Starfield Finally Adds Fan-Demanded Feature

Starfield lets you do a lot of things from ship customization to falling in love with a companion. But there was one crucial thing missing and now the devs have added it in the patch 1.8.86 of November 20, 2023. No, you can’t fly the ship straight down to another planet yet. But now your character can actually eat food and drink items when you find and interact with them in the environment.

Source: Screenshot from Tof Gaming on Youtube

Starfield Lets your Character Eat and Drink Now

Here’s the snippet from the patch notes list that mentions this addition:

[bs-quote quote=”By popular request, we have added the ability to ingest food and drink items upon finding them in the environment. You can enjoy those Chunks immediately or save them for later. The choice is yours.” style=”default” align=”center” color=”” author_name=”” author_job=”” author_avatar=”” author_link=””][/bs-quote]

Starfield has tried to be an immersive experience but a few things like the lack of eating/drinking, loading screens, and the NPCs staring right down at you have broken the immersion quite a bit.

However, in a recent interview, director Todd Howard revealed that “250 people are still working on Starfield” for improvements to this massive game and also, the upcoming Shattered Space DLC. So, it’s safe to assume that players can expect more updates based on community feedback.

Aside from the feature of eating and drinking, the update also introduced Nvidia DLSS support for PC players. Compatible Nvidia graphic cards can now use DLSS Super Resolution, Deep Learning Anti-aliasing (DLAA), Nvidia Reflex Low Latency, and DLSS Frame generation.

Also Read | EA Quietly Removes this Game from Sale

Starfield Update 1.8.86 Patch Notes – November 20, 2023

There are more fixes and improvements related to performance, stability, gameplay, graphics, and quests. Here are the full patch notes:

Performance And Stability

• Addressed a number of memory related issues and leaks.
• Added some GPU performance optimizations, which will be more impactful on higher end cards.
• Improved renderer threading model, improving CPU usage most notably on higher end systems.
• Various stability and performance improvements.

Gameplay

• Added the ability to eat the food placed in the world.
• Adjusted stealth to be a bit more forgiving.
• Fixed an issue where Andreja’s head would stay permanently cloaked.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent players from firing their weapons.
• Fixed issues where some NPC could be seen not wearing clothes (Note: This issue may resolve itself over time).
• Fixed an issue where already in-progress skill challenges could stop progressing after reaching the Unity and starting a new game.
• Fixed an issue that could temporarily prevent opening the inventory or saving after entering the Unity.
• PC: Fixed an issue where mouse movement could be choppy.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause the home ship to be lost.
• Fixed an issue where the ship services technician might be missing.
• Fixed an issue where occasionally the camera could shake incorrectly during Traveling, Grav Jumping, Docking, or Landing transitions.

Graphics

• Addressed an issue with how ambient occlusion appeared in ultrawide resolutions.
• Optimized initial shader compilation that occurs on start-up.
• Added the ability to adjust Brightness and Contrast in the Display Settings menu.
• Added the ability to adjust HDR Brightness provided that the system supports it. (Xbox & Windows 11 only).
• Addressed a number of materials that could sometimes present an unintended pattern under certain conditions.
• Fixed various visual issues related to the new FOV slider options.
• Improved the appearance of the eyes on crowd characters.
• Addressed a number of minor visual issues related to lighting, shadows, terrain, and vegetation.
• PC: Addressed additional visual issues related to DLSS.

Quests

• All That Money Can Buy: Fixed a rare issue where players couldn’t sit during the negotiation with Musgrove.
• Blast Zone: Fixed an issue where the hard rocks that need to be cleared out by players will not appear on Ngodup Tate’s land.
• Echoes of the Past: Fixed an issue where the Grylloba Queen could sometimes not be reachable during the objective “Secure the Shuttle Bay”.
• Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where players’ quest progression could potentially be blocked due to a missing docking prompt.
• Grunt Work: Addressed an issue where progress could appear blocked if “Supra et Ultra” was completed while returning to the Lodge during “High Price to Pay”.
• No Sudden Moves: Fixed an issue that could prevent the entrance door to the Scow ship from being opened again.
• Operation Starseed: Fixed an issue where the key that is needed to exit the facility could sometimes not be present.
• Sabotage: Fixed an issue where David Barron could potentially not be found by players.
• Short Sighted: Fixed an issue where players could rarely become control-locked while speaking with Vladimir.
• The Heart of Mars: Fixed an issue where players might not be able to mine the “The Heart of Mars”.

Even though it was a huge undertaking, Starfield has unfortunately missed a spot in the Game of the Year 2023 nominees and games like Alan Wake 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Tears of the Kingdom have beaten it out. It was a highly competitive year in gaming, and how Starfield retains its player base, remains to be seen.