Starfield players call on Todd Howard to restore pre-launch hardcore features

Starfield players are lamenting some of the more hardcore survival features lost during development. Some are hopeful that Todd Howard can pull the trigger and bring them back.

Starfield is jam-packed with gameplay systems to immerse players in the experience of deep-space exploration. Hopping between systems in your custom-built starship to combat aliens and space pirates is certainly part of the fun.

For those who prefer more of an active sim, Starfield offers players the chance to set up trade routes between hand-crafted outposts. You can mine materials and haul cargo from port to port yourself or task your assigned crew to do it for you.

While that adds a sort of management sim element to the game, fans of Starfield are keen on a more hands-on survival style of play. Reddit user u/picabo123 recently kicked off a conversation on the games Subreddit that had Starfield players calling on Todd Howard to make it happen.

Todd Howard has already said if Starfield gets a survival mode they would consider adding in the fuel system for system travel.
byu/picabo123 inStarfield

The prompt was a Lex Fridman Podcast with Todd Howard that aired months before Starfield’s launch. In the Podcast, Howard mentioned a number of more punishing survival mechanics that were cut during the game’s development like a more active fuel consumption system.

Howard labeled such mechanics a “fun killer” and they were scrapped for not aligning with the greater vision for Starfield. “If you have a hardcore survival mode, that’s the kind of thing you would do. Maybe we’ll do it in the future,” Howard elaborated.

Starfield players want that maybe to be a definitely — and have put their two cents in as to how a survival mode could enhance some mechanics deemed “utterly useless”. “I’m pretty sure food buffs are in the game for survival mode, like in Fallout where you had to eat and drink periodically,” one user said.

“A fuel system would make outposts more necessary,” another Starfield player added. “Right now, outposts are kinda useless and the whole system can be skipped without missing anything of import.”

Players got so excited for some of the ideas that their peers put forward, they started questioning Howard’s language around a survival mode for Starfield. “What do you mean by ‘if’, Todd? Aren’t you in a position to make that ‘when’?” a disgruntled user said.

Whether or not any official survival mode will be added to the game is up in the air right now. Perhaps it could be implemented when Starfield potentially arrives on PlayStation 5.