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'

I agree, but also wonder how many other things were toned down or trimmed out for reasons like this. Keep trimming to appease everyone and you'll please no one.

To steal a line from Bob's Burgers, if this game's personality was a spice it would be flour.