The future of Starfield: what’s the big update changing?

Domagoj Belancic

17/3/2026

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Starfield is taking its next big step and coming to the PS5. At the same time, Bethesda is releasing a major update for its sci-fi epic. But despite major changes, most things (unfortunately) will remain the same.

It’s been rumoured for a while, now it’s official: the former Xbox exclusive, sci-fi role-playing game Starfield, is coming to the PS5. Bethesda is taking this opportunity to give its space adventure a comprehensive update and announce two story expansions.

I was able to get an impression of the new content with Lead Creative Producer Tim Lamb at a hands-off preview. The update brings exciting changes, but doesn’t fundamentally overhaul the gameplay. As Lamb emphasises: «We aren’t trying to reinvent Starfield, but simply offer more depth, more fun and more freedom.»

In other words,Starfield is still Starfield – just a little more comfortable and flexible. Read on to discover the most relevant parts of what Lamb calls the best version of the game to date.

Overview: all the content that’s been announced

The most extensive Starfield update ever is called Free Lanes. While this free update doesn’t bring any major story content, it fundamentally overhauls some gameplay systems (see below). It’s scheduled for release on 7 April.

The paid story DLC Terran Armada will also become available on 7 April for around ten francs or euros. The expansion builds on the gameplay changes from Free Lanes and includes new missions, weapons and spaceships. In contrast to the first expansion Shattered Space, the story takes place across the entire galaxy, not just a single planet.

In 2024, Bethesda introduced the Tracker’s Alliance, allowing you to play as a bounty hunter. New missions have been added to that slice of content, available to play now. The smaller expansion contains around five quests, experimental weapons and «content that feels very different from what we’ve seen in Starfield so far.»

The PS5 version of Starfield will also be released on 7 April. It’s set to cost «only» 50 francs or euros, and the price for the PC and Xbox versions will also drop. The Premium Edition will cost 70 francs or euros, and includes the two paid story DLCs Shattered Space and Terran Armada. PS5 fans can look forward to new controller features (adaptive trigger, touchpad and lightbar). If you have a PS5 Pro, you can enjoy a smoother gaming experience with Pro Performance Mode or more graphical finesse than other console gamers with Pro Visual Mode.

Traverse space without loading screens (mostly)

One of the biggest criticisms hurled at early Starfield versions is the fragmented gaming experience. Complicated menus and frequent loading screens repeatedly pulled you out of the game world.

Bethesda has taken this criticism to heart. With the Free Lanes update, the studio is introducing the biggest gameplay change in the history of Starfield: Cruise Mode.

Before now, you could only travel between planets via fast travel – no exploring the space in between. This will soon be possible with Cruise Mode.

Behind the scenes, the game will use two separate game worlds for Cruise Mode and normal ship flight. As soon as you activate Cruise Mode, you’ll find yourself in a more compact version of the galaxy – without visible details such as other spaceships, asteroid fields or other points of interest (POI). A minimap, so to speak. You fly past planets at lightning speed and reach previously infinitely distant celestial bodies without ramming into a loading screen.

While exploring space, you always have full control over your spaceship. However, the game offers «magnetic navigational aid», as Lamb describes it. Some POIs and planets gently draw you towards them – this way you won’t get lost in the vastness of space. Whether you’ll follow this pull is up to you.

If you want to give up control, you can launch the autopilot in Cruise Mode and it’ll take you to your desired destination. While jetting through space, you can complete tasks on your spaceship. Cook dinner, upgrade weapons or talk to your crew – just what you’d expect from a spaceship captain.

But you can’t relax completely, Lamb says: «Some events take you out of cruise mode. You’ll hear an alarm if your ship is attacked.» The game also informs you about other events and POIs – you can manually cancel the autopilot and Cruise Mode at any time if any of it interests you.

Cruise Mode ends with a short loading sequence. The screen blurs and you land back in the familiar world of Starfield, where you’ll control your spaceship as usual, fight space pirates or fly to a planet.

Some quests in the story expansion Terran Armada are based on this new gameplay system. Lamb explains: «The Terrans have developed technology that can disable your Grav Drive module. Due to this, you can’t approach a Terran fleet via fast travel. Instead, you’ll have to search for it manually in space using Cruise Mode.»

More efficient menus – but loading screens are here to stay

Thanks to Cruise Mode, the world of Starfield feels less fragmented than before. You spend less time in menus and loading screens and more time in the game world. However, if you’re hoping Cruise Mode will allow you to land seamlessly on a planet, Lamb will have to disappoint you: «Landing on a planet works in exactly the same way as before. There’s still a gap to load the assets before you arrive.»

There are no technical changes on planets either. Individual areas such as cities and interiors are still separated by loading screens. Lamb explains why: «This is mainly due to technical requirements such as CPU performance and asset streaming – precisely because we want to achieve a high level of visual detail in interior spaces and settlements. Integrating interiors completely into the outside world so that everything flows without a loading screen would be too radical a change to the game.»

Revised upgrade system

Cruise Mode presents Lamb with a new problem: «How can we motivate players to actually use the added freedom in space?» Bethesda’s answer: X-Tec, a new collectible resource. You can find this material out in space and as a reward for defeating bosses on planets.

Using X-Tec, you can equip your weapons with up to four legendary components. The quality of your weapons can also be increased by two additional levels. Armour items such as helmets and spacesuits will also receive new legendary slots. You can also use X-Tec to strengthen individual parts of your spaceship.

With these new upgrade options, you can really turn Starfield’s gameplay on its head. Lamb shows off his high-powered assault rifle in the demo. Its magazine has twice the capacity of the basic model. It also sports a 25-per-cent chance that the capacity of the magazine will triple with each reload. A powerful weapon of war, which Lamb lets loose for what feels like forever, mowing down everything in front of him.

But beware: if you equip your weapons with legendary components, particularly strong bosses will also buff themselves with nasty upgrades. Balance, or something.

Saving time in the endgame

The Free Lanes update makes the endgame less tedious too. To improve your Starborn skills, you no longer have to repeatedly travel through the Unity, visit temples and collect artefacts. Instead, you can level them up directly with Quantum Essence (a resource you get from defeated Starborn). This saves time and gives you more freedom in character development.

Previously, you had to leave your equipment behind in the current dimension when passing through the Unity. Bethesda is changing this too. Lamb explains: «With the introduction of X-Tec, you can craft the ultimate sniper rifle or the perfect helmet. We don’t want to force our players to part with these hard-earned items.»

With a new container, the Quantum Entanglement Device, you can bring selected items with you into the next dimension. You pay for slots in this container using Quantum Essence, making space for weapons, armour, ammunition and more.

More variety on barren planets

According to Lamb, many players complained about the procedurally generated planets of Starfield at launch. Its sparse game worlds are boring, with uninspired content that, to make matters worse, often feels repetitive. Lamb explains: «Our first story expansion Shattered Space was a direct result of this player feedback. People wanted more classic Bethesda gameplay, so we gave it to them with a hand-crafted planet.»

For the Free Lanes update, Lamb promises fundamental changes to the procedural generation system: «We’ve revised how the planet content manager places POIs and dungeons, also adding new POIs so that the system can draw from a larger pool and provide more variety.»

To make the exploration of procedurally generated planets even more exciting, Bethesda’s introducing a new vehicle. The Moon Jumper has powerful rocket propulsion, allowing you to basically fly.

New crew members and cute (?) pets

The social aspects of the game have also been expanded. Bethesda is adding new crew members to its game. It’s unclear whether they’ll appear in the Free Lanes update or in one of the paid story expansions.

You can now even tame pets in Starfield. In his demo, Lamb presents a Milliwhale that lives on his outpost. «We want to bring more joy, comfort and a bit of cuteness into the game,» Lamb says as he changes the colour of his pet and plays with it.

Whether this strange prehistoric crab is truly cute remains to be seen. When asked whether there’ll also be normal pets such as dogs and cats in the future, Lamb answers cryptically: «Hmm. A better question would be: did dogs and cats survive the fall of Earth? I’m not sure.»

There are also new features in outposts apart from pets. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time building, Bethesda offers prefabricated kits with decorated interiors. Simply plop one down and your outpost will be ready.

If you enjoy spending time as an intergalactic architect, new shared containers are also available. They can share the inventory of several outposts across the planets you’ve set up shop on. No more tediously transporting resources to and fro.

If you’re missing extra construction materials, you can track them in a new menu and travel directly to a planet where the corresponding resources can be found. According to Lamb then, navigation across the thousands of planets has become more convenient generally. Fewer clicks, less time spent in menus.

Another addition: Bethesda’s copying itself and bringing Bobbleheads from Fallout into the Starfield universe. Well, kind of. They’re collectible action figures that give you unique buffs to certain attributes as soon as you find them. You can also place these figurines in your outposts as decoration.

Initial assessment: solid yet sobering innovations

Following this first impression, I left the preview rather disillusioned. Don’t get me wrong, these new features are useful: the universe can be explored more freely, procedurally generated planets feel more varied, the upgrade systems are more flexible and many elements are simpler and more intuitive. For new players – especially ones travelling through space for the first time on PS5 – this is great news. Compared to the original from 2023, you get a more rounded, well thought-out and less draining game.

Anyone who finished Starfield won’t have enough reasons to return. Starfield sceptics aren’t likely to be converted with this update either. The new features are merely a Band-Aid for underlying problems. Problems that Starfield brought upon itself with its absurdly massive game world and the resulting fragmented gaming experience.

I’m going to give the update a chance anyway – and I’m happy to be proven wrong. It may well be that these changes feel more substantial in practice than in the hands-off demo.

Tim Lamb seems optimistic when presenting the new features, addressing fans: «We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has remained loyal to us, shared ideas and encouraged the team to continue developing and refining Starfield.»

At the end of his presentation, Lamb looks to the future. The Free Lanes update as well as the two story expansions Terran Armada and Tracker’s Alliance are by no means the end of the story: «When we develop a game, we always plan to support it for several years after its release. I can’t give any specific details yet. But there are still many places the team would like to explore and aspects of the lore that continue to excite us.»

It’ll be interesting to see where else Starfield takes us. However, one thing seems certain: don’t expect any fundamental changes to the game concept any more. Starfield will remain Starfield – with all its strengths and weaknesses.

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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