Starfield players have left a flurry of negative reviews on Steam – more than 500 in the last 48 hours – following the launch of the game’s Creations storefront.
While the Creation Kit is free to download, this method of adding customised content to the game also opens the doors to paid add-ons built by both Bethesda and fans. And it’s one of these – a single mission named The Vulture priced at 700 Starfield Creation Credits (roughly £6.30) that has prompted the current ruckus.
For starters, this is the second mission in the Trackers Alliance series (the first, titled The Starjacker is free) and it sounds like Bethesda has more on the way. Players have criticised the relatively high price for a single quest, and that this opens the door to more in the future.
“New missions have been added to Starfield as part of this update,” Bethesda wrote in its latest blog post. “Trackers Alliance establishes the first of several missions enabling you to live your best bounty-hunting life. The first mission, The Starjacker will have you in contact with a mysterious Tracker located in settlements throughout the Settled Systems. From there, let the hunts begin!
“The second Trackers Alliance mission, The Vulture is available within the new Creations menu. And what bounty hunter is without their trusted methods to get the job done?”
Head on into the Creations menu, however, and it’s here you discover you now need to cough up about £6. There’s also the issue that you can’t actually cough up £6, as Starfield Creation Credits are only sold in specific amounts, meaning you actually have to cough up £9 for 1000 Credits and sit there with 300 Credits left over.
Bethesda currently has a half dozen items to acquire from its Creation Kit storefront and some of them are free, to help sweeten the deal (a new spacesuit, observatory building and gun skin). You can also pay 300 Credits (hey, you can use up those left over ones!) on a Constellation Plushie Set, or another full 1000 Credits/£9’s worth on an Ancient Mariner Module.
“Really? Another push for curated paid mods no one asked for?” wrote one reviewer. “£7 for a single quest is absurd. The game isn’t even finished I still routinely get enemies clipping through the geometry,” wrote another. “Not recommended until these $7 single mission experiments end,” wrote a third. “Would have recommended right up til that decision. Modders make better content for free in a fraction of the time.”
Further off, Bethesda is still planning to launch Starfield’s first proper expansion this year at some point – though last week’s Xbox Games Showcase did not provide a specific date. Shattered Space will offer a fresh mystery involving the snake-loving House Va’ruun, at some point later in 2024.
