Major New Starfield Update Will Improve Graphics, Fix Multiple Quests, and More

12.01.2024 - 18:37 / ign.com / Phil Spencer / New Starfield / Will

Starfield’s biggest update yet is on the way, with Bethesda promising to bring more than 100 tweaks in the coming weeks.

The RPG developer teased the allegedly gargantuan update on X/Twitter, explaining that Steam Beta players will be able to dive in come January 17. A full rollout for other players will then arrive two weeks later.

The thread announcing the “biggest Starfield update yet” only provides a few teases regarding what to expect. Fixes for some well-known quest bugs are on the way, for example, as the team promises to address issues with Eye of the Storm and Into the Unknown. Stability and graphics improvements are on the way, too, with Bethesda including a before-and-after post that shows enhanced textures, lighting, and shadows.

Additionally, this update brings stability improvements and numerous graphic improvements ranging from additional widescreen support to improved textures, lighting, and shadows. Before / After ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/aYf6V7yOKY

Today’s teases don’t reveal too much about what exactly is on the way, but Starfield explorers can expect full patch notes to arrive when the update makes its way to Steam Beta. We’ll have to wait until then to see just how much the improvements will impact the experience.

"Other fixes and improvements include sun disk geometry, planet ring shadows, bulldozed objects reappearing when returning to an Outpost, ship hatches marked inaccessible, and another fix for asteroids following ships," another post from Bethesda says.

After revealing Starfield in 2018, Bethesda finally took fans to its original sci-fi world late last year. To no one’s surprise, gamers quickly took to the developer’s latest sprawling adventure, with Microsoft announcing that the project had amassed more than 12 million players in early December.

However, its post-launch plans haven’t been without issue. Bethesda managed to find itself surrounded by controversy when social media noticed developers responding to Steam reviews in what seemed to be an attempt to sway negative reviews. In the meantime, the studio has continued pushing Starfield updates, with many hoping to bring features like city maps, traversal options, gameplay additions, and more. Xbox head Phil Spencer says the goal is to keep players engaged in the same way that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim did for more than a decade.

In our 7/10 Starfield review, we said, “Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.”

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and