Summary
Despite releasing the 1.8.88 update on December 11, frustrated players are still reporting bugs inStarfieldthat the patch was meant to fix – such as long playthrough crashes and objects attaching themselves to a ship. While fans were hoping thatStarfieldwould do a serious update, on a scale comparable to whatCyberpunk 2077andBaldur’s Gate 3were delivering within the same post-launch time-frame, Bethesda seems to be prioritizing the development of the Shattered Space DLC, while releasing fixes on game-breaking bugs at a slow-yet-steady pace.
TheDecember 11 update forStarfieldwas meant to address two major issues that have plagued the game since launch. Namely,Starfieldplayers would frequently have objects (such as asteroids) follow their ship around as they jumped across the Settled Systems. While the bug by itself was harmless, and did not overtly impede gameplay, many players found it an annoying experience all the same. On the other hand, save game crashes that occur during a long playthrough, especially after entering New Game Plus inStarfield, were far more detrimental to players attempting to enjoy the game.
While the patch notes for the new update proclaimed that these two bugs were fixed, many disgruntledStarfieldfans were reporting on social media that the issues still persisted on both PC and Xbox platforms. A thread was posted by Turbostrider27 to discuss the patch notes on theStarfieldsubreddit, and comments made by players such as MacReadyToast, Any_Imagination9734, and sludge_comber2315 imply that long playthrough crashes still happen on a regular basis. Moreover, video footage was posted by J2MRaiden in a separate thread to show that the pet rocks allegedly fixed in the latest update were still following them around, with disappointed players in the comment section confirming that the issue persisted for them as well.
It’s important to note that the newStarfieldupdate wasn’t designed to fix the bug that caused the entire city ofNew Atlantis to attach itself to the ship, and was only meant to address space debris in particular. However, with many players reporting that their “asteroid wingman” did not disappear, even after reloading to an earlier save, means that the update was less successful than Bethesda likely hoped.
Given that the holiday season is fast approaching, Bethesda is likely to hold off any substantial updates until after 2023. That being said, the frustration inStarfield’s community is becoming harder to ignore, as in demonstrated in one case, themod author ofStarfieldTogether quit the gameon December 8, leaving the source code behind for someone else to complete. While Bethesda faced similar backlash withFallout 76during its troubled release, the emerging pattern has caused players to worry about the development ofThe Elder Scrolls 6. It remains to be seen how post-launch support forStarfieldwill continue in 2024, as its Shattered Space DLC may well be what makes or breaks the game in the long run.
