30 fps mode, immense weight… The concerns of console gamers

Starfield will be an important release for Xbox, after several totally failed exclusives. Bad news for console players, the game will be massive and will only include a graphics mode at 30 fps.

For the first time in its history, Bethesda is setting out to conquer the stars with the release of Starfield. This new creation from the studio behind Fallout and Skyrim seems to be shaping up to be an extremely ambitious project, too ambitious even for the capabilities of Xbox consoles. Because indeed, this release will be the biggest Microsoft exclusive of the year 2023, and will have to present a white paw after the bitter failures that were Redfall and Darktide. We take stock of all the essential information about Starfield, just below.

For anyone who owns an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S, the question of a game’s weight is always of importance, especially for a title as massive as Starfield. It is difficult for a console gamer to increase the storage size of their platform and, at a time when triple A games are increasingly large, revealing the weight of a new release is always crucial. However, the Starfield Microsoft Store page has just been updated, displaying a sorry 125 GB. Yet another blow for Series X and Series S players, who will also have to settle for a graphics mode at 30 fps.

Starfield has a disproportionate graphic ambition, it is undeniable, which has prompted players to wonder about the various technologies to improve the frames per second, namely Nvidia’s DLSS or AMD’s Fidelity FX Super Resolution. These two technologies allow a higher quality rendering of the displayed image thanks to artificial intelligence, allowing to greatly gain in performance on the most demanding games. However, Microsoft announced that Starfield would only work with AMD’s FSR, and not with Nvidia’s DLSS. A blow for all RTX card owners who will have to settle for less optimized technology for their graphics cards.

It was in a 45-minute video that Bethesda gave us some Starfield news. Largely absent from the last Developer Direct from Xbox and Bethesda last January, the game finally showed the tip of its nose throughout a show entirely devoted to it. On the menu, exploration, character creation, combat, crafting and construction, all in an extremely complete presentation that reassured many players. Indeed, after the catastrophic release of Redfall last May, Bethesda and Xbox had to show their credentials for their next flagship.

You can rewatch the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase announcements above, but to sum it all up, the game may well conquer your Xbox Series or PC before conquering the stars. Currently in the final stages of development, the game is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2023. In terms of gameplay, Starfield promises to be an open-world RPG, a great space epic of exploration, intrigue and combat that will incorporate almost everything one would expect from such a type of game today. Crafting, skill tree, advanced character customization, impact of choices on the plot, construction of bases and ships, combat on the ground and in space… We already know the talent of the Bethesda teams in the creation of open-worlds, and Starfield does not seem to be an exception to the rule.

You will embody the character you have decided to create in the first or third person, in his quest to forge a name for himself through the stars. More than 1000 planets are explorable there, and you will be able to access them thanks to your fully customizable ship. You will find resources that you will have to manage, enemies that you will have to overcome, and different factions that you can decide to follow or not to progress in the plot. Add to that crafting elements and extremely extensive character customization, and you’ll have a gargantuan project that could well overwhelm your hard drive before destroying your framerate.

But that’s not all, Starfield is also a pure RPG. You will therefore have access to a skill tree in addition to the in-depth customization of your protagonist. You will choose to invest points in it to unlock passive and active effects that you can then improve through different challenges. Something to quickly take your adventurer from zero to hero. On the progression side, there is also the eternal crafting, which will allow you to modify and improve your weapons as you wish. Note that the game will also include the ability to build bases of operation where you want, and to hire NPCs there to perform various tasks.

To end this small technical presentation of the new title from Bethesda, we must look at some important information, disclosed by Phil Spencer, CEO of Xbox, during a recent interview as part of the Summer Game Fest. Players were indeed interested in the framerate of the game on consoles, which seemed quite low during the various gameplay presentations. Spencer then confirmed that the game would not have a 60fps graphics mode, and would instead be limited to 30fps on Xbox Series. A consequence of an artistic choice of Bethesda according to him, in particular due to the great graphic ambition of the game. The framerate of the game will not however be limited on PC.

If the takeover of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft has still not been concluded, this is not the case for Bethesda. The studio joined the group of the titanic holder of Xbox for 8.1 billion euros in 2021, de facto questioning the presence of Bethesda titles on Sony consoles. And for Starfield, unfortunately for Playstation gamers, the Xbox exclusivity ax has fallen. The game will not be released on PS5 at least initially.

To be short in our answer to this question: no, Starfield will not incorporate multiplayer elements. While nothing is ever set in stone, the game has, since its announcement in 2018, always been advertised as a single-player game. Note that it is always difficult to offer an experience of the size and ambition of this RPG in cooperation or multiplayer. Information which, although it is not new, may deserve a little tear, as the potential of such a project in cooperation or multiplayer is titanic. Exploring the stars is good, with several it would still be a little better.