There’s great news for fans of the space exploration game, Starfield. Bethesda announced its largest update for the game since its launch in September 2023.  Slated for release on May 15th, this update brings many fixes relating to gameplay, graphics, quests, outposts, and more. However, we will be focusing on the features this update brings to new and experienced players while they explore the vast cosmos with Constellation. That’s if they follow the main story and don’t get sidetracked by an abundance of side quests. Let’s look at what we can expect from the latest Starfield update.

Updated Starfield Surface Maps

Exploration is one of the most important parts of Starfield, and the team behind this giant update aims to make it a bit easier. As a part of a change requested by players, the new and improved surface maps replace the generic surface dots with more detailed terrain markings. This is meant to help players see and know what’s around them. It’s an improvement I’m looking forward to experiencing since I have a habit of getting lost from time to time.

As well as having these new markers, this part of the update provides a bit more convenience to the game. Every major city that players step into, like New Atlantis, will have new fast travel points at vendors. This means if you don’t want to make the effort to walk from your ship to TerraBrew for a nice dose of caffeine, you’re in luck.

New Ways to Play

If you play Starfield and have been craving a change in gameplay, you might be excited about the variety of new options being brought by this update. Along with being able to increase credits at vendors and carry capacity, players will be able to access their cargo anywhere through their inventory. This spells good news for players like myself who have a history of picking up everything we can get our hands on. Yes, this includes the ones who have a horde of succulents in their cargo bay.

There will be some survival features players will be able to mess around with. This includes the effects of the food eaten across the Settled Systems as well as environmental hazards. If I’m being honest, there are certain Starfield snacks that I consider to be environmental hazards themselves. The beloved and quiet cubical Chunks come to mind.

For players who want a bit more challenge with their exploration, there will be an even harder difficulty. The Extreme setting will dethrone Very Hard as the most challenging mode to play on. However, if you want to make certain things easier and some harder, you’ll be able to do just that with the difficulty customization being added to the game.

Improved Ship Customization

For those who choose to love making their ship their home away from home in Starfield, this update could bring a sense of excitement. Players will experience more freedom when it comes to decorating their beloved space vessels. The update expands the amount of interior customization within the ship itself. It also brings a new empty habitat module, allowing players to fully decorate it all on their own.

If you’re like me and practically obsess about having a smooth flow aboard your ship when designing it, have no fear. The update will let you play around with the layout making more options for doorways available. As someone who can get lost in the maze of a ship I always end up making, I view this as a win.

Display Settings for Xbox Series X

If you play Starfield on the Xbox Series X, you’ll get to have more control over your graphics and performance.  Players will be able to choose between 30, 40, 60, or an Uncapped frame rate on Variable Refresh Rate displays. If you don’t have a VRR display, Bethesda does warn that screen tearing may happen if you choose 60.

Players will also be able to prioritize between Visuals and Performance while still trying to maintain their chosen frame rate. If you want to choose a target of 60 or above, Bethesda suggests changing this setting to Performance. If you choose to prioritize Visuals, your game should keep the highest resolution while maintaining full detail. Both modes are set to be able to adjust the resolution when players experience heavier scenes. Players should expect to see a brief lightning change when transitioning between the two modes.

Bethesda does highly recommend a VRR display running at 120hz for these new settings. The company also says players need to make sure their Xbox Series X is properly set up to use it. If it isn’t, Starfield will default to 40 as a frame rate target, keeping the priority for full visuals.

Other Incoming Changes

Bethesda is adding some extra quality-of-life improvements with this latest update. The most noticeable one out of the bunch is being able to watch scenes play out from the perspective of your choice. Players will gain the ability to toggle the dialogue camera off. This means if you don’t want to look at your character during dialogue, you don’t have to. This can be useful for players who end up making their character a big enough monstrosity that even they can’t stand looking at them.

There’s also a quality-of-life improvement for in-game loot goblins, which is another win for the succulent hoarders. Players will also be able to more easily navigate Container and Barter menus with the brand new organization tabs being added. This feature may make things easier for people to spam sell their unwanted gear without accidentally getting rid of something they didn’t want to.

And for those who have beaten the main quest line or keep stalling the arrival to the end, there’s a new reason to keep going. Keeping up with Bethesda’s goal of replayability, this update brings some changes to New Game Plus. Players will have the option to change the appearance and traits of their characters, which means you can be an all-new you while keeping the benefits of the previous playthrough.

Cosmic Conclusion

Of course, there’s much more to the Starfield 1.11.33 update. As previously mentioned, it comes with a host of fixes thanks to feedback from the player fanbase. If you’d like to see a full list of those fixes, I’d recommend clicking here.

This update is another addition to the busy times happening at Bethesda. It follows the next generation update for Fallout 4 along with the release of Amazon Prime’s live-action adaptation of Fallout. If you haven’t done so yet, I recommend taking at least a glance at those.

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