Bethesda intended Starfield to be more violent, including ‘meat caps’ for beheaded astronauts, but the gore was toned down for technical reasons and because it ‘didn’t fit thematically’
For all this, it’s worth remembering that Starfield is a decent game overall, one that, according to PCG’s mag editor Robert, is significantly more fun now that it supports mods. Indeed, there’s at least one gore mod available for Starfield already, so if the lack of gibs in Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG was ever a problem