12 Starfield Beginner Tips You Need To Know
Starfield is officially here, and over the week I’ve been sinking my teeth into Bethesda’s latest RPG, and while doing so I discovered a few handy tips that make the Starfield experience better from the start, especially for newcomers and players using a controller.
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1. Swiftly Access the Starmap
When you need to access the starmap quickly, simply hold down the menu/start button.
Instead of navigating through various menus, this shortcut instantly takes you to the map, making your journey more efficient.
2. Fine-Tune Your Controls
For those playing with a controller, especially at 30fps, adjusting your control settings can significantly impact the gameplay experience and make movement response times feel a little better.
Head to the controller settings and increase Look Sensitivity to eliminate slow movement acceleration.
This basically makes your look and aiming start slow and ramp up in speed. Setting it high means that it gets moving right away.
Once look sensitivity is up, fine-tune vertical and horizontal controller sensitivity to your liking.
Adjusting your look sensitivity together with a lower aim sensitivity means you can look around quickly while also keeping your aim nice and steady when tracking targets down the sights.
So to finish this up, lower the Aim sensitivity to around 50 – 30% of the look sensitivity to make aiming down the sights manageable so that your crosshair isn’t darting around at the same speed as when you’re zoomed out.
Again, this depends on your preference, so this is a good starting point but you can adjust to your liking – but the right settings can really make things feel less sluggish on controller.
3. Keep those graphics clean
The Starfield world may try to capture a retro video feel, but if you prefer a cleaner image, head to the display settings and disable Film Grain. Additionally, you can turn off motion blur and depth of field, if that’s your thing. Since Starfield is locked to 30fps on Xbox, the motion blur actually helps smooth out the motion a little, but go with what suits you best.
4. Quick Travel with Your Scanner
Expect to jump between locations frequently in Starfield. Press LB (or the equivalent button) to activate your scanner. When in scanner mode, icons of main locations and destinations like your ship often appear.
By selecting these icons, you can conveniently fast travel without the need for a map. Also keep an eye out when in the maps for shortcut buttons at the bottom.
5. Free-Camera Mode
Now here’s one that I stumbled on to early on, which few people seem to know.
Hold down the “view/back” button to activate a rotating free-camera mode. Whether you’re flying through space or exploring on foot, this feature allows you to view your surroundings with ease – especially great if you want to capture a quick video clip without the HUD in the way.
6. Manage Ship Cargo
Don’t overlook your ship’s inventory. When aboard your ship, Use the left bumper to access the ship inventory, where you can store numerous items and even sell them directly at the local trade console.
Additionally, there’s an in-ship cargo panel on the wall just behind the cockpit for your convenience.
7. Utilise Your Companions for Extra Storage
If you’re new to Bethesda RPGs, remember that you can offload excess loot into your companion’s backpack. Engage in a conversation with them and select “trade gear” to manage your inventory effectively. They’ll even remind you that they’re happy to help carry some of the load now and then.
8. Redo Your Character in New Atlantis
Completely change your character’s features by visiting “Enhance!” in New Atlantis. That’s right, for the low price of only 500 credits or so, you can completely change who you are, what your name is and your size.
They charge the same if you just wanted a haircut. Super rude.
9. Prioritise Early Skill Improvements
Some basic improvements are unlocked through early skills, so be sure to explore your skill tree. For instance, obtaining a jet pack early on can be a game-changer. Head to your skills and make sure to acquire skills like this as soon as you can – and make sure to scan through what’s available to make sure you aren’t missing out on anything else.
10. Quicksave
In a game like this, quicksaving is your friend.
To quick save, press the menu button to get into your character screen and then press the menu button a second time to get to the game menu. It’s very handy before persuasion attempts, lock picking and battles!
11. Embrace the Main Quest (Especially at the Start)
Main missions provide certain items, skills and companions that you won’t want to miss before going into the larger world. Trust us on this one.
The game starts slow, it’s gonna take 10hrs+ to really get everything going
12. New Game Plus (NG+)
NG+ means you can start over but keep character + progress. Early players even suggested (but can’t elaborate – spoilers) that it’s not a bad idea to hit NG+ fairly quickly as a lot of the experience kicks off after credits roll.
There’s a lot of game to game.
That’s our quick tips to help you get going in Starfield. We hope you enjoy exploring the stars – and if you have any other great tips to share, let us know on social media or in the video comments!