Starfield has a New Game+ mode with 'unique and exciting twist,' in case the sheer size of the game isn't enough to keep you playing for hundreds of hours anyway

It’s no secret that Starfield requires a powerful gaming PC. Even if you have the latest generation hardware and the best graphics settings, the game will still crush your framerate. PC optimizations are on the way at last though for Nvidia users, because the latest game drivers improve Starfield performance by a small margin on systems that support Resizable BAR.

For reasons I won't get into here because it may constitute a little bit of a spoiler, the planet Earth in Starfield is a bit of a wasteland. But what if it was The Wasteland—that is, the post-nuclear hellscape of Bethesda's other big sci-fi-ish game series, Fallout? In an interview with The Washington Post, creative director Todd Howard said developers actually gave thought to the idea.

Less than a day after the game's official launch, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer proudly announced that Starfield has exceeded one million concurrent users across all platforms (PC, Xbox Series S|X, and cloud).

It's been less than a week since the game launched in early access, but modders have already lifted off.

Religion is one of the themes in Starfield, and to help make the theme and the existing religions in the game feel more believable, Bethesda rehired one of its former writers who had left to become a Jesuit priest.

September promises to be a blockbuster month for gaming, with a stellar lineup of heavy hitters set to release this month. Kicking off the show is Starfield, Bethesda's epic sci-fi space fantasy RPG, which has been in development for eight years, apparently. The studio's first original IP in 25 years, Starfield, as director Todd Howard puts it, is essentially Skyrim in space. Hundreds of hours of spacefaring adventure await, with a side helping of nostalgic Bethesda style. The game is out now on PC and Xbox Series S/X. It's also a big month for RPGs, as CD Projekt Red's much-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 expansion hits the shelves on September 26. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty promises a ton of upgrades from the base game, including an overhauled skill tree, a new wanted system, and gameplay tweaks. There's a brand new story, too, with Idris Elba joining the cast, and Keanu Reeves returning.

Starfield has finally launched, available on Steam and Xbox Series X|S. It is also on Game Pass.

Starfield's barren planets are intentionally boring, reveals Bethesda.

Space is big and, for the most part, kind of dull. The heady thrill of setting foot on planets no human has ever seen aside, most of the celestial bodies in our universe are just big, complicated rocks when you get right down to it. For better or worse, that's a part of reality that Starfield deliberately tries to capture, according to a recent NYT interview (via VG247) with Ashley Cheng, Bethesda's managing director, and Todd Howard, who is Todd Howard.

Starfield will be released worldwide on September 6th, but it’s had hundreds of thousands of players courtesy of early access. Many are already having fun traversing the universe and its +1000 planets. However, not all have heaps of content, which matches director Todd Howard’s statement that only 10 percent have life on them.

Starfield is going to be packed to the brim with content. There are over 1,000 procedurally generated planets to explore in your customizable ship, various NPCs to interact with, and of course, a plethora of mysteries to uncover. If one gigantic space adventure isn’t enough, you may be wondering if Starfield has New Game Plus.

As Starfield's long-awaited launch approaches, Bethesda's Todd Howard has reportedly sent a memo to staffers that's become public. It's touching for the most part, though Howard doesn't miss the opportunity to let everyone know that he's aware people will be using the infamous New Zealand trick to play the game.