The announcement comes hot on the heels of a lot of players reporting crashes and being quite vocal with their dissatisfaction. It’s quite understandable given how highly anticipated this space sci-fi RPG was after a successful run on PC and Xbox. Unfortunately, this doesn’t address other issues that players have been having, and the wait for a fix on the PS5 is sure to be excruciating to those who can’t wait to begin exploring the Settled Systems. Still, this first effort is a step in the right direction.

Responses to the tweet announcing the hotfix’s release showcase a lot of players continuing to experience issues, a situation that the studio is going to want to remedy sooner rather than later. That’s especially true if it aims to sustain the hype for its rumored Switch 2 port of the game, although an official announcement is yet to make itself known.

You can check out the announcement and the responses to it if you want a front row seat to what’s unfolding. You can also check out our review of the PS5 version here.

https://x.com/BethesdaStudios/status/2044782858397462777

While neither Bethesda nor Microsoft has made any official announcement about the matter, the fact that the Switch 2 port is already getting rated means that development must be close to complete, if not done already. The rating also indicates that the game coming to a new platform is a matter of “when” rather than “if”.

It is worth noting that Starfield‘s PS5 launch has been far from a smooth journey for Bethesda. Many players took to Reddit to report experiencing frequent crashes during their time with the game. The reports also indicated that it didn’t matter whether the RPG was being played on the base PS5 or the PS5 Pro, which indicates that these issues have little to do with the console’s horsepower. To address this, however, Bethesda has confirmed that it is working on fixing these issues.

“We’re aware of some reported PS5 crashing issues and have narrowed them down to a small number of causes,” wrote the company on social media. “We’re addressing these in a hotfix we’re aiming to release this week. Thanks for flagging, and we’ll keep you posted.”

On the other hand, other players have reported having no issues during their time with Starfield. Our own review called the port a good one, giving it a score of 9 out of 10, only held back by the fact that the Free Lanes update wasn’t as comprehensive as we had hoped.

In the meantime, director Todd Howard has spoken about the divisive initial reception to Starfield, and noted that Bethesda’s other two major franchises – The Elder Scrolls and Fallout – were also quite divisive before eventually finding their audiences.

“If you look back at the beginning of Elder Scrolls, beginning of Fallout, they’re a little bit the same,” said Howard. “And then, you find an audience that loves that. So, I think it’s true that Fallout 76 and Starfield clearly – they’re creatively different than what we had done [before].”

“And we really wanted to do that. When you’re doing a certain type of thing for, in my case, 20 years, we want to try some other things and learn from that. We have ideas that we want to get out there.”

Howard has also discussed the strange way Bethesda decided to implement New Game+ through Starfield‘s Unity ending, which he called a way for him to ask players a “weird, deep question”.

“The Unity was our way of doing New Game+,” Howard explained. “It was us asking you this weird, deep question that I actually think got lost on a lot of people. It asks if you are just this power gamer who wants to get everything, or are you willing to leave this world behind? How do you feel about your own life choices – would you leave that all behind and start over? Some of that pain – having to give up all of your stuff, Sarah Morgan not loving you anymore, and so on – is supposed to make you feel all of that.”

Starfield is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

“If you look back at the beginning of Elder Scrolls, beginning of Fallout, they’re a little bit the same,” said Howard. “And then, you find an audience that loves that. So, I think it’s true that Fallout 76 and Starfield clearly – they’re creatively different than what we had done [before].”

“And we really wanted to do that. When you’re doing a certain type of thing for, in my case, 20 years, we want to try some other things and learn from that. We have ideas that we want to get out there.”

Ultimately, Howard said that he is glad that Fallout and The Elder Scrolls managed to garner massive audiences, which in turn has allowed Bethesda to take more creative risks with its other projects, like Fallout 76, and most recently, Starfield. He said, “We’re fortunate those games have found, in the scheme of things, giant audiences that let us keep doing things in them.”

Referring to Fallout 76 and Starfield, Howard said, “even though they’re a bit off the core path of the single-player games that we have been doing, we’re just fortunate to have the success that we’ve had with them.”

When it comes to Fallout, it is worth noting that Bethesda only bought up the franchise back in 2004. Before this, the franchise was developed by Interplay Entertainment. Bethesda’s work on the series started with Fallout 3, which came out on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2008. At the time, it offered a massive shift away from what the series was known for, switching from turn-based combat with an isometric view to a first-person RPG with shooter-adjacent gameplay. At this point, however, Bethesda has been in charge of the Fallout IP for longer than Interplay ever was.

Recently, Howard also revealed some details about the unique Unity ending of Starfield, and how it leads directly into New Game+ mode. Originally, players who picked the ending would get thrown into a new universe with all of their power and progression, but without any of their gear or items. With the Free Lanes update, players now have the chance to create an item that allows them to take up to 50 items along with them in their New Game+ run after the Unity ending.

“The Unity was our way of doing New Game+,” Howard explained. “It was us asking you this weird, deep question that I actually think got lost on a lot of people. It asks if you are just this power gamer who wants to get everything, or are you willing to leave this world behind? How do you feel about your own life choices – would you leave that all behind and start over? Some of that pain – having to give up all of your stuff, Sarah Morgan not loving you anymore, and so on – is supposed to make you feel all of that.”

Starfield is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review of its recent PS5 release. In the meantime, Bethesda is also working on The Elder Scrolls 6.

Since launch, several players have complained about bugs, crashes, and save file problems that left the game “unplayable”. While we did find the visuals on the console port to be slightly outshone by their PC counterpart, we didn’t encounter any of these issues on PS5 Pro.

Our review was fairly positive of the port, too, and players who’ve been able to sink time into the game like we did have come away relatively happy. Although a cursory glance at the comments in the tweet shows some areas that Bethesda could focus on after the hotfix goes live.

Those include some of the biggest complaints already being discussed, alongside suggestions about tweaks to collectibles, and reports of strange NPC behavior leading to amusingly unintended consequences. There are also questions about Upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution support, although the studio has yet to comment on that.

For our part, we’re hoping that the hotfix gets here as soon as possible so that all players finally get to play a very enjoyable romp through space.

Major spoilers for Starfield‘s ending below.

As you get to the end of the main story of Starfield, the story mission One Giant Leap presents you with a choice of partaking in the Unity. Doing so turns the player’s character into a Starborn and puts you in an entirely new universe. Through this choice, the studio integrated the idea of New Game+ into the overall narrative of Starfield, since players got to carry over all of the progress they had made throughout the story, while also “resetting” the universe around them, allowing players to start from scratch with things like character relationships, mission progression, and map data, among other things.

“The Unity was our way of doing New Game+,” Howard explained. “It was us asking you this weird, deep question that I actually think got lost on a lot of people. It asks if you are just this power gamer who wants to get everything, or are you willing to leave this world behind? How do you feel about your own life choices – would you leave that all behind and start over? Some of that pain – having to give up all of your stuff, Sarah Morgan not loving you anymore, and so on – is supposed to make you feel all of that.”

On the subject of why the studio decided to go this route with its New Game+ system, Lamb explained that feedback from playtesters led to this, since they wanted to continue their journey. “The game just ended,” he said. “The feedback we got at the time was that fans were surprised – they wanted to keep going. So we put this system into Starfield; we wanted it to be a meaningful choice, but it wasn’t meant to be suffering.”

With the release of the free Free Lanes update, Bethesda has also brought in a major change to Starfield‘s Unity ending and the subsequent New Game+ mode; players can now build a machine that allows them to bring over up to 50 items into the new universe. “If you decide to enter the Unity now, you can do it in a way that you feel that you can still continue your character and have some of your stuff – it’s stuff that you earned, after all,” explained Howard.

Interestingly, the introduction of X-Tech as a way to further raise the power of players’ weapons and equipment may have played a role in allowing players to build this device. Since players would likely be unhappy about leaving behind powerful items that they may have worked hard for, the studio decided that there should be a way to carry these items forward.

“We are introducing X-Tech to further upgrade your weapons and your gear; well, we don’t want to ask the player to put in a lot of work for a reward they are searching for, only to say, ‘no, it’s gone now.’ So once these things started coming together, we knew we absolutely had to do something like this,” said Lamb.

Howard went on to explain how, through this change to the Unity ending, Bethesda wants to further refine the “elder loop” of Starfield. This “elder loop” is essentially the long-term gameplay loop offered by Starfield, which would often involve players hopping on and off between extended periods of time. To help with this, the Free Lanes update was meant to add more game content that would give players plenty more to do aside from just the new missions.

“Take something like the Trackers Alliance, or other quests. You do them and then you’re done,” said Howard. “That’s still rewarding, but for someone who jumps back in, they might play for a few hours – and then the update didn’t serve them beyond those two or three hours. We want to be trying to do more things that update the game where it’s going to change the next 100 hours. You can tell us if we’re done our job right.”

Starfield is out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, take a look at our review of the PS5 release, as well as its Terran Armada expansion.

Players have also suggested that the PS5 Pro’s more powerful hardware doesn’t help much with running Starfield. This would indicate that the crashes and other issues don’t seem to be related to the console’s hardware. Rather, it seems to be a case of poor optimization for Sony’s platform.

“Yeah I’ve shelved it,” wrote a player. “I’ve called their tech support line and left a message and submitted a ticket. I have done every single troubleshooting step and it’s the only game I own that hard freezes like this constantly. Feel seriously ripped off. I want to play it because I like what I actually did get to play but this is actually bs.”

It is worth noting that, in our graphical analysis of the PS5 Pro version of Starfield, we found it to be a competent port, at least in terms of visual fidelity. We made a note of “slightly lower-resolution textures” being visible “only if you’re really looking for them.” When compared to a high-end PC, we found that, while PSSR was doing its best to upscale images, the console version still fell short when it came to raw visual fidelity.

Interestingly, not all players seem to be suffering from crashes. One player made a point of having spent 10 hours with Starfield on PS5 so far without having suffered even a single crash. Another mentioned having played for 60 hours without facing any problems.

Starfield‘s PS5 release was quite hotly anticipated, with the game essentially taking over the pre-order charts on PlayStation Store across various regions. While some saw it take first place, others saw it not too far behind, sitting in second or third. This was further compounded by the fact that the standard edition and the Premium edition were both listed separately.

Starfield was originally released on PC and Xbox Series X/S. Its PS5 version—check out our review—was accompanied by the release of the Terran Armada expansion, which introduced a new faction, complete with its own intricate lore and a host of story content. In our review, we gave the expansion a score of 7 out of 10 thanks to its compelling premise and breadth of content, while criticizing the repetitive nature of incursions.

For more on Starfield, take a look at our thoughts about why the sci-fi RPG happens to be so divisive. And while you’re at it, here is a broader look at whether, three years after its original release, Starfield has seen any major improvements.

You might think that a bunch of people who liked the game as much as we did would obviously be okay with its problems. But that’s far from it. It’s just that we think that love it or hate it, Starfield doubles down on the kind of experience it wants to be, for better or worse. It’s a divisive title not because it falls into the binary viewpoint of good or bad, but because it chooses to be strong in ways that come with specific trade-offs.

Its very strengths are a double-edged sword, the magic of what it truly is clashing with the frustrations that its formula brings to the table. Wondering how that could be? Join us on a trip through Starfield’s star-studded landscape and find out why it has been praised and belittled for just being itself.

The Grand Scheme of Things

Let’s start with Starfield’s size and scope. Its “world” is a literal galaxy just waiting for you to engage with it. As a sci-fi adventure aimed at letting you carve out your own name in the stars, it’s astoundingly large, and deliciously grandiose. Its ambitions rival its size, and perhaps even help define it with the magic of hopping between systems as you engage with the many factions you come across, their quest lines and other distractions making your time with it an adventure that even you can’t really predict from moment-to-moment.

There’s also its emphasis on player agency, with the world at your fingertips and a ton of things for you to do at any given moment. There are factions to choose between, ships to build, planets to scan and learn more about before you visit them, smuggling, mining, and, of course, the RPG side of things to allow you to truly make your character feel like an extension of yourself, a small but shining speck among the stars. It’s a fantasy that truly puts you at the center of it all while still impressing upon you that you’re only a part of a larger universe.

That’s all well and good but we can see where players who didn’t resonate with these strengths are coming from. The game’s scale should have felt seamless, but its systems dictated that the massive universe you’re let loose in was fragmented into menus that got in the way of hopping between planets, loading screens pulling you out of the spell that it cast on you. Its universe felt like a collection of different maps, none of which fed into each other for players who were unable to find their footing.

The very freedom that we loved so much could feel like the game refusing to connect with its spacefarers. Players diving into it around the time of its release were used to their games easing them into whatever the experience was selling, instead of leaving them to discover it all on their own terms. Where other titles provided carefully curated journeys, Starfield was about the journey itself, a distinction that would take time many of its players did not really have at their disposal to make.

The game’s size, meant to inspire a sense of awe and wonder, felt like it was deliberately placing walls that its players had to get past. The freedom that was meant to allow players to craft their own adventure felt like they were left adrift among the stars, without a clear path to the destiny they knew was waiting for them in the blackness of space.

It was a game that asked for time that many of its players could not, or would not, choose to give it.

Learning To Love It

We’ll be honest, we’re pretty clear on why so many of you didn’t click with Starfield right off the bat. Its systems can get overwhelming at first glance, and it does take a bit of time to settle into a routine that works for you. But once you get there, the game opens up into something you might have even adored. The faction questlines we mentioned earlier? We couldn’t get enough of them. The same goes for the slow burn of building our characters from the ground up, engaging with the side content, and the sense of just existing in a world outside of the real one, but just as diverse and unpredictable.

Of course, all of this must factor in the knowledge that Starfield was a game from Bethesda, whose track record of great titles meant that all of these factors were a given. But it also meant that this was a game that needed patience, and a willingness to endure its learning curve. You could even say that we stuck with the game for the sake of a thorough review, and you would have a valid point. But the fact that all of us continued to play it long after we put down our thoughts should speak to that argument.

But as we looked deeper, we began to see a few split seams in the experience, with Bethesda’s usual quirks coming into play. There was a definite stiffness to some parts of our time in the Constellation, and a lack of polish in certain areas. Conversations in which the person we were talking to lacked enough expressions to make it feels real immediately come to mind, along with a bunch of systems that could feel outdated when games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 were already out there.

But again, this was a game from Bethesda, a studio that was known for the eccentricities that its games had in play. Did we think that the fact that Starfield had them felt oddly reassuring in a way? Sure. But did we also think that their presence in a game as ambitious as this one felt like the studio was clinging to its old ways in a world of video games that were rapidly evolving? Also yes.

That’s because to the average gamer, who in all probability has a limited amount of time to engage with a game, first impressions can be hard to shake off. Starfield does take too long to reveal its depth, and it’s very likely that for many gamers, it asked too much of them too early. It demanded patience from a modern audience that was quite unwilling to wait when there were other games that came out with far more accessibility than this one. Understandable, of course, but it was also sad to see so many potential fans miss out on all the fun.

But what exactly were they missing?

Living In The Moment

To us, Starfield was clearly better enjoyed as an RPG sandbox, despite it coming across as a game that was all about getting lost in space. We found joy in engaging with its many factions, navigating the complexities that arose from such interactions along with choosing between all the possibilities for our characters that were laid out in front of us like a very enticing buffet. We bought homes and ships, choosing to express ourselves on the ground while our forays into space were designed to serve specific goals that we had in mind.

But we can see how people who expected to be flying off into the unknown could have felt let down by a lack of organic discovery in the early hours of the game, and in how its moment-to-moment gameplay seemed geared towards keeping their metaphorical boots firmly on the ground. To those players, the pull of gravity on the planets they were exploring might have felt too strong for them to shake off, and rightly so. It was a matter of mismatched expectations that was a major source of the backlash it received.

And with the game finally dropping on the PS5, we expect that the same old arguments are going to be hashed out between all of the newcomers diving into the adventure for the first time. It’s a situation that’s oddly similar to Crimson Desert, another title that doubles down on its identity and dared to take an approach that earned it some backlash even as others have been unable to put it down.

The divisive discourse around Starfield isn’t going to fade because it’s baked into the game’s very foundations, and not from temporary chatter. It may not be the universally loved RPG that many of you might be wanting it to be, but that very divisiveness points to a game that’s special in its own right thanks to how committed it is to a specific vision. The way in which the very facets of its experience that appeal to its fans can be reasons for its others to train their guns on it has made it a fascinating source of conversations around games that make demands of their players, instead of the other way round.

But for those of you who meet it on its terms and tune it to its wavelength, you’re in for a romp through space that’s going to stay with you long after you move on to other titles. And for that, we’re glad that Starfield exists.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

While there was a sense that the development team was truly attempting something different and grandiose, attempting to recreate the vastness of space, emptiness and all, the biggest problem is how it effectively fractured Bethesda’s built-in audience. Those who “got it” could vibe with the exploration, the mood, and the sheer scale of it all. Others wanted something more akin to Skyrim or, at the very least, Fallout, which it became very clear this was not.

Updates came and went. Shattered Space gave even the most dedicated fans second-hand embarrassment (and that’s despite having some really good dungeons). Then there was the great emptiness of 2025, where Bethesda promised big things, and ultimately kept its head down to work on the future. Well, the future is now, and the now is Free Lanes. So is Starfield “fixed” so to speak?

Not exactly, and really, you should have seen that response coming when Todd Howard himself said not to call it Starfield 2.0. Todd Howard not talking a game up through the stratosphere? A cold day for sure.

But he’s not wrong. Free Lanes is a massive pass at all the different systems and mechanics within Starfield, expanding on them in ways that befit the originally hyped up space-faring fantasy. It’s not so much about giving players something to do as offering more experiences in this vast universe. Because while space can be boring and empty, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Bethesda’s take has to be the same.

That’s best reflected in Cruise Mode, which more facilitates the self-titled Free Lanes themselves. Before, players would endure a loading screen to travel from planet to planet, even those within the same system. Then another loading screen to land on said planet, and another to leave. And while everyone focused on the loading screens – for good reason, because so many in quick succession really hurt the pacing – it was really the lack of stuff to do in space that really grinded many players’ gears. It’s not about getting lucky and finding something, be it an NPC or a space battle – it was more than life in space just felt non-existent.

Cruise Mode addresses that immediately by allowing you to travel, manually, between planets in a star system. Right away, your ship isn’t just some box that gets you from point A to point B – it’s now a second home. Get up, stretch your virtual legs, talk to some crew members, and maybe go and improve your ship with the new X-Tech. Or reroll perks on your Legendary weapons while working towards the new Rank 4s.

That space itself has new points of interest that can feed into that gameplay loop, which is all the more incredible. Maybe you’ll find a quaint bit of wreckage one second and engage in a dog fight against ships in another. Sometimes those dogfights will pull you out of Cruise Mode, forcing a scramble. Then there are the new Incursions added via the Terran Armada DLC, which provide another noteworthy activity to grind out (and earn some new weapons).

Of course, Bethesda didn’t stop there. It addressed one of the biggest complaints with Starfield by adding more PoI variety on its planets. Granted, this is one of those features where I would scoff and assume that it added, say, a dozen or so. However, based on feedback from the community, the variety has shot up. One player on Reddit, who would usually encounter the same point of interest pre-update, played for three hours straight, going through 30 unique types without ever encountering the same one twice. And that’s even after attempting to force them to appear. It doesn’t necessarily mean all of them are brand new – just that on top of the additions, you’re less likely to find the same PoI as quickly.

Because these locations – and dungeons – can provide X-Tech, you’re more incentivized than ever to explore random planets. There’s a constantly rewarding gameplay loop that also feeds into the main purpose of Starfield – to explore, both in space and on planets. The best part is that you’re not just juicing those Legendaries for no reason, as new enemy modifiers are in place for those who want more spice to their encounters. Sure, you could always increase enemy health and damage, but this kind of ARPG-level of buffs to otherwise familiar threats is a better way to make combat feel fresh.

Then you have the new ship modules, updates to outposts that allow for quickly plopping down a habitat module, fully furnished, and a shared storage for all your bases, a database so you can actually track down different resources and keep tabs on your outposts – the list goes on. If you’ve amassed tons of Credits, great news – you can now buy an asteroid base. That’s not even getting into all the non-DLC quests or Anchor Point Station, where you can find them (and various new characters).

So it’s less that Free Lanes – and by extension, Terran Armada – have “fixed” Starfield so much as leaned much further into Bethesda’s vision for the game. It already had this massive universe that players could explore – there was just very little reason to do so after a point, besides taking in the atmosphere. With these changes, it’s certainly catering to those who already poured dozens of hours into the game, giving them new stuff to play with while also fixing glaring issues like the loot from Expert and Master level locks, or bugs with various quests.

I think it goes even further, though, addressing a problem that even new players noticed at a mid-way point – namely, a drive. Because for all the hundreds of planets that you could explore, spaceships to build, abandoned locations to clear out, and quests to complete, being driven to really delve deeper into this sandbox, appreciating its nuances and joys, became difficult.

Free Lanes isn’t so much a giant leap for Starfield, so much as dozens upon dozens of significant little steps. And quite frankly, that’s what this game needed. More complexity that ties into what’s already there. More depth. More reasons to get out and see what the universe has to offer. Something to sink your teeth into beyond all the surface-level trifles and grinds.

That’s probably why Bethesda didn’t agree with the 2.0 label (even if it’s not shy to call this the best version of the game yet). As lead creative producer Tim Lamb notes, “There’s a narrative baked into what that label would mean.” Instead, the team examined “several systems where we had interest or had heard things from the community, and we tried to level up a number of them.” As such, a “number of systems have been made incrementally better,” there’s a “ton of content,” and there are “things that the team is excited about.”

Will those “things” make Starfield as vaunted as Skyrim or even Oblivion? No one can say at this point, but if No Man’s Sky, Cyberpunk 2077, The Division 2, and many more have taught us anything, it’s that fantastic experiences are often built brick by bloody brick. Here’s hoping for several more of the nice kind for Bethesda.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

We’ve spent a fair bit of time with the PS5 Pro version and came away quite impressed at every turn. But why is that? How has the title managed to have us visually immersed in a game we first played over two years ago? Has the PS5 port managed to keep the magic of the original version alive? We’ve got the answers to all of these questions and more as we dive into how Bethesda’s action RPG has managed to make its presence felt on a brand-new platform.

Let’s dive right in.

PS5 Pro’s Various Graphical Options

The PS5 Pro offers several options across different frame rates and graphical modes. For clarity, we tested Performance mode with an unlocked frame rate, Visuals mode at 30 FPS and 40 FPS, and Enhanced mode at 30 FPS and 40 FPS.

The Visual Mode prioritizes graphics by maintaining the highest resolution possible while preserving a high level of detail in special effects, lighting, and crowds. It was what we tried out first, and the results are solid. It hits its target framerate without a hitch while several details are quite sharp no matter what the game throws at the console.

Outdoor environments are quite well-detailed, with minimal stutter or pop-in while the textures remain rock solid. The lighting and image quality are impressive here, with the former working very well to illuminate scenes where it’s meant to, while the inky blacks of outer space were a sight to behold on a 4K TV. The glow from our ship’s instrument cluster was nigh on perfect, and things looked very good overall.

Take things indoors and the same level of visual quality continues to hold, making scenes look very authentic and immersive across the board. We were particularly impressed with the character models on offer, and the facial animations sync well with the voice work to make Starfield very immersive on the Visual Mode.

But for those of you looking for 60 fps and beyond, the Pro Performance mode makes everything smooth with some minor hiccups, even in the most intense battles either on land or in space. It does that by lowering the internal resolution but PSSR upscaling helps image reconstruction to deliver great on screen quality. As a result, the visuals don’t take too much of a hit, with everything we’ve said on the Visual Mode holding mostly true on this option. Fortunately, the few compromises (which we will talk about shortly) it makes aren’t going to make a huge difference to your moment-to-moment gameplay.

You’re going to see slightly lower-resolution textures but only if you’re really looking for them, pop-ins, while the detailing on certain surfaces does take a little bit of a hit. The Pro Performance Mode is going to keep those of you who aren’t worried about those trade-offs very happy indeed.

In both modes, the details on your character’s uniforms, weapons, materials, and ships are all solid, making Starfield truly one of the PS5 Pro’s stronger showings. It’s quite easy to get distracted from missions and just wander off to appreciate the on screen beauty, something we found happening to us all too often as we admired just how well volumetrics and atmospherics effects behaved in a variety of scenes irrespective of the mode we were playing it on.

It’s also impressive that the game maintained consistent performance across a variety of biomes and weather conditions, suitably switching up the lighting in scenes that required it, and adjusting quite well on the fly to ensure that both the image and performance we were getting were not only up to standard, with minor hiccups here and there.

And lastly, then there’s the Enhanced mode, which uses the PS5 Pro’s hardware to maximize visual detail and maintain the highest resolution. It’s the one we eventually stayed on, and we found it showed off the game’s great visual touches along with enhanced graphical paramaters.

Overall, each of the game’s graphical options and performance targets offer superb image quality and largely stable framerates, and you’re not going to be left wanting with any of them based on your individual preferences. We’d personally pick Enhanced, but we can also see plenty of players preferring Performance Mode.

But there’s another important question we must answer.

How Does It Measure Up Against The PC Version?

Let’s kick off the answer to that question with our setup. We tested the game on a Ryzen 9 5950X, 96 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and an NVMe SSD. That configuration, well above the game’s recommended specs, let us run it all on the highest possible settings, and while the PC version of the game might outperform the PS5 Pro, the gap between the two is surprisingly small, especially in terms of image quality and several graphical parameters.

As expected, details and textures look ever so sharper on the PC, and the lighting effects do seem more pronounced thanks to the hardware bump, but both versions produce similarly clean images with the PS5 Pro’s PSSR working well to upscale images across modes.

Indoors, as well as during cutscenes and conversations, the differences between the two platforms are minimal. The same holds true in space, and also extends to terrain quality, shadow intensity, and crowd density. Loading times were similarly fast across the board, with both machines getting us into the game quickly and without any noticeable difference. Furthermore, character models and gear detail look largely similar on both the PS5 Pro and PC versions.

As noted earlier, Starfield does benefit from high-spec PCs, especially in terms of performance. But from a purely visual standpoint, the PS5 Pro version comes very close to matching the PC version running at its highest settings.

Is Starfield Worth It On The PS5 Pro?

If PS5 Pro is your only gaming platform, the answer is a definite yes. You’re going to enjoy it with a full suite of updates that have ironed out many of its early rough edges, and it’s a graphical powerhouse with great options depending on how you’re looking to experience the game.

Starfield makes great use of the PS5 Pro’s hardware and its DualSense features, to make the game look and feel incredible. Among consoles, we’d say that the PS5 Pro is the definitive way to experience the game. Considering that it’s such a small gap between the Pro and our PC, we’d say that it’s an excellent port and a potential gold standard for others to follow later down the line. With each of its modes performing as well as they do, the trade-offs between resolution and frame rate are managed well. Just give each one a shot and see what works best for you, just like how we found Enhanced to be our sweet spot.

If you’re thinking about diving in but have been holding off to see what the PS5 Pro version of Starfield has to offer, you largely have nothing to worry about. It looks great and performs well, making it a great addition to any library of games. Now, excuse us while we dive back into our playthrough, and continue an adventure that still impresses us.

Best Starting Traits

As much as it’s about exploring the cosmos, Starfield focuses as much on different builds and backgrounds. You can choose specific traits that will shape your character in unique ways and start skills to gain an early edge, but the “best” options can often be subjective. That said, you can’t go wrong with traits like Alien DNA, which increases your max health and oxygen (don’t worry too much about the reduced healing from items), and Isolation, which massively buffs weapon damage and resistance if you’re solo.

Recommended Early Planets

The new pre-built outpost module in Free Lanes makes it easier than ever to create a home away from home, but you’ll still need Aluminum, Iron and Argon to craft it (at least according to the deep dive). Head to Andraphon for the first two and Kreet for the third. More importantly, these locations – alongside Linnaeus IV-b – are home to multiple elements. Once you’ve got some bases going, start working on those extractors ASAP to reap the rewards.

That Asteroid Won’t Pay for Itself

If you’re the type to see a base on an asteroid and decide that you immediately want it, then congrats. On top of not knowing when it becomes available (at least for now), it’s likely the cost will be exorbitant. One method to quickly farm Credits is to clear out PoIs with enemies, stealing their weapons, and then resting at your ship to reset the instance. When your cargo is full, sell them all off at a vendor. Alternatively, you can survey planets, especially those in high-level systems, or take on missions to hunt down ships. Whichever route you take, the Credits will follow.

Mine Much Faster

If you’re not the type to buy all your minerals wholesale (or can’t afford them), then expect to occasionally use the mining laser. But if it feels a little too slow, try zooming in and waiting for the white part of the reticle to align with the red. It effectively concentrates the laser’s power, making it much faster to mine materials.

Side Hustle

While it’s encouraged to play through the first few main missions, some side quests should be tackled as soon as possible. These include Mantis, which you’ll get after defeating Spacers anywhere. We won’t spoil the rewards, but they’re very much worth it. Groundpounder becomes available as soon as you enter the Altair system, which requires level 15, and it’s one of the more enjoyable combat-heavy scenarios (which also awards a nice weapon). There’s also Juno’s Gambit, which can kick off as early as Tau Ceti and depending on your choices, it can award a nice amount of credits. But more importantly, all of these side quests are some of the most standout in Starfield, and should be prioritized whenever they become available.

Anti-Robot Armaments

Free Lanes adds the ability to reroll Legendary effects with the new X-Tech (earned by completing anomalies, points of interest and dungeons). It also includes new Tier 4 effects, including Saboteur, which has a chance to instantly kill (and explode) robots on damaging them. Pretty good for those picking up Terran Armada, but if you don’t have the resources for it just yet, try picking up the Disassembler perk first. It increases damage dealt to robots by 20 percent, making it a solid choice in the early going.

Create a Posse

Of course, if the Terran Armada is content with fighting dirty, then why not bring some more backup? Starfield usually lets a single companion accompany you throughout every mission, but some will bestow temporary followers. If you don’t complete these, then that follower remains with you throughout. Some examples include Emma Wilcox from the mission “Deputized,” which is part of the Ranger faction questlines. However, you can discover more and have up to three temporary followers (at the cost of progressing certain stories and the occasional bug or three).

Disable Dialogue Camera

If you’ve played a Bethesda game before, then you’ll be familiar, perhaps uncomfortably so, with the dialogue camera. Zooms in close, stays locked on an NPC’s face in first-person, no deviation whatsoever – it’s exhausting. So head into the Accessibility options and turn it off, if you’re so inclined, thus creating a more traditional camera angle that showcases the world around you.

Run Rabbit Junk

When sprinting, you’ll notice a little meter denoting your O2/CO2 levels. When O2 depletes, CO2 starts building up, and your health begins to drop. You could keep sprinting in this state, but instead, try jumping in between sprints, since this will cease O2 consumption. A boost pack further aids in this and will also help you travel further.

Improve Your Piloting Skill

Among the many skills that you should look to improve is Piloting. The former unlocks thrusters, improves maneuverability and eventually lets you pilot Class B and C ships. Leveling it up requires destroying ships, but there’s a Piloting Simulator in the MAST Building on New Atlantis, where ship kills count towards this, so go ahead and grind that for some time.

They may not seem all that important early on, but with Cruise Mode offering threats like Interdictions and anomalies, not to mention Starborn ships having a chance to drop Quantum Essence, you’ll want some ship skills fairly quickly.

Quickly Level Up Starship Design

In the same vein, upgrade Starship Design immediately. It will allow for installing better ship modules. Best of all, it can be leveled very quickly (provided you have a decent amount of Credits). First, head to a place where you can purchase several different components, like the Red Mile on Porrima 3 in the Porrima system. Install as many unique modules as possible, which will count towards the skill, then remove them and repeat this process until it’s fully leveled. Again, this is something that will aid you in the mid-to-late game, so it’s better to have it maxed out early.

How to Get the Rover

As nice as the Moon Jumper looks to control, you can get another ground vehicle, the Rover, early on for quicker planetary exploration. All you need to do is visit a Ship Services Technician – you’ll find one in New Atlantis, the earliest major city – and pay 25,000 Credits. Voila – a faster way to traverse land masses, at least until you find the Moon Jumper for some serious hops.

Fast Traveling With the Scanner

It’s a good thing the scanner is tied to the DualSense’s touchpad, because it’s going to get a workout by identifying all the flora, fauna and resources that make up planets. However, you can also use it to quickly fast-travel to any points of interest that were previously discovered (or even your ship). Simply hover over it with the scanner active, and off you go.

Where to Find Muria

Model G may be the one new companion that players will want to recruit pronto, but there’s also Muria. She’s not technically a “new” character, but following years of requests from players on other platforms to make her recruitable, Free Lanes is finally making that happen. But when and where do you find her? Fortunately, it doesn’t take long. She’s located on New Atlantis in Jemison, which you’ll visit fairly early on in the story, specifically the lobby of the GalBank. You can beeline to her location and see what all the fuss is about.

Gameplay Options

Last but not least, tweak the experience to your liking with gameplay options, which include modifiers for enemy damage, player damage, carry capacity – you can even increase the weight of ammo. While you can dial things down for an easier time, certain settings can confer XP bonuses if you opt for something challenging. It’s win-win, and could be an excellent way to level up quickly.