The specs on my 2019 Acer Nitro 5 laptop:
AMD Ryzen 5 2500U (2.00 GHz)
Radeon RX 560X GPU
32GB RAM (upgraded from factory standard of 8GB)
1TB HDD

I updated my graphics drivers to latest and installed the most recent Windows 10 updates before I started the game. It auto-set me to lowest settings everywhere in the display tab, and I modified the music volume settings a little because Bethesda games always set the music too loud for my tastes. I keep the captions on for *all* dialogue.

Using this machine I get a routine crash whenever I enter the Lodge, but when I reload the autosave it loads me inside there so I'm not too bothered. The audio frequently desyncs when entering conversations but by the second line it's fixed itself so, again, I'm not too bothered, especially since the captions work to keep me in the convo.

Loading screens going into new areas range from 30 seconds to two minutes. I instinctively let my character stand in place for ten seconds or so after everything has loaded so it doesn't get overwhelmed and crash. The music tends to cut out if I'm running around too fast, so I just ignore it.

I'm giving this technical overview *now* so people with machines like mine know they can still play the game provided they're okay with these few hangups. A lot of RAM can bruteforce games like these, and is likely the only reason I can get this thing going. If you don't care too much about Starfield looking like a current gen game, and can pick up your phone to mess a round for a minute or two when loading a new city, then yes, you can play it.


My review for the actual game ten hours in: It's fun. I enjoy resource gathering and fetch quests and typical Bethesda-like mechanics, so this is just a chill space game for me to roll around and occasionally shoot things in.

I really don't care if this is cutting edge, I just want to have fun, and so far Starfield is definitely scratching the space exploration sim itch for me. Your own experience may vary.

The specs on my 2019 Acer Nitro 5 laptop: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U (2.00 GHz) Radeon RX 560X GPU 32GB RAM (upgraded from factory standard of 8GB) 1TB HDD I updated my graphics drivers to latest and installed the most recent Windows 10 updates before I started the game. It auto-set me to lowest settings everywhere in the display tab, and I modified the music volume settings a little because Bethesda games always set the music too loud for my tastes. I keep the captions on for *all* dialogue. Using this machine I get a routine crash whenever I enter the Lodge, but when I reload the autosave it loads me inside there so I'm not too bothered. The audio frequently desyncs when entering conversations but by the second line it's fixed itself so, again, I'm not too bothered, especially since the captions work to keep me in the convo. Loading screens going into new areas range from 30 seconds to two minutes. I instinctively let my character stand in place for ten seconds or so after everything has loaded so it doesn't get overwhelmed and crash. The music tends to cut out if I'm running around too fast, so I just ignore it. I'm giving this technical overview *now* so people with machines like mine know they can still play the game provided they're okay with these few hangups. A lot of RAM can bruteforce games like these, and is likely the only reason I can get this thing going. If you don't care too much about Starfield looking like a current gen game, and can pick up your phone to mess a round for a minute or two when loading a new city, then yes, you can play it. My review for the actual game ten hours in: It's fun. I enjoy resource gathering and fetch quests and typical Bethesda-like mechanics, so this is just a chill space game for me to roll around and occasionally shoot things in. I really don't care if this is cutting edge, I just want to have fun, and so far Starfield is definitely scratching the space exploration sim itch for me. Your own experience may vary.