Bethesda has announced the date for their new May Starfield update, which will include better maps, higher difficulty settings, and improved Xbox performance.
It’s been a bit of a bumpy road for Bethesda following their release of Starfield last year. While the game has seen occasional bug fixes and technical improvements, there hasn’t been much for players in terms of new content or even quality-of-life upgrades. That appears to change with the upcoming May Update, which Bethesda recently announced on their YouTube channel. Let’s look at some of the best improvements coming with the update that will be released on May 15th!
Top 5 Changes in Starfield May Update
Top 5 Summary of Starfield May Update changes:
- New Difficulty Settings: Toggle difficulty levels on space and gun combat individually, along with a new Extreme difficulty level.
- Improved Surface Maps: Better terrain and surface details, clearer icons, and location markers for finding your way around.
- New Xbox Series X Settings: Xbox Series X players will have access to a couple of new Display settings, where you can choose to prioritize visuals or performance.
- New Ship Decorations: A new Decorate Mode will allow you to personalize the interior of your starship the same way you can outposts.
- Change Traits and Appearance: After reaching the end game, before starting New Game+, you will be able to change your traits and appearance.
New Startfield Maps
One of the major complaints about the game players had was the location maps Starfield used. They were challenging to use and confusing. Moreover, they could often hinder players more than help them find their way around, especially in settlements and cities.
However, the Starfield update announcement from Bethesda revealed a whole new set of maps coming to the game. There is much more detail and topography, with colors and an overall design that is much easier to read. Additionally, an easily readable set of icons provides location markers for every kind of shop or vendor you could need.
New Starfield Difficulty Settings
In addition to other gameplay settings that allow you to tweak things like how many credits vendors have on-hand and carry capacity, there will also be more versatility in difficulty settings. The possible highlight of this is the ability to change the difficulty settings for both space and gun/ground combat individually.
Additionally, with the May update for Starfield, Bethesda is also adding a brand new difficulty level called Extreme. In this mode, you will deal little damage in combat and can also take a lot of damage from enemy fire. Moreover, changing the difficulty settings will add a small XP boost to the harder settings.
The Starfield Difficulty Settings XP Boosts are:
- Very easy – None
- Easy – None
- Normal – None
- Hard – 2% XP bonus
- Very Hard – 4% XP bonus
- Extreme – 6% XP bonus
Starfield Update Xbox Series X Improvements
This portion of the update focuses specifically on Xbox Series X players, where these console players will receive new Display settings in their Options menu. The Prioritize setting will allow you to choose between Visuals and Performance.
Essentially, if you want to prioritize higher-fidelity visuals, you may sacrifice higher frame rates. On the other hand, if you wish to prioritize performance,, the game will lower some of the resolutions and detail in certain situations.
Currently, it’s unknown if these new settings will eventually be added to other platforms. Bethesda developers did not specify in the video announcement.
New Ship Decorations
While the shipbuilder allowed players numerous ways to build the starship of their dreams, there wasn’t much you could do with the inside. However, with the May update for Starfield, Bethesda will now be adding a Decorate mode. This will allow you to personalize the interior of your ship similarly to how you furnish your outposts.
Furthermore, within the shipbuilder, you can purchase Hab sections for your ships that are free of any per-rendered furnishings inside. Thus, allowing you to put together the interior look of your starship from scratch.
New Game+ Traits and Appearance
After reaching the end game of Starfield, the story has a unique way of entering a New Game+. However, players have previously had to carry over into the new game with the same character as before.
Finally, with the Starfield May update, you can change your traits and/or appearance before starting a New Game+. Remember that this option only appears to be available at the start of each new run and is not available during a play-through once you have started.
Starfield May Update Video
Here is the full video of the Starfield May Update on Bethesda’s YouTube Channel:
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