Summary
One of the greatest criticisms thatStarfieldfaces in Early Access concerns the game’s space exploration, but one method may help players looking to make interstellar travel more immersive. WhileStarfield’s major Factionsare every bit as interesting and expansive as its marketing implied, fans have been less keen on the wayStarfieldfunctions as a space simulator. Mired with constant loading screens, this lack of seamlessness in the experience of driving their starship from planet-to-planet has soured someStarfieldplayers on what is otherwise a deeply engaging Bethesda sandbox.
Though many players have praisedStarfield’s ship customization, citing it as the best feature of the game, actually getting to fly that ship in space is uncharacteristically restrictive from what the community has come to expect from a Bethesda title. The confusing world map andunsettling background NPCs inStarfieldare all issues that will likely be fixed by modding in the coming months, but its approach to space exploration is a compromise thatStarfieldplayers will ultimately have to accept.
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There are ways to eliminate the most annoying aspect of interstellar travel, as contrary to common belief,Starfielddoesn’t require the player to go through the UI in order to travel from one planet into the other. As demonstrated by Huggan00 onStarfield’s official subreddit, making use of the ship’s scanner and pointing at the player’s potential destination offers up an option to make the grav jump without needing to open the menu.
Moreover, landing on a planet can be done entirely outside the menu as well. ByusingStarfield’s scanner toolinside the ship, players can point at any of the planet’s key areas, whether it’s a barren world or New Atlantis, and complete the landing near-seamlessly. Though it may not offer the kind of experience seen inNo Man’s SkyorStar Citizen, this method helps in funneling the players towards the content that Bethesda excels at: pillaging dungeons filled with loot, joining memorable factions, and getting on random adventures.
Being able tobuild and customize ships inStarfield, smuggle contraband items, and taking on powerful pirate fleets shows that space travel can still be enjoyable in the game. Despite its limitations,Starfieldplayers can still live out their fantasy of being an interstellar explorer – so long as they accept that the majority of that exploration will be on foot, whether in story-heavy zones or one ofStarfield’s many procedurally generated worlds.
Starfieldis now available on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
