Starfield’s largest update since launch is coming on May 15! The May Update includes more detailed surface maps; new gameplay difficulty options and performance settings; new features for ship customization and more!  

In this in-depth breakdown, Community Director Jessica Finster is joined by Joe Mueller, Istvan Pely and Tim Lamb from Bethesda Game Studios to discuss everything the update has to offer, plus some insights into the future of Starfield.

Community feedback is a huge source of inspiration for the team at Bethesda Game Studios, and one of the most requested features has been more detailed surface maps, and the latest update delivers. These improved maps replace surface dots with terrain markings, which, combined with actually seeing the points of interest on the map, makes it much easier to see where you are and what’s around you.

Additionally, new markers have been added in the major cities to show the locations of vendors and each of these markers acts as a fast travel point, so you’ll be able to head straight there quickly and easily from your Scanner or the surface map.


The new update also introduces a host of new gameplay options, including the ability to increase vendor credits and carry capacity or access your ship cargo from anywhere through your player inventory. You can also play around with some survival features, like the effects of food and your environmental hazards. Of course, there are also some new combat settings, so you could make space combat harder and run-and-gun combat easier if you want to. And if you’re looking for a bigger challenge, there’s now a new Extreme difficulty above Very Hard. These settings can be tuned to allow you to focus on the style of gameplay you enjoy the most. Depending on how you balance them out, you might even get some bonus experience.


In Starfield, your ship is your home. The latest update takes that to a new level by expanding the amount of interior customization you can do in your ship. The system is now very similar to how you decorate your outposts. The update also includes new completely empty hab modules, allowing you to start your decorating from scratch. This also lets you play around with your ship’s layout with more openings available for doorways.


We’ve heard from many that you’d like to have more control over the graphic fidelity and performance on Xbox, similar to how PC players can customize their experience. We’re now enabling that on Xbox Series X with a few options that you can use to find the best fit for your playstyle and display.

For each of these, we highly recommend a Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) Display running at 120hz, and to verify your Xbox is setup to use it. If you have it set up this way, Starfield will now default to a frame rate target of 40, while keeping the priority for full visuals.

• Frame Rate Target: You can now choose between 30, 40, 60 or an Uncapped frame rate on VRR displays. If you do not have a VRR display running 120hz, you will still be able to select from 30 or 60. Screen tearing may occur at times when selecting 60 on a non-VRR display.
  
• Prioritize: You can now prioritize between Visuals and Performance while trying to maintain the frame rate target. If you’re choosing a frame rate target of 60 or above, we recommend changing this to Performance. Prioritizing Visuals keeps the highest resolution while maintaining full detail for special effects, lighting, and crowds. Prioritizing Performance lowers internal resolution and detail for special effects, lighting, and crowds. Both modes may adjust internal resolution dynamically when scenes or action get heavier as well. When switching between modes, you will see the lighting change briefly as the system catches up to the new mode.

Replayability is huge in Bethesda Game Studios games, and in Starfield the universe opens up *even more* with New Game Plus. Now, after you enter the Unity, you’ll have the option to change both your appearance and your Traits. It’s another way for you to choose who you want to be in your new universe.


In addition to the major features coming in this update, there are also a ton of quality-of-life improvements like the ability to toggle the dialogue camera off. Now you’ll be able to watch scenes play out from your chosen perspective. There are also new tabs in your Container and Barter menus, making it easier to see where you’re navigating to when quickly cycling through the menus.


The team isn’t slowing down with this update. There are some major features on the horizon, including a land vehicle for speedier planetary exploration, official mod support for Starfield, and the massive Shattered Space expansion. Stay tuned in the coming months for more news on these!