Starfield Creations Review — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:08] question that admittedly nobody really asked, but I was personally curious about. That of course being the title, are any of Starfield's creations or mods actually any good? Because while it has been a couple of years since the game

[00:23] remember there being a bunch of buzz around people taking the game's thousand planets and using them as a sort of playground for various mods and the like. And I kind of just wanted to see if that actually occurred. But before I

[00:37] get too far into this video, I do need to inform you that a couple of months ago at the beginning of June, Bethesda gave me about 5,500 creation credits, which are what you purchase with actual money if you want

[00:50] to buy either the paid mods or the official creations that Bethesda themselves puts out. So technically in May, Bethesda reached out and just these creation credits uh no obligation or anything. They would work for Skyrim,

[01:05] Fallout 4 or Starfield and I could use them how I please or not etc. I've been sitting on them for two months before ultimately deciding to make this video again to answer that question that I have just been curious about. And just

[01:18] to be very blunt with you up front, most of them aren't great. I would say about 90% of them paid or otherwise are things like weapon skins, player homes or little things that add companions or tiny tweaks to game mechanics like

[01:32] adding extra traits and the like. However, if you are willing to dig past all of that, there are a handful of them that are more interesting. Some free, money. And the point of this video is to

[01:45] get into all of those. But before we do, I wanted to start by kind of explaining what we are dealing with in terms of the creation club these days or creations more generally. So this is all the stuff you can access in game via the Creations

[01:59] menu. This is everything from just regular old mods to stuff from verified creators, that is to say, people who have been verified by Bethesda and are able to then sell their mods via the Creation menu. You pay for them via the

[02:14] Creation Credits and they are effectively paid mods. In theory, these some of them certainly are. And then on top of that, Bethesda themselves also as well. Some of the better free ones are from Bethesda themselves, actually.

[02:29] But, while that is what is available in game, to be very clear, you can also install mods the old-fashioned way and get them elsewhere. So, just what you see in the Creation menu, while certainly the most accessible, are not

[02:41] the only ones by far. Uh just off the top of my head, I know that Star Wars Genesis one has been kicked around here and there and that's like a big overhaul that turns it into Star Wars, basically. But, for today, we are talking about the

[02:54] Creations. Now, as I said, if we're all being honest, like most of these are deeply uninteresting. However, there are a handful of them that are more to talk a little bit about those specifically, just because from all the

[03:08] these are some, though certainly not all, of the ones that I would consider just a little higher quality. Unsurprisingly, some of them are from Bethesda themselves, some of them are from Kinggath and a handful of them are

[03:21] from other creators as well. But, I'm going to kick this off with one of my favorites that is actually free and that is At Hell's Gate. At Hell's Gate is basically the Doom crossover thing. Uh it's free, you don't have to pay for it,

[03:35] you can just download this one. And what it does is adds a quest that gives you access to the Praetor armor from Doom, as well as some of the things like the Crucible blade or the Super Shotgun. However, what I like about this one

[03:47] personally is the quest where you have to go get those things and you are moving through this incredibly atmospheric and creepy dungeon that I believe was actually made by Kinggath, but uh Bethesda Game Studios is the one

[04:00] not, I think this particular creation works a little better than you might expect because Doom itself always had that sort of like really sci-fi aspect And Starfield's sort of general aesthetic kind of leans into that

[04:15] of it meshes a lot better than you might initially think. And it's why I enjoyed it and wanted to start with that one. Now, on a certainly different note, then Recipe. I'm going to be honest with you, I don't really like this one personally,

[04:29] but it could certainly be some people's cup of tea, pun intended. But basically, you find a recipe book, you bring it back to a guy in Akila City, and you find out about how he used to want to be a chef, but kind of got sidetracked by

[04:42] the Colony War, and you help him sort of resolve some of those lingering issues. And it is a very particular type of experience that I imagine some people would enjoy. And also, it's free, so who cares? But this is another one that was

[04:55] from Bethesda themselves, and it's just an odd quest because of the tone of it, I guess. The whole thing is very much like everyday people kind of problems, of thing you're looking for. But admittedly, just feels a little bit

[05:08] strange here. Now, everything else we're going to be talking about is a paid creation, something you would have to actually put up cash for. And just so you know, 100 creation credits is roughly a dollar of real money US.

[05:21] Though, you know, a little hit or miss there. So, let's start simply with The Escape. So, The Escape is a creation that's going to run you 500 creation credits, and what it does is sees you trying to escape a space station that is

[05:35] part of a psychological experiment. You signed up to participate in a trial, and your job is to escape a space station while, you know, trying to stay alive However, while you are doing that, you'll probably realize there's a little

[05:49] think. But, it is actually scored. You get a reward at the end based on how you did. Though, you do have your equipment and things taken away from you. Now, I will say I really like the vibe of this creation. Like, this as a quest idea, I

[06:03] think is pretty great. I don't love that it's $5. It's kind of short. What is essentially a quest for five bucks isn't great. And it kind of runs into the same problem they initially had with the Tracker's Alliance one, which is 700

[06:16] creation credits and the one I want to talk about next. So, one of the better, I would say, mods creations period for Starfield is actually the Tracker's Alliance, the bounty hunter faction. So, this was initially pretty underwhelming.

[06:30] When they initially released this back in, I think it was 2024, it was basically exactly what I just mentioned, like five bucks for just one quest more or less. However, with the very recent uh Tear in the Armada and Freestar

[06:43] because everyone was so underwhelmed with how much content they had paid to receive with this. They added on to it. And that added on to version is actually quite good. It gives you a bunch of pretty bespoke uh like bounty hunt

[06:57] missions. Uh one includes somebody impersonating the Mantis, which is like a superhero almost from uh Starfield world. And that one sees you inhaling a track down this bounty. And it's a really great time. And that's just one

[07:10] of what will be, if you choose to do all of them anyway, several more. And they're all pretty interesting in their own right. But, that one in particular is just a really great creation overall. I like that one a lot. Now, I did

[07:22] mention that uh the vast majority of creations are things like weapon skins, outfits, stuff like that. Well, unsurprisingly then, you can certainly find those in the paid variety. But, if you're going to go that route, I think

[07:35] one of the better ones you could pick up is McLaren's outfitters. This is actually from from Creations for 300 creation credits, like three bucks. But, of different outfits, some of which look pretty great. And you're going to access

[07:49] pretty great. And you're going to access those via a shop that has opened up in New Atlantis. Now, after doing a quest to get this thing going, you'll have access to the shop, and you'll get some unique bits of gear and stuff just as a

[08:01] baseline. But, one of the cooler effects of this is actually the fact that it allows you to extract uh legendary mods from your equipment, while also adding a bunch of new ones. So, you get the new ones, plus you can take the ones you

[08:14] other bits of equipment. And overall, it's just a very functional little DLC that adds a bunch of cosmetic stuff, and also gives you a cool little tool to customization. That one's certainly not bad at all. Now, from there, we get into

[08:29] interesting. Now, I'm going to start with uh stuff like Redgrave and Lost Colonies, just because they don't really speak to me personally, but for the price, I think you're getting a lot of content. So, uh stuff like Redgrave is

[08:44] 600 creation credits. Uh Lost Colonies are usually around 500. But, what Redgrave and Lost Colonies are are basically a series of Starfield creations that focus on things like the settlement building side of things, but

[08:57] with the catch being that you get there by basically uh being given a hub that you'll have to do a bunch of quests for, usually with some unique hook, of course. So, Redgrave, for instance, sees you taking a colony and sort of building

[09:11] it up over time into something more dramatic. Whereas, like Lost Colonies Vesta, sees you helping out this struggling free colonies place, while criminals. Things like Redgrave and the Lost Colonies, of which there are

[09:24] several, I think those are pretty good if you are a particular type of player that is uh looking very specifically to try to get into building places up and making them more elaborate, and also trying to attach a bit more of a story

[09:37] this speaking to a very particular type of player, even if I fully admit it's not really for me personally. Now, a couple of more to go here. We also have something like Vigilance. Vigilance is interesting because on the face of it,

[09:51] it's basically just a very large dungeon that gives you access to a whole bunch of equipment via some quest. But, if you dig into it a little more, there's some really interesting stuff added from this. But, it is at it's hard just a

[10:05] really, really big dungeon that contains all of this new stuff and even allows you to craft it after the fact. But, you're going to follow a signal which leads you to this uh giant underground facility that was clearly up to all

[10:17] sorts of shady shenanigans and you can get a hold of all of their armor and to. You also get a new melee weapon in the form of a crowbar, which was pretty funny. But, another thing this game does is actually give you the ability to

[10:31] toggle armor abilities on some of the uh armor variants that you'll be getting. So, there's some unique stuff there as well. And the dungeon itself was pretty cool. I enjoyed that one and that one is going to run you about 600 creation

[10:45] credits if that's your thing, which I think is a tiny bit expensive. But, so are basically all of the creations to be honest. Then, we have the Cryomancer. So, Cryomancer is a little more recent, I believe. But, what this does is

[10:57] basically add an entire new faction of like space pirates you can run into known as the Cryomancers. Unsurprisingly, these guys focus on frost. They're also doing uh questionable experiments to people,

[11:10] turning them into these uh like ice hulk type guys. And you're going to go around and raid uh several of their major headquarters in order to get access to all of the new stuff, which includes a bunch of new enemies to fight, a bunch

[11:23] of new weapons, a bunch of new uh space suits, clothing items, all that stuff. Basically, the things you see the Cryomancers wearing are things you can get for yourself, of course. There are multiple companions, one of which is

[11:36] like this little ice hound named Thrax. And this one, while again a little would have preferred to see it at like 500 personally, but it is admittedly a pretty big one. I like this one a lot. I think some of the weapons and of course

[11:50] effects, as well as the enemies themselves, are very cool visually. And I genuinely think this is one of the better creations that Starfield has to offer or just overall. But that then, however, brings us to the last one,

[12:03] which is certainly the most well-known, I would imagine, and that is Watchtower. So, Watchtower is also from Kinggath Creations, a full-on company making creations via the Verified Creator Program. And Watchtower is certainly

[12:16] ambitious. It is 1,000 creation credits or 10 bucks, basically. And for that price, you're getting a new story around a new faction known as Watchtower, who are basically trying to capture you. However, in fighting back, you're going

[12:31] to gain access to the ability to have an entire fleet of ships with you, which will allow all of your ships that you own to be with you and piloted by your various companions, seeing as you'll have too many of them to actually keep

[12:44] on a single ship anyway. You can put them and your extra ships to use by just which can actually help in some of the larger combats in particular when it comes to space combat. But if that wasn't enough, you also get the ability

[12:57] to call down orbital strikes. There's also a uh space station that you'll be operating out of, which can evolve and become more useful as you move through bunch of equipment from the new faction you can get your hands on. And as is the

[13:10] case with a few of the creations here and there, it also has some reactivity for multiple instances of this, like going through the Unity and New Game Plus and all that. And because of all that, I would say Watchtower is by far

[13:24] and away the I would say most interesting of all of the creations just period. It feels like a small expansion in and of itself and does some really course. So, if you play any of these at

[13:37] playing any of these at all, I would start with Watchtower. That I think is wrapping this up. So, to answer the question at the beginning of the video, most of the creations here are Like I

[13:52] said, tons of skins, tons of just kind of uninteresting stuff generally with player homes and reskins to various things giving you different colors of furniture even. And while that stuff isn't bad by any means and I'm sure it

[14:05] certainly appeals to certain people. Um, when you see stuff like that, especially the stuff that is like paid, people are wanting a couple of bucks for it essentially. And to be clear, I do think people should be paid for their work,

[14:17] but when you compare that to stuff like Watchtower, which for just a few bucks more is like essentially a small expansion, it becomes a little odd when things, which has always been something these creations and paid mods generally

[14:31] have struggled with is exactly what people would be willing to pay for them. And when you start charging for things, you also open yourself up to a lot more criticism than you would receive if it were, of course, free. So, all told, I

[14:44] would say has Starfield I would say lived up to people's initial imagination planets with all these different mods and creations. And the answer is not really. There are some good ones. There are things like Watchtower or Cryomancer

[14:59] that I find really compelling. I think there's stuff like Redgrave or Lost Colony Vesta or Lost Colony I think it's Tierra Wara that have, I would say, content tailored to people who enjoy different experiences than I do, but I

[15:12] still think it's cool stuff. Or, you know, if you want a bajillion different they'll have you covered for in spades. And while those things are certainly not bad, I don't think Starfield quite got the reception that would have been

[15:25] required for seeing those thousand planets really fleshed out with all said, the game is still ongoing. We've got that upcoming expansion via Starborn and stuff to go. So, we'll see where it ends up in the end. But for right now, I

[15:39] would say there are a handful of creations and paid mods, etc., that are Bethesda themselves. Some of them are free. Some of them are going to cost you a little bit of money. I will say personally, I am uninterested in like

[15:52] through some of that, there's some decent experiences in there. Which is particular video. So, certainly hope you enjoyed it. If you did, by all means YouTube jazz. But regardless of any of that, truly, just thank you so much for

[16:07] watching. I really do appreciate it. May you wander in wisdom and have an amazing you wander in wisdom and have an amazing day.