One of the bigger Discourse torpedoes aimed at Starfield's glittering hull over the past month has been its strict division between planetary surfaces and outer space. Space sim fanatics were dismayed to learn that you can't actually fly down to the surface of the planets you're orbiting - instead, you hit a button to initiate a loading break and a landing cutscene, which makes outer space feel more like a glorified airlock chamber than, well, outer space. This segmented approach has prompted many unflattering comparisons with No Man's Sky, in which you can manually pilot through the atmosphere.
Players and critics were similarly disappointed by the apparent inability to manually fly between planets in different orbits - instead, the game invites you to pick a destination from your star map or while using your spaceship's scanner HUD, with the journey condensed to a cutscene, again. Well, I bring news on this front. You can actually fly "to" and perhaps even "between" planets in Starfield. But there are some buts. Buts of astronomical dimensions. Onward!