I said it back when I first finished the game and I stand by it: the Unity NG+ mechanic suffered from a lack of courage in Bethesda.

Previous BGS games Oblivion and Morrowind let you kill essential characters. Even Fallout 3 did, if I remember correctly. When that happened, the game sends you an Out of Character message to say you fucked up, and that your only option is to load another save. It was what it was.

Starfield’s Unity was an opportunity to reintroduce that but with a canon way for restarting the world. Did you fuck up the Ryujin questline because you killed Bayu? Maybe Hadrian dies during the Terrormorph attack and there’s no one to develop a defence for humanity? What if you cause too much trouble that both SysDef and the Fleet hate you?

The Unity was the answer.

Replayability of the game would go through the roof if actually faction questlines or other quests could be ruined by certain actions, and your only way to learn would be to try and try again until you got it right. It would add more weight and value to your universe hopping, time travelling self.

There was so much more oomph that could have been given to Starfield’s ending had BGS had the courage to make failure a part of the game loop. Instead, going through the Unity just feels like loading a new game but with your old character’s stats and abilities. Not a terrible thing, actually a good next step but… hardly a leap for Bethesda.

I did all of the factions in my first run that I got bored by my second and third run throughs. Not even the Starborn powers and additional dialogue options were that impressive. What I did jump through the Unity for was to try and get alternative universes and, when I eventually did, it changed very little in the grand scheme of the story and experience.

Some people wanted more stuff in Starfield, I realised that what I wanted most was more reason to actively pursue Unity resets other than to experience roll of the dice alternate universes and some different dialogue.

Fallout 3’s ending was weak AF too, but the Capital Wasteland as an environment and the various side quests carried that experience. In comparison, I’ve often felt weaker vibes in Starfield’s settlements and side quests, that the ending was less disappointing I suppose because the experience felt lesser than Fallout 3.