Summary
Starfield’s huge May 2024 update brought many changes to the game, including one that makes the whole experience more immersive. AmongStarfield’s biggest update changesare improved surface maps, new storage solutions, ship interior customization, the Extreme difficulty, and across-the-board bug fixes and performance improvements. It doesn’t solve every last one of the game’s issues, but these major changes go a long way.Starfieldis deeper, more personal, and more playable than ever before, and that’s all thanks to the latest update.
But it’s not all big changes that alter the very nature of the game. Sometimes, the littlest tweak can have the biggest impact. One ofStarfield’s patch notes may have gone unnoticed by most players, but taking full advantage of the new feature it unlocks can make an enormous difference. Whether a player decides to keep it on forever, or turn it off immediately is up to them - but for most, it’s well worth seeking out and experimenting with the more immersive feeling it creates.
Latest Starfield Update Bug Makes An Underused Tactic Totally Overpowered
The Starfield 1.11.36 update has a bug that has made stealth attacks incredibly overpowered or utterly useless depending on specific circumstances.
Starfield’s Dialogue Camera Setting Can Make NPCs More Immersive
To Zoom Or Not To Zoom?
Starfield’s dialogue camera setting allows players to turn off that wonky little zoom the camera does every time they talk to an NPC, for an overall more immersive effect in dialogue. Instead of centering directly on the speaker with a blurred background, the camera instead focuses on a wider perspective of their environment, mirroring either the player character’s first- or third-person perspective. It’s even possible to move the camera around slightly while still talking to the NPC.
Players can switch perspectives inStarfieldby pressing the middle mouse button (M3) or the View button (the one with two squares) on an Xbox controller.
The jarring abruptness of the default dialogue zoom breaks immersion: it’s the only time, outside actual cutscenes, thatStarfieldtakes control out of the player’s hands and forces them to look in a particular direction. This makes dialogue feel separate from the rest of the game, instead of a natural part of it. When the NPC initiates the dialogue, it can even seem like a jump scare. That goes double when other random NPCs wander into frame, distracting completely from the conversation’s focus. The zooms also look outdated, and more than a little cheesy. Most games these days don’t do forced camera angles for interactive dialogue scenes, instead maintaining a free camera and simply allowing players to look around as they please.
Bethesda Games Have A Long History With Awkward Dialogue Snap Zooms
Oblivion, Fallout, Skyrim, & Now Starfield
Butas awkward as these zooms can be, they’re classically Bethesda. Almost every major Bethesda RPG released in the last two decades has included some variation on them. They were introduced and perhaps most prominent inOblivion, but recurred in most of theFalloutgames,Skyrim, and indeed, nowStarfield. The only real exception to the rule isFallout 4, which uses dynamic, cinematic camera angles in dialogue scenes instead of a single fixed one. It looks a little prettier and is a little less distracting, but it’s just as immersion-breaking.
So, it’s entirely possible Bethesda decided to stick with the awkward snap zooms forStarfieldbecause it’s such an integral part of its game design style. Still, that doesn’t make it any nicer to look at. Simple as it is, having the option to turn this setting off is excellent for immersion, and allows players a lot more control over theirStarfieldexperience.
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.
