Bethesda has been pretty busy with Fallout lately after its resurgence, but the studio"s latest RPG project is now back in focus. Just as Todd Howard teased last week, a massive update is hitting Starfield later this month. Dubbed the "largest update since launch," the May Update for the RPG brings upgraded surface maps, difficulty tweaking options, new display settings for Xbox, and much more. Plus, there"s a teaser for an upcoming update too, where a land vehicle will be deployed for the game.
First up, the map system of Starfield is getting a complete overhaul. As the video below shows off, gone are the almost blank maps showing cities and local areas, with fully detailed environments, markers for points of interest and vendors (with fast travel options too), and other interesting aspects now being shown to players.
Players looking to customize the insides of their ships will now have to ability to do so too. Much like the outpost customization system, players can completely rip apart and reorganize their ship interiors. Plenty of new gameplay tweaking options are coming too, with everything from survival effects to combat and looting being offered as separate areas to adjust depending on what kind of difficulty players prefer.
Next, Xbox Series X players will find graphics options in Starfield much like PC players:
- 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.
New Game Plus is getting an important change too. Focusing on better replayability, once players finish the game and choose to replay via the New Game Plus option, both the player character"s appearance and Traits will now be customized again much like in a new game.
Read the full changelog of this massive update over here. Xbox Series X|S and PC players are slated to receive the Starfield May Update on May 15. However, Steam players can jump in right now via the beta that has just kicked off on their platform.
As for what"s coming beyond the May Update, Bethesda confirmed that the new way to travel it has been teasing in the past will be a land vehicle for "speedier planetary exploration." Official mod support and the Shattered Space expansion is still in development at the studio too. Unfortunately no release schedules were shared today.