To say Starfield‘s initial reception was a little divisive would be an understatement. When Bethesda’s highly-anticipated space RPG came out on Xbox Series X/S and Windows PCs in 2023, it was mired in controversy. Although it received generally positive reviews from critics, virtually every aspect of Starfield was scrutinized by certain groups on the internet, with some labeling the title as a massive disappointment. In spite of all the commotion surrounding the game in its early days, it still managed to cultivate a sizable, devoted fanbase and ended up being a commercial success for both Bethesda and parent company Microsoft.
In order to address players’ criticisms of the game, Bethesda began to release consistent updates for Starfield shortly after its launch. Some of them brought minor quality-of-life features to the game, like the ability to eat food without having to open up one’s inventory, while others added significant new content, such as the Rev-8 Planet Rover. The latest update for Starfield, which came out on November 5, 2024, isn’t as noteworthy as some of the previous patches for the game, since it primarily contains bug fixes and barely anything else. However, it does include one feature that will be of great use to Xbox Series X owners: the option to play Starfield with an uncapped frame rate.
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Starfield’s New Update Makes the Uncapped FPS Option on Xbox Series X Available Again
Starfield Was Only Playable at 30 FPS on Xbox Consoles at Launch
For the last few years, Microsoft’s first-party titles have had a habit of launching without 60 FPS performance modes on Xbox consoles, something that many gamers have come to expect with most current-gen games. Redfall, Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020), and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 were all capped at 30 FPS on Xbox Series X/S upon their initial debuts, and Starfield was no different. Bethesda’s latest RPG wasn’t exactly a graphical powerhouse compared to the other AAA titles that came out in 2023. As such, when news broke that the game was not going to launch with a 60 FPS option on Microsoft’s current generation of consoles, many were understandably disappointed.
More Frame Rate Options Were Added to Starfield Post-Launch
After months of fan demand, Bethesda finally added a performance mode to Starfield on Xbox Series X in May 2024, alongside a couple of other graphical options. This update gave XSX owners the ability to choose from four different frame rate modes for the game. Not only could players experience Starfield at 30 FPS with maximum fidelity, but they could also play it at 40 FPS, 60 FPS, or an uncapped frame rate. The 40 FPS and uncapped frame rate modes were only available on VRR displays that supported 120 Hz, but the 30 FPS and 60 FPS modes were accessible on all monitors/TVs.
Uncapped FPS Support for Starfield on Series X Was Oddly Removed, But It’s Now Been Reinstated
For some reason, the ability to play Starfield at an uncapped frame rate on Xbox Series X was abruptly taken out of the game shortly after it was added. The removal of this feature was an odd move considering the fact that Bethesda recently added uncapped FPS support to the lower-spec Xbox Series S in August of this year. Luckily, Starfield‘s most recent update, version number 1.14.74, has finally made this option available again on Xbox Series X after a several-month absence.
Now that Xbox Series X owners can currently play Starfield at an uncapped frame rate on VRR displays, it’s the perfect time for them to check out the game’s Shattered Space expansion if they haven’t already. Since the uncapped FPS mode wasn’t available on Xbox Series X at the time of Shattered Space’s debut, this marks the first time Starfield fans will be able to experience the game with this option enabled on the console.
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