Starfield's Latest Update May Be A Good Sign For The Shattered Space DLC (2024)

Starfield's 1.11.33 update is now live, and it brings one of the most highly requested features to the game. This is the biggest update to the game since launch. That's drawn some criticism, as Starfield updates have been slow to come. However, announcements this week suggest that Bethesda hasn't forgotten about Starfield: the Shattered Space DLC finally has a release window, and for the first time since release, it seems like there's a concrete roadmap for Starfield moving forward.

Another sign that Starfield is heading in the right direction is its willingness to listen to player feedback. Never has that been more evident than in the most recent update. By incorporating what may well be the most requested Starfield feature of all time, the 1.11.33 patch demonstrates an awareness of criticism, and a willingness to address it.

Starfield Now Has Better City Maps

The 1.11.33 Patch Adds Surface Maps To Starfield

According to the official Bethesda website, the 1.11.33 update to Starfield greatly improves the game's city maps. It's now possible to see exactly where the player character is standing when they're on a planet's surface, alongside all the major landmarks in the area. The new maps take the form of aerial photos - it's as if the developers turned on God mode using Starfield's console commands, flew thousands of feet into the air, looked down, and simply took screenshots of what they saw below.

On the new surface maps, landmarks are represented by white pins, each of which has a black icon on it representing the type of location it is. For example, doctor's offices are marked with crosses, restaurants with spoons and forks, armor shops with images of spacesuits, and so on and so forth.

The new system's not perfect: it can still be hard, from time to time, to see how streets cut through certain cities. As a result, it can be hard to plot an optimal route. Still, it's much better than the old system. Just seeing the landmarks within a realistic recreation of the city makes it much easier to find the way to a particular location. And thankfully, there's nothing in the game that requires players to get somewhere within a limited time frame, so a little wandering can help discover new Starfield side quests and even enrich the experience.

Starfield's Old City Maps Were Impossible To Read

Why Patch 1.11.33 Is A Major Improvement

This feature was so widely requested because Starfield's original city maps were, at times, impossible to read. It used the same kind of mapping for all planets: huge, blank, blue dot matrices, showing only a player's position and the local landmarks. These maps worked just fine on uninhabited planets, where there are few obstacles in the player's way; if they need to reach a distant point, all they need to do is point themselves in the correct direction and start walking. The most they might have to do is jump over a crater, or circumnavigate a steep hill.

These surface maps were problematic, though, when applied to bigger cities. Without understanding how the road system worked, a player might point themselves in the direction of an objective and start walking, only to find a dead end blocked by a huge skyscraper. They'd attempt to get around it, get even more lost in the process, and before long, find themselves on the opposite side of the map with no better understanding of where their destination was located.

To make matters worse, many of Starfield's city maps are especially vertical; think the crisscrossing paths of The Well, or the stacked discs of New Atlantis proper. Players might accidentally navigate to a point below or above their objective, and the path up or down wasn't always intuitive. Again, that's not totally solved by the new maps. But they do give a better sense of the cities' verticality, and make it much easier to find a path.

The update contains a few other new features: more customizable difficulty settings, customizable ship interiors, and the ability to respec after starting Starfield's New Game Plus. As nice as these all are, the new and improved city maps might just be the most exciting new addition. They prevent players from dreading the time they spend in town, making it easier to get around, find new locations, and accept/turn in quests. As small as this change seems on the surface, it represents a massive improvement for Starfield, and what may be the first of many steps in the right direction.

Source: Bethesda

Starfield

Bethesda Game Studios presents Starfield - the first original IP from the studio in twenty-five-plus years. Set in the year 2310, the United Colonies and Freestar Collective are observing a shaky truce after a war set 20 years prior. The player will customize their character as a member of a space exploration team called Constellation while navigating The Settled Systems and the conflicts between the warring factions. According to Bethesda, players can explore over 100 systems and 1000 planets to find resources and build their ships, living out their own sci-fi journeys.

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

September 6, 2023

Developer(s)

Bethesda

Publisher(s)

Bethesda

Genre(s)

Action , RPG

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Strong Language, Violence