Todd Howard finally relents after calling out encumbered Starfield hoarders, as the May update will let you buff your carrying capacity without a mod

Starfield NPC Noelle
(Image credit: Bethesda)

After Starfield's launch, Todd Howard called out encumbered hoarders, telling them that "you don't need the trays and the pencils." But with the RPG's May update, it seems he's finally relenting, as we're getting more robust difficulty options that'll include a toggle to boost your carrying capacity.

The update, which lands on May 15, includes a new gameplay options menu that lets you make granular adjustments to various aspects of Starfield's difficulty. You could, for example, tweak how much damage you deal, change how many credits vendors have, or adjust the amount of healing you get from food or sleep. There's even a Sustenance option that looks like it'll let you turn Starfield into a survival game.

But for players who can't get over Starfield encumbrance, the big option is going to be Carry Capacity. You can't completely turn off item weight, but you toggle between four options for how much you can carry: greatly increased, increased, normal, or reduced. You'll net a bit less XP if you lessen the burden, or a bit more if you make things weightier. If you're feeling masochistic, you can also add weight to ammo for further experience gains.

The May update is a big one, and on top of these difficulty options it's also bringing some long-awaited map improvements and a 60 FPS option for Xbox Series X players. Starfield's big expansion is still on the way too, and Todd Howard says Shattered Space should launch this fall.

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Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.