Summary
Starfieldis arole-playing gamedeveloped by Bethesda that received mixed reviews on its initial launch in 2023. General criticisms such as poor performance and a profusion of loading screens were commonly voiced. Fast-forward to June 2024, and the first major update forStarfieldhas been made available. Although this update didn’t address certain issues, such as the aforementioned loading screen overload, it did add some great new features and content.
TheJune 2024 update forStarfieldis free for all players of thisopen-world game. However, it does include some optional paid content as well, which players should be aware of. These are the best new features appearing in Bethesda’s latest update to their most recent game.
6Ammo Crafting
Not As Useful As It Sounds
The June 2024 update forStarfieldadded something that players have been asking for since its release: the ability tocraft ammo. Two new resources have been added to the game to facilitate ammo crafting: diodes and primers.
Additionally, a new ammunition crafting skill has been added under the weapon category, and it can be leveled up at a Research Station. However, it must be said that locking away ammo crafting behind Level 3 of the skill in most cases means this new addition is not going to be of great use in the early-game. By the late game, the player usually hasstacks of ammoanyway, making this skill, for the most part, useless.
5Melee Weapon Balance And Tweaks
Making Melee Combat More Viable
Melee weaponsinStarfieldhave been lacking until now. Usually, they are completely overshadowed by ranged weapons. It takes a brave player to try a melee-only build. Until now, that is. As of June 2024, melee weapons have received an overhaul.
Stats for melee weapons have been re-balanced, and there are now multiple tiers of melee weapons, in the same way that there has been for ranged weapons. Furthermore, the player can now research and then craft weapon upgrades for melee weapons since the latest update. This may finally make melee weapons a solid alternative choice for players who don’t enjoy ranged combat, or just want to try something new.
4The Starjacker Quest
Cool New Content
The Starjacker Questis a new free content addition in the June 2024 update forStarfield. It is one of two large content additions in this update, with the other, the Vulture Quest, being a paid option. The Starjacker Quest acts as a starting point to the new Tracker Alliance gameplay.
To begin this quest, the player needs tohead to Cydonia, and locate the Mysterious Tracker NPC. This is easy to accomplish, as they are standing very close to the main entrance to the Cydonia base. However, the player needs to have progressed a short way into the main storyline for them to take this new quest. If the NPC doesn’t give the player The Starjacker Quest, they will need to progress a little further in the game and then try again. Without giving away spoilers, the player will embark on a journey to locate a starship chop shop, and then deal with the problem.
3The Vulture Quest
Optional Paid Content
The second of the new larger content drops that form part of theStarfieldJune 2024 update isThe Vulture Quest. This is another mission from the Trackers Alliance. However, this is paid content, and is not free to play. It can instead be purchased as a mod. Whether the player wants to hand over real-world cash for in-game content is up to them.
The player will need to have joined the Trackers Alliance to accept this quest, so this means heading to Cydonia and tracking down the Mysterious Tracker NPC covered in the previous list entry. Once again, without giving spoilers, the player is sent on a mission to track down a bad guy named, oddly enough, Vulture, who is the leader of a band of mercenaries called, oddly enough again, the Vulture Mercenaries. Overall, this is a nice little addition toStarfield, but whether it is worth the price for what is, in effect, a quest that can be completed in less than an hour, is open for debate.
2Trackers Alliance Missions
Elite Bounty Missions
The addition of elite-level bounty missions toStarfieldis something that players who like to play the role of agalactic bounty hunterwill find to be great new content. to gain access to the elite bounty terminal, the player will need to have completed The Starjacker Quest and join the Trackers Alliance.
Once they have completed The Starjacker Quest, the player will have access to a new elite bounty terminal located inside the Trackers Alliance HQ. This new organization is located in Akila, and their HQ can be found on the northeast side of The Rock. Look for the door with a small, white light in the top right corner, as shown in the screenshot above.
1Creation Kit
Tools For Modders
TheStarfieldCreation Kitwas made available at the same time as the June 2024 update. This is a set of official tools that modders can use to craft content to be made available within the Bethesda Creations store.
Bethesda has said that these are the exact same tools that they used to create all the content within the game. This means that the Creation Kit can be used to build complex quests, add unique items, create new NPCs, and a whole range of other features. This is a major step forward forStarfield, as it means that the modding community now has access to both the tools, and a vehicle for distributing their mods within the Bethesda infrastructure, rather than installing mods manually after downloading them from a third-party site.
