has New Game Plus. Just typing that feels strange. An RPG from Bethesda Game Studios with honest-to-goodness New Game Plus is not something we had on our space explorer's bingo card, but here we are.
Is Starfield's New Game Plus feature worth checking out? We sure think so, and we're here to tell you why - and why you might want to hold off on going hog wild with the game until you've unlocked it.
What Is New Game Plus In Starfield?
If you've played a game with New Game Plus at any point between 1995's Square JRPG Chrono Trigger and today, you likely don't need to us to spell out the concept of this feature. New Game Plus in Starfield, as with almost every other game to tout the term, is only accessible after you've beaten the main story, at which point it's designed to entice you to give the game another go.
The degree of success in which a New Game Plus mode is implemented tends to boil down to what it has to offer, and how much of your progress carries over. In Starfield, your character's level and unlocked skills carry into New Game Plus.
That's a not-inconsiderable part of the overall equation, since level and especially skills factor in significantly in the amount of challenge you'll face. Unlock enough of them, and you'll probably stand around for minutes in low-level star systems before those level five Ecliptic mercs successfully kill you.
Now you know what carries, but this is a Bethesda RPG, right? Isn't the whole idea that you can play for hundreds of hours, find new quests, new areas, and never need to restart? (Not that we don't make new characters all the time despite that fact, but you know what we mean.) Well, yes and no. Here's the kicker. Certain content is locked behind New Game Plus in Starfield, including entire quests. The main story is, by and large, left unchanged, but this side content simply isn't available at all on your first file.
What exactly this content entails, we're not yet sure, and when we can go into greater detail, we won't just update this article - we'll make sure there's ample spoiler warning before we discuss it. But for now, here's your word of warning: if you're going to 100 percent scour the Settled Systems, and you intend to partake in New Game Plus, bear in mind all those other quests you just did will reset along with the main story. It's a bit of a catch-22, really.