Starfield finally arrives on PS5
Until now exclusive to the Xbox and PC ecosystem, Starfield is now open to PlayStation players with the PS5 version (teased for a long time). This version will exploit the specific features of the console including:
- Haptic feedback and adaptive triggers of the DualSense controller
- Touchpad integration
- Compatibility with DualSense controller features (like speakers)
In addition, on PS5 Pro, two modes will be offered:
- A performance mode for a higher framerate
- A visual mode to favor graphic quality
Bethesda also specifies that it wants to make the experience more financially accessible with a standard edition offered at around fifty euros. A physical “Premium Edition” is also on the program.
Free Lanes: a major overhaul of exploration
For developers, the free Free Lanes update represents one of the most significant developments in the game since its release in 2023. The main novelty concerns interplanetary travel, now possible directly within a system. You will thus be able to use a cruise mode to move freely between planets. These crossings will be accompanied by dynamic encounters along the way, but it will also be an opportunity to spend more time on board your ship with the crew.
This allows Starfield to be more immersive and less dependent on loads for travel between planets, however no change regarding entries into the atmosphere.
Free Lanes also adds several improvements and content :
- New areas (dungeons, points of interest, events)
- A new X-Tech resource to improve equipment and ships
- Enemy modifiers (shields, empowered attacks, elemental damage)
- A land vehicle: the Moon Jumper (also customizable)
- Improvements to outposts with shared storage via a dedicated chest
- New companions, including Muria and a mini-robot
- An improvement to the Starborn system with limited transfer of items in New Game+ (Bethesda has clarified that not all items will be transferable)
Terran Armada: a new scripted chapter
In parallel, Terran Armada DLC introduces new story across colonized systems. It is also specified that the DLC will be paid except for purchasers of the Premium edition. It will be a question of facing new robotic enemy factions. This is also accompanied by new quests, new characters and environments. The objective is to influence the future of humanity in space in the face of this new threat.
Unlike Shattered Space, this new DLC is more ambitious. The story no longer focuses on a specific point on the map, but fits directly into all of the colonized systems with an assumed desire to modify the perception and rhythm of the game on a broader level. This is not just another hostile faction, but a force capable of intervening in different sectors of space, sometimes in unpredictable ways.
Like everything that has been revealed so far, Bethesda is not trying here to offer a total break with the base game, but rather to enrich its internal functioning. The studio itself insists that this is not a complete overhaul, but an evolution designed to fit into the existing experience. We will still wait to have it in hand before deciding because this idea seems quite good on paper, but it can also shift towards structural repetitiveness, especially if the variations in objectives or situations remain limited.
Although Free Lanes and Terran Armada represent a big step for the RPG, Bethesda is not closing the door to new updates in the future, without giving more details.
Starfield will be released on PlayStation 5 on April 7, 2026. This release will be accompanied by the free Free Lanes update and the Terran Armada DLC, also available on PC and Xbox Series on the same date.