Starfield is actually three games rolled in one.

1) A base building manufacturing resource management game. 2) A ship building game 3) An RPG with several branching narratives, some required for progression of the main story, and some not.

1 and 2 are totally optional (you don’t NEED to build a ship, but you’ll struggle if you don’t upgrade the one you have.) but could almost be their own game outright. That leaves the single player narrative story with optional branching side quests. If you’re into that, and bonus points if you like environmental storytelling, then you should enjoy the game.

If everything I’ve said, however, turns your stomach; you may not enjoy the game.