Like many gamers, I’m dissatisfied with the new role-playing game from Bethesda. But I’m pleasantly surprised by the new roadmap
Starfield isn’t doing too well: the ratings on Steam have slipped to a Balanced
and the criticism from fans shows no signs of abating. The last update, which fixed just three bugs, was met with ridicule, as were the statements of a frustrated developer.
Even for players like me who remain loyal to Starfield, the weaknesses and problems of the role-playing game are obvious. But fortunately, there is now a light at the end of the tunnel that we fans have been in since release. With a new roadmap, Bethesda is rekindling my hope that Starfield 2024 will be a much better game.
More changes than hoped for
Let’s be honest, Bethesda Game Studios are not exactly known for delivering a particularly large number of extensive patches for their games after release. Fallout 4, for example, was the only major feature to receive its survival mode as a free update. That’s why I didn’t have high hopes for Starfield’s release in terms of post-release additions.
But now Bethesda has unveiled its plans for 2024 and I have to be honest, I’m impressed. Because the many promised features go far beyond what I expected And they may even herald a positive turnaround for the role-playing game, so that at some point we can say without reservation: Yes, Starfield is a good space game!
But what promises are we talking about anyway? I’d like to briefly summarize what Bethesda has announced for 2024 and why it’s so important:
- Regular updates: In the coming year, new updates that include convenience improvements, new features or content will be released approximately every six weeks starting in February. Compared to the previously irregular updates with only a few changes, this is real progress, because the planned innovations sound really good to my ears.
- New difficulty settings: Hidden behind a few new sliders are some of the most important changes. Not only do they allow us to customize your playstyle in detail, as was already possible in No Man’s Sky, but they also eliminate several points of criticism:
- Trader budget: Anyone who has ever wanted to sell a shipload of loot has found that all traders run out of credits very quickly. An update should allow us to adjust their assets, so we may no longer have to visit every store in New Atlantis and Neon.
- Carrying capacity: If, like me, you like to collect decorations for the outpost, resources and new equipment along the way, you’ll quickly become overloaded in Starfield. In future, we’ll probably be able to adjust our carrying capacity to suit our tastes and rarely run out of breath.
- Ship damage: On higher difficulty levels, the battles
on foot
are a pleasant challenge, but the spaceship battles are absolute hell as soon as you are outnumbered. If I could set my ship not to be reduced to space junk within seconds, it would be a huge relief. - Survival mode: Finally, there will also be new survival mechanics. Needs such as hunger and thirst can finally give real meaning to the rather unimportant food in Starfield. Traveling through the galaxy may also become an interesting challenge with fuel costs instead of a series of loading screens.
- New ways to travel: This promise has been around for a while now. What exactly is meant remains unclear. Personally, I’m hoping for either a way to travel faster with the jetpack or an improvement to the mostly rather uneventful space travel.
- Mod support: With the release of the Creation Kit in spring 2024, we can most likely expect a wave of new mods that can do much more than the previous fan content. While I hope that the most important impulses for Starfield will come from Bethesda, I’m still incredibly excited to see what the modding community will create.
These would be the most important announcements from Bethesda for 2024. If they are implemented in the best possible way, I think Starfield could look very different and hopefully much better by the end of next year.
A new era for Bethesda?
In my view, the roadmap for 2024 still represents a more far-reaching hope: namely that things have changed at Bethesda after all. That they are really prepared to respond to the wishes of fans and significantly expand and improve the game with updates over a long period of time. Hopefully they’ve also learned a lesson from Fallout 76, which has different rules as an MMO anyway, but which has been continuously expanded and improved for years
Because Starfield needs it much more than Fallout 4 or Skyrim did before. The problems start with useless maps and confusing interfaces and extend from boring space travel to disappointing planetary exploration. Not all of this can be fixed with updates, but a lot can be improved.
I also have high hopes for the many expansions that Starfield will receive. With over 1,000 planets, perhaps the developers will go into more depth rather than breadth, make the world more lively and add more elaborate features such as ground vehicles to the game.
What do you think, can Starfield win back players with a consistent update policy? In your opinion, is Bethesda attacking the right areas in 2024 or should the developers go in a completely different direction? And will you give the role-playing game another chance? Let me know in the comments!
