The beta for Starfield’s biggest update to date has finally landed on Steam, and it’s not long now until Xbox players will be able to enjoy the litany of changes coming to Bethesda’s sci-fi epic. Starfield update 1.9.47.0 boasts over 120 tweaks across PC and Xbox, squashing dozens of bugs while making various improvements. While only on Steam for now, the update is set to drop on Xbox Series X|S in two weeks’ time.
According to developer Bethesda, the update to last year’s biggest addition to the list of Xbox exclusives focuses on “quality-of-life improvements and quest fixes.” These range from the player character’s eyes no longer remaining closed in third-person view, to bulldozed objects reappearing when returning to an outpost, to ensuring that the ‘Into the Unknown’ quest triggers properly after completing ‘The Old Neighborhood’.
We’ve also noted several graphical improvements in the comprehensive list. For example, there’s now “improved widescreen support” – a huge boon for those using the best monitors for Xbox – as well as a slew of fixes when it comes to visual artifacts and other bugs. As one of the best RPG games out there, ensuring player immersion isn’t compromised by weird glitching has clearly been high on Bethesda’s agenda here.
With the upcoming Starfield DLC, Shattered Space, waiting in the wings, it’s unsurprising that Bethesda is putting out an update of this scale now – something we mused on last week. Ensuring Starfield is (space)ship shape is an important step towards a successful launch for the expansion, lest it be marred by issues that have long plagued the game.
Indeed, Bethesda has a massive year ahead of it when it comes to getting Starfield back on track. Although the 8/10 score we gave it in our Starfield review is nothing to scoff at, it’s still some way off the ridiculously high mark we expected it to reach. In our Xbox and PS5 2024 predictions, we expressed our hopes that the wombo-combo of major updates and a fresh DLC will do the trick. As such, while we welcome the latest changes, our (now very much open) eyes will firmly be fixed on Shattered Space over the coming months.