Highlights
- The upcoming Shattered Space DLC for Starfield is highly anticipated, and recent patches are focusing on fixing technical issues to get the game into a good place before its release.
- The 60 FPS patch for Xbox Series X consoles is a massive leap for Starfield, showing Bethesda’s willingness to address player feedback and make improvements.
- Hopefully, these updates are a stepping stone toward more patches that further enhance the game’s performance and overall technical strength.
Starfield is getting a host of meaningful updates this year. The Shattered Space DLC will be launching this fall, of course, but recent and soon-to-be-released patches may wind up making the most significant, ubiquitous changes, as they have the potential to sand down some of Starfield‘s rougher edges.
There’s plenty of raw data indicating that Starfield was one of the biggest successes of 2023, but reviews—from both players and critics—tell a different story. Much has been said about the game’s design and writing, but a whirlwind of criticism has also been hurled at a slightly more predictable culprit: technical issues. Indeed, while many players may have some nostalgic fondness for the glitches, janky animations, and subpar performance of a game like Skyrim, it seems that the standards are a bit higher in the modern era. Objective shortcomings, such as Starfield‘s omnipresent loading screens, poor PC optimization, and a cap of 30 FPS on next-gen Xbox consoles, have been tough to swallow, but Bethesda could be turning things around.
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Starfield’s 60 FPS Patch Is a Good Sign
60 FPS On Console Will Be a Massive Leap for Starfield
Starfield‘s infamous 30 FPS cap on consoles was perhaps the biggest controversy the game faced in the leadup to its release. Criticisms of this decision, while at times overly reactive or vitriolic, were mostly reasonable. After all, the Xbox Series X has been marketed as “the most powerful console ever made,” and an option for higher FPS is a staple of most current-gen console releases. Ultimately, the 30 FPS cap can make Starfield feel a bit outdated as, while it’s a great-looking game, it’s hard to argue that it has fidelity that warrants such a limitation.
Thankfully, Starfield‘s May 15 update will introduce an option for 60 FPS on Xbox Series X consoles, with additional settings for 40 FPS and an uncapped framerate for compatible, variable-refresh-rate displays. On its own, this is a massive upgrade for the game, but it represents much more: the 60 FPS patch shows that Bethesda is willing to listen to Starfield criticism and make adjustments accordingly. Hopefully, this can lead to greater improvements down the road.
It’s important to note that the 60 FPS patch will only be available on the Xbox Series X, not the Series S. It’s not clear whether this exclusivity will be repeated with future updates.
Framerate Isn’t the Only Technical Area Where Starfield Can Improve
With Shattered Space on the way, there’s a chance that Bethesda has some ambitious plans for Starfield. Naturally, it’s unlikely that the DLC will be on-par with something like Phantom Liberty or any of No Man’s Sky‘s major expansions, as it’s expected to release just a year after the Starfield base game, but it could still usher in some significant improvements to performance and overall technical strength.
Perhaps even more than the low framerate cap on console, Starfield critics have lambasted the game’s reliance on loading screens, as many feel that they break up the flow of exploration and general immersion. Again, while Bethesda probably won’t somehow remove loading screens altogether, perhaps the DLC areas could be more streamlined or cohesive, or the developers could find some other way to render areas that don’t involve full stoppages of gameplay.
Future Starfield updates are sure to make improvements to bugs and other miscellaneous technical issues as well, but these patches may be more comprehensive than in the past; with Starfield coming under heavier scrutiny than Bethesda Game Studios’ other single-player games, and with it positioned as one of Xbox’s biggest new IP, it seems reasonable that its ‘final’ technical state should be held to a higher standard. A 60 FPS patch for Starfield once seemed unlikely, so it will be interesting to see what else Bethesda has in store when it comes to performance.