Starfield's May update just convinced me to try this RPG again, and all it took was proper maps and The Sims-like ship decorating

May. 2, 2024

Opinion | Plus, the tease of a Starfield land vehicle might just be the one giant leap we need

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In September last year, I was drowning in RPG goodness.Baldur’s Gate 3launched on PS5 right asStarfieldlanded, withCyberpunk 2077 Phantom Libertyarriving a matter of weeks later. I felt like I was being pulled in multiple directions, grappling with my desire to give Bethesda’s newest spacefaring adventure a fair shake, while also falling head-over-heels for Larian’s engrossing fantasy. Then, to top it all off, I wanted to see what awaited V in Dogtown with Idris Elba. As hard as I did try, something had to give, and for me, that ended up being Starfield. But withnews of an update- set to be the biggest one since launch - coming on May 15, I think that’s all about to change.

Trust me, I absolutely didn’t expect to fall off Starfield in the way that I initially did, and perhaps I wouldn’t have if there weren’t just so many games calling for my attention. I’m a massive space nerd, after all, and I’ve historically loved my time with the likes of Oblivion,Skyrim, and Fallout. The more time I spent with Starfield, though, the more frustrated I became with the maps and means of navigation. I just couldn’t ignore it any longer, and I haven’t returned since. But after soaking in all of the details of the Starfield May update, I’m seriously considering becoming a Constellation member again. Not only does it look to directly address some of the main issues I had with the RPG - such as surface and city map improvements - it’s also bringing in a decorative mode for ship interiors that directly appeals to me as a big fan of The Sims.

No small steps

The five-minute video from Bethesda outlines a hefty load of additions coming in the update later this month, from a60fps performance mode on Xbox Series Xto asuite of new options to change up your difficultyand even addressStarfield encumbrance. But thestudio opening on how the update is improvingtheStarfield mapswas enough to grab my attention from the get-go. After all, I’m far from alone in my frustrations with this side of the game, withmany also finding it difficult to find particular shops or locations in cities.

The surface maps were also pretty unhelpful, with UI that would often hinder my enjoyment when it came to exploration. In fact, I’d often opt to fast travel just to avoid having to navigate to a location myself,which detracted from the space flight fantasy I’d always envisioned. Thankfully, the team has taken feedback onboard, and the update promises to make notable changes in this department that speak to me.

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“We see a lot of feedback online that players really want a lot more utility and detail in our surface maps,” art director Istvan Pely said. “So we took what’s there, we blew it all up, and instead now we have a whole new aesthetic to the surface maps where you can see the terrain. All the detail in the terrain - trees, rocks, all the structures in the loading zone - it’s a lot easier to navigate. We’ve also made it easier to get around the cities. You see markers for all the shops, the Enhance boutiques, the restaurants. You name it, it’s all there. It’s a lot easier to get around now.”

From the little snippets shown off in the video, it certainly looks vastly improved, and I’m already hopeful that it will make navigating around cities and planets a lot easier and more enjoyable overall. With one of my major bugbears addressed, the other additions coming to Starfield are really the icing on the space cake. Ship customization was easily one of the biggest draws of the RPG for me in the lead up to launch, and seeing a new “decorate mode” that will let us “fully furnish and customize the interior layout of ships” really speaks my language. Especially since it’s building off of the Outpost building mode in-game that brought to mind the tools in the likes of The Sims - where you can easily set down and rotate decorations.

The update also wrapped up with a tease of a future feature we can look forward to, and it’s one I’ve been hoping for: a land vehicle. In the past,I’ve pined for a Star Wars-style speeder to enhance planet-side exploration. Whenever you land on a planet, you’re often met with vast stretches of landscapes in between points of interest, and running over to them in a spacesuit would often become rather laborious. Hopefully, the land vehicle will do away with all of that, and I’m actually quite excited to see how it changes things when it rolls around.

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There were definitely sides to Starfield that I did enjoy, such as the way itlet me be my true space dork self, and made megrapple with everyday problems that brought the fantasy back down to earth. But thanks to this upcoming update, this is the first time I’ve felt excited about revisiting the RPG so I can experience what it has to offer properly.

See what awaits us with our roundup ofupcoming Bethesda games.

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at GamesRadar+. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I’m not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.

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