting yet another Bethesda disasterpiece."

The review was posted on June 13, a full 85 days before Starfield's planned release, which is not typically possible. It's since been excised from the Metacritic user review page, which now says "There are no user reviews yet - It is not possible to submit a review prior to this game's official release." Despite this, the page's user score distribution chart still notes that one negative review was submitted. However Joppsta360 managed to get this review in, its legacy seems to be set in stone.

Starfield review discourse already kicked off a month ago, and it's not likely to get any less tiresome as we get closer to the game's release. It's worth noting that, as always, you do have the option to actually play the game before you start reviewing it.

Here's everything announced at Starfield Direct.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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