Starfield's massive new update has officially won players back

Well, this has certainly put a spring in my step. I’ve always enjoyed Starfield so I was somewhat surprised that the game proved to be as controversial as it did.

Certainly, it came with some flaws which developers have been beavering away to iron out and improve, but Starfield is a game that demonstrates immense ambition.

There’s something so special about entering a random star system and having no idea what you’ll find, which in some cases leads to some of the game’s most exciting quests.

Many players though, and I do understand the criticism, felt drawn out of the game due to its lack of immersion.

Cities were nigh impossible to navigate. Your ship interior was fixed, unable to be personalised. Players were forced to traverse largely barren remote planets on foot.

What if I told you that’s all changing? I think it’s happening folks. If you weren’t already on board with Starfield, I think its redemption arc is starting now.

Take a look at some of our favourite Starfield wins and fails below.

Update 1.11.33 is now in Steam beta testing with the full PC and Xbox rollout due on 15 May - and oh my, it features so many player-requested features.

The handiest of which has to be the addition of city maps, or surface maps as they’re referred to: “We’ve heard your feedback, and we’ve made some big improvements to surface maps, so you’ll always know just where to go and no longer ‘get lost’ on the way to your parents’ place (and they weren’t buying that excuse anyway, you should really go visit them).”

Starfield’s players can also now customise their ship interiors, benefit from extra gameplay settings, change traits and appearances after entering the Unity, benefit from a new dialogue camera toggle setting, and the game’s graphics have received a major boost on the Xbox Series X.

The 30fps set frame rate has now been set to a default of 40fps, but Xbox Series X users can actually target 60fps too should they wish. This has not been confirmed as a Series S feature.

The update also includes a huge array of bug fixes, with the full patch notes now viewable. A video update detailing this patch offered a glimpse at driveable land vehicles too, presumably coming in a future update. Finally!

We also got a look at the Shattered Space expansion which, as hoped, seems set to involve House Va’ruun in some way.

Needless to say, players are already thrilled.

“Holy s**t, those new maps look great. The land vehicle caught me off guard,” wrote one player.

“Decorate the interior of starships? Sign me up,” said another.

Other comments on the update video read, “They’re actually fixing the game and with community requested content too, holy s**t,” and, “These are legitimately amazing quality-of-life updates and this is honestly what I’ve been waiting [for]. I really like the game but it was missing so many little things. Once this comes out I’ll definitely jump back in.”

This is music to my ears.