After months of rumors, teasing, and creators getting early glimpses, Bethesda has finally revealed what it’s been working on for its open-world space RPG Starfield. The RPG’s next paid expansion is Terran Armada, and it is launching on April 7. On that same day, Bethesda will release a large free update for the game titled Free Lanes as well as the long-awaited PS5 port of the sci-fi epic.
What’s in Starfield’s Free Lanes update
Bethesda calls Free Lanes the biggest update since launch. It adds new weapons and quests, fresh points of interest, and a new vehicle.
“Interplanetary exploration is what Free Lanes is all about,” says Bethesda.
The idea is to add more reasons for players to actually travel through space instead of just fast-traveling. Bethesda is even adding a cruise control-like mode that will let players step away from the helm while their ship flies to a specific location. During these cruises, you can be interrupted by random events.
The new update isn’t just focused on making space exploration better; Bethesda is also adding a shared outpost container that will let players share all of their loot and items easily between different planets. Players will be able to unlock a friendly pet alien, too.
Bethesda is also adding a New Game Plus-like experience to Starfield, letting players take some items through the universal unity feature. Previously, you would have to sacrifice all your gear and loot to visit a new version of Starfield‘s universe.
Starfield’s next paid expansion and a new PS5 port
“The DLC is going to challenge players to rise up to a full-on armada,” said Bethesda. “Part of your mission is to figure out what their motivation is and stop them from attacking innocent worlds.”
The Terran Armada uses new ships and weapons, including more “contemporary” assault rifles and laser weapons added to the game in response to community feedback. The Armada also uses “deadly” robot troops to attack worlds and space ships. According to Bethesda, Terrans can even block warping out of systems, so you’ll need to cruise to whatever Armada base is blocking travel and take it out.
Bethesda also confirmed that yes, Starfield is coming to PlayStation 5 on April 7. It will cost $50 and is PS5 Pro Enhanced.
Last month, Bethesda creative director Todd Howard made it clear that this just-revealed big update for Starfield wouldn’t be a “2.0” upgrade for the game. Instead, he promised this next major patch would be designed for people who already like the game, explaining it like this during a Kinda Funny podcast appearance: “I think it’s the kind of thing where if you love Starfield, we think you’re going to love this.” And based on what was shown, that seems to have been an accurate bit of expectation setting on Howard’s part.
