Starfield is out. For everyone now. It’s been out in Early Access for Premium Edition members for about a week and Nick and I have been playing it nonstop. Whether you’ve been waiting for years to jump into the first new Bethesda universe in 25 years or just checking it out since it’s on Xbox Game Pass, here are some tips and tricks we’ve put together (after a combined sixty hours with the game) to help you survive the vastness of Starfield. And for anyone worried, there will be no spoilers ahead.
Don’t Rush It | This may be true for other Bethesda games, but it’s especially true here. Now, I’m not gonna write something clickbaity like: You NEED to Play Starfield 10 hours to Like It! Not only because I don’t believe in being Stockholm Syndomed into liking a video game but also because that was not our experience. The game does a pretty good job of letting you loose across the universe and while you can stick to the main missions and slowly understand the ropes, you can just as easily explore and find out for yourself. Along with this, the real reason I recommend not rushing through the main story is that some of the best parts of the game are organic moments that occur while you play. The main story is interesting (I have about four missions left) but when I think back on the game, I often go to the cool places I found while exploring barren planets or a particular series of events that led to me leading a group of ships to battle. The main campaign isn’t going anywhere so take it slow and pace the game out to your liking.
Scan Gas Giants | An easy way to make extra credits in Starfield is to sell planet scans. This involves scanning the planet when you’re in orbit and then landing to scan the minerals and wildlife. Once you have 100% of the scan for a planet you can sell it to certain vendors in cities. (Pro Tip: Sell to Vladamir on The Eye to get a bit extra.) Coming to gas giants, because you can’t land on them, simply scanning them for orbit will complete the entire planet scan and you can sell it immediately.
Understand the Guages | Though you can use fast travel once you’ve been to a system, space travel is still a big part of Starfield so it’s best to understand the guages you control from the cockpit. On the bottom left of your screen, you will see energy points that you allocate between the various systems on the ship like engine, shield, grav drive, and weapons. The amount of energy points you have and the sweet spots for allocating them vary from ship to ship. Surrounding the middle of the screen there are more things to look at, like weapon status, ship speed, and boost gauge. Most of this is pretty straightforward forward but one thing you might miss is on the ship speed meter, there is a white line beside it. This, once again, varies from ship to ship but keeping your ship speed in the range of that line gives you the best maneuverability during combat.
Pick It Up | This is something I didn’t know until I was 20 hours in and it came in very handy as I decoreated my penthouse in Neon. Holding down A on Xbox while aiming your crosshairs at an item will allow you to pick it up. You can also use the Right and Left Triggers to turn them and use the Left Stick to change the turn axis too.
Save Often | This is a Bethesda game after all and with all the positives that entails, it also means there can be hiccups too. You can check out my Starfield diary to hear about the bugs and glitches I have come across in the game but they have taught me to always be prepared. And always save. The game also has a quicksave feature that you just need to double-tap the start button on the controller to access if you don’t want to do a full save. But do this frequently so that if any unforeseen issues come up, you can load back up without losing much progress. Plus you can save scum. Not that we condone such behavior, of course.
Mark 1 Spacesuit | This is a bit of a cheat so you can ignore it. The Constellation Mark 1 spacesuit is one of the best suits in the game and with a little effort, you can get it very early on. There’s a video guide above for those who want to watch it but what you need to know is that the suit, pack, and helmet are all stashed in the Lodge’s basement. They’re locked in a display case with a Master difficulty but if you aim your crosshair at the gap between the case and the door, you can access the mannequin and take the items.
Lift More Weights | This is probably the most annoying thing in any Bethesda game and it’s just as rough in Starfield. Encumberment. Everyone has a weight-carrying limit and if you cross it, you become encumbered. This impacts your stamina, prevents you from fast traveling, and just all around distracts you from the fun. To avoid this, we recommend investing a skill point or two early on into the Weight Lifting perk. This will give you some more weight to work with. Additionally, you can also bring along a companion with you and give them anything you aren’t immediately using. The last weight tip I’ll share is that once you join the Constellation, you will be assigned a room. The room has a safe with unlimited storage. Use it to your advantage.
Customize Your Companion | Like other Bethesda games, you don’t have to adventure out alone. From the funny Barette and the standoff-ish Andreja to random NPCs you’ll meet along the way, you can bring someone along with you for the ride. Companions aren’t just there to provide backup in a gunfight, they can also take some of your items if you’re ever encumbered. One thing you might not know about though, is that when giving them items, if you select an outfit in the trading inventory screen, and press Y on Xbox, the companion equips it.
Emergency Exits | As you play the game, you will come across a few red colored doors. Some are security doors that can usually be unlocked by accessing a security terminal. The others are Emergency doors that say “Cuttable Wall” on them. You can use the cutter that you’re given at the start of the game to break the four yellow pins and bring down the wall. You can also shoot at the yellow pins or, if you want to be stealthy, you can slice them with bladed weapons.
Don’t Need a Map | When I first started Starfield, I thought you had to open your navigation map every time you needed to go anywhere in the game. This next tip has minimized my time in the map tab and helped improve the pace of space traversal in the game. Firstly, you are flying around in your spaceship and you have a mission selected, there should be a hexagonal blue marker on your screen pointing you towards the objective. Aim your ship at it, press A on Xbox, and power-up your grav drive to jump to that location. (Note: if it’s a system you can directly jump to) Additionally, while in orbit of a planet you need to land on, press LB to open the scanner and look around the planet to pick a Point of Interest to land at.
That’s all the advice I have for now. As we keep playing the game, if we have any more tips, we will come back and update this list. If you have things you think should be above, then feel free to share them down below. As I plugged earlier, we’re trying something new with our Starfield coverage. I have been updating my Starfield diary often with my latest thoughts and opinions so check that out if you want more juicy content. Our full review for the game is still a while away but stay tuned because we have more Starfield content coming.
