Bethesda is keen to note that its brand-new game-changing Starfield update is not a 2.0 moment, but for me it may as well be. Announced all at the same time, the Starfield Free Lanes update, Terran Armada DLC, and new bonus content all combine to create the game that I wanted on launch, all alongside a PS5 port of the often-maligned sci-fi game.
Launching on April 7, 2026, Starfield Free Lanes, Terran Armada, and the game’s PS5 port are all launching simultaneously. While Bethesda may be underselling the new update, we aren’t: the Starfield Free Lanes update is a game-changing addition to the RPG that allows players to freely travel through space to their hearts content as well as other changes.
Former Starfield developers have claimed that the biggest issue with Bethesda’s RPG is that it “didn’t fully cohere as a game”. While this new update doesn’t fix everything, it is a clear step forward in that direction with many of the Free Lanes additions working to glue the RPG’s separate mechanics into a more cohesive whole.
With this article, to provide as much information as possible, we have compiled every new change into one massive article (alongside some of my own thoughts as a long-time player). Alongside the Starfield Free Lanes update and all of its changes, we will also detail to PlayStation 5 port, Terran Armada DLC, and more.
Starfield Free Lanes
Since last year, Bethesda has been teasing a huge update for Starfield, which many fans have essentially dubbed “Starfield 2.0”. While Bethesda has turned against the “2.0” moniker, Free Lanes is a game-changing update in many ways.
This starts with the Free Lanes themselves which offer free, real-time travel from planet to planet instead of fast-travelling everywhere. While you will still have to go through a transition screen when landing and taking off from a planet, you can now fly in real-time through the game’s vast open galaxy.
As you travel from planet-to-planet, you’ll be able set your ship to cruise mode, allowing you to travel at a higher speed with four different speeds available. Additionally, if you want, you can set the game to auto-pilot, locking onto a planet and sitting up from the cockpit to move around your ship, talk to your crew, redecorate, and even fix your loadout.
As you travel through the new Free Lanes, you’ll sometimes be pulled out of this connective space as you encounter “radiant missions”. Some missions will pull players out of space while others will require players to manually decide if they want to jump out of space to scavenge spacewrecks.
X-Tech: Ship, Weapon and Armour Changes
Alongside the titular Free Lanes, the new Starfield update introduces X-Tech to the game, a new material which allows players to modify their weapons. Added to the loot pool, this new resource will allow you to upgrade your ships, weapons, and armour.
On ships, you’ll be able to access a Ship Optimisation Terminal from the Decorate menu inside your ships. This allows you to use X-Tech to upgrade essentially every aspect of your ship, from shield strength and regeneration to weapon reload speed and targeting optimisations. This allows you to further power up your ship as you play, giving you more control over what you want your home in the stars to be.
Additionally, X-Tech will allow you to customise your weapons and armour with the attributes you want. With the new resource and some credits, you’ll be able to add an upgrade module as well as up to four legendary upgrade modules to your gear. When you go to add an upgrade module, you’ll roll for a result, although after rolling five times you’ll be able to just pick what effect you want. With four legendary upgrades on a weapon, your gear can be turned into true tools of destruction.
Outposts, Pets, and Tracking
In my hundreds of hours with Starfield, one of the mechanics I avoided the most was the game’s Outposts system. While they’re useful to nab resources to grab upgrades, I found it to be way too much of a faff, and hard to keep track of. Thankfully, with this new update, Outposts have been expanded and improved.
For the lazy players (me), Bethesda has added an elevated cabin module to the game that serves as a small all-in-one outpost base that players can pop down. This allows you to “land on a planet, plop down an outpost, and leave” with a fully decorated, self-inclosed, apartment.
Furthermore, you can now have a number of pets in the game including a Milliway Pet that you can unlock in a quest. You can keep this pet at an outpost, customise his look, and even play with him. Additionally, there are a number of new enclosed pet modules that you can place in your outposts to make the game cosier.
In an effort to make it easier for players to find their outposts, the player menu now has a “database” screen which is a genuine game-changer for someone like me. In this menu, you can see all of your outposts and quickly fast travel to them, but you can also track all organics and inorganics in the game and quickly see their uses, as well as track recipes to help you easily find what you need to upgrade your character.
Outside of the game’s upgrades, you can also track outpost recipes for furniture and other blueprints. For example, if you want to craft the game’s new Milliwhale Bowl for your Milliwhale pet, you’ll be able to track all the required resources and go out adventuring. It’s a core improvement for the system that really should’ve been there on launch.
Action Figures (aka Fallout Bobbleheads)
Sort of tied to the Outpost system, you can now find a number of action figures around the Starfield universe. Just like Fallout Bobbleheads, these new collectibles give you a permanent bonus on pick up in a bid to encourage exploration.
These Colony War Action Heroes are available in both boxed and unboxed forms. As you find and collect them, you can display the sealed figurines on a special shelf, or the unsealed figures in a diorama that fills up as you continue to collect. You don’t need to keep the figurines to keep your bonus, either, so if you hate the faff of playing around with virtual toys, you can dump them in the streets of New Atlantis.
New Vehicle + Points of Interest Changes
As part of Free Lanes, Tim Lamb did confirm that there has been a lot of work done to increase variety of POI’s within Starfield, although they didn’t show much of what that actually entails. Nevertheless, players will now be able to find and acquire a brand-new vehicle: the Moon Jumper.
Unlike the current vehicle available in Starfield, the Moon Jumper is a large four-wheeled vehicle that has access to powerful thrusters. This “crazy boost capacity” will allow players to get pretty much anywhere with even the steepest of walls no longer an obstacle.
As for the additional POI’s, all we know is that “there are a number of new POIs to find and different experiences to have”. In fact, this may be why Bethesda is so adamant that this is not Starfield 2.0 as there doesn’t appear to be a huge change to POIs across the board despite an increase in variety.
Starborn and The Unity
Spoilers for Starfield’s main story ahead. The main gameplay loop of Starfield sees your player jump through a multiversal portal called The Unity at the end of the main story, abandoning everything and everyone to start your story anew in a New Game Plus state with your existing stats, powers, and a snazzy new ship.
With this update, there will now be a Quantum Entanglement Device chest located within The Lodge, allowing you to bring a number of items with you through the Unity. The device starts with a capacity of 50 items and you can increase it with Quantum Essence up to 200. Almost everything you can carry can go into it, with a few exceptions.
Additionally, instead of forcing players to find every single temple in the game again to upgrade their Starborn powers, players can now use Quantum Essence to upgrade powers they’ve unlocked.
These are fantastic changes. As someone who likes to pick one faction per universe, jump through the Unity, and imagine my character trying out a new life instead of doing everything per run, this is a magnificent change. After your first three runs, it can get tiring going through the Unity only to lose everything, and this eliminates a lot of the pain points the game has suffered with.
Terran Armada
Less exposed than the improvements to the main game, Terran Armada is a new story DLC for Starfield. Admittedly smaller than the expansion-sized Shattered Space, Terran Armada will introduce new characters, locations, enemies, quests and rewards to the game.
Included with the game’s Season Pass/Premium Edition, Terran Armada will see players tackle the robotic forces of the titular rogue militia throughout space. You’ll be able to jump into a whole new set of missions filled with robotic foes, engage in thrilling space missions, and more.
Not much was shown off for this DLC, although it does look like a nicely contained story within the existing world of Starfield. While Shattered Space was a bit of a disappointment due to its rather dull world, this appears to be a more streamlined expansion for the game.
New Trackers Alliance Content
Introduced in 2024, the Trackers Alliance added a Bounty Hunter system to Starfield. While quite light on content, it was a brilliant addition to the Freestar Rangers roleplay, and it felt like it should have always been part of the game.
Alongside everything else that’s been announced, the Trackers Alliance is getting a small content drop with five new adventures available. Still available as the same creation club purchase, players will now have new targets, contracts, and rewards to experience.
Starfield PS5 port and PS5 Pro support
Of course, amidst everything, Starfield on PS5 is also now official. Launching on the same day as Terrran Armada and Free Lanes, April 7th, this new port brings the sci-fi world of Bethesda’s latest RPG to PlayStation users.
As a PS5 game, Bethesda’s RPG supports all of the console’s unique qualities. With the DualSense controller, certain audio cues will come through the DualSense speaker, the lightbar has been integrated, and the game makes use of both the pad’s adaptive triggers, touchpad, and more.
Additionally, the game does sport PlayStation 5 Pro support with players able to select either a high-target FPS performance mode or a more graphically superior Visual Mode. Unfortunately, Bethesda did not show off the PS5 Pro version in our demo so we don’t have any additional info for you there.
Finally, Starfield will be available on PS5 for $49.99 or your regional equivalent for the game’s base version. There is also a Premium Edition available that will give you access to the game’s Season Pass as well as some Creation Club credits.
Is this a big deal?
As someone who has hundreds of hours in Starfield, I do somewhat love Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG, although it is far from the studio’s best work. Bethesda are somewhat correct in the fact that this isn’t really a 2.0 moment for the game, and that’s largely because there is no major overhaul of the game’s POIs.
However, free-form space travel and the massive quality-of-life changes to Outposts and New Game Plus do make this a much better version of Bethesda’s games. Now, your ships are truly your home amongst the stars, something that they really weren’t before. While it was fun to have your ship, you only really interacted with it when it was barely moving.
This isn’t everything I wanted Starfield to be, but it is the ultimate version of the game so far. With Bethesda still working on the game right now, we could see even more improvements in the future, but who knows what they will be.
