Starfield New Game Plus Guide

Starfield is the kind of game you can easily sink hundreds or potentially thousands of hours into if you have enough vacation time, and that’s before you even finish the main missions. The campaign in Starfield is only around 30 hours long, but there are countless other side missions, people to meet, factions to join, and companions to romance.

There’s so much to do that it’s easy to forget about completing the story altogether. But your journey throughout the Starfield universe is far from over when you complete the story. And depending on what way you look at it, the end of the story is just the beginning.

SPOILER WARNING

This probably goes without saying, but since this article discusses content from Starfield that takes place after the conclusion of the story, there are significant spoilers about Starfield’s story and, of course, New Game Plus.

If you would rather save yourself the surprise and discover the secrets of Starfield’s New Game Plus yourself, this is the perfect time to turn back. This article will still be waiting for you when you get to New Game Plus, and you can always return to find out everything you need to know about it then.

Don’t forget to save or favorite this page so you have it on hand when you’re ready. But if you’re okay with the spoilers or you’re already at the New Game Plus stage, here is everything there is to know about it.

Bottom Line Up Front

New Game Plus is extra content that comes after completing the story campaign. New Game Plus designs change from game to game, but not every game has a New Game Plus mode. If it does, it is designed to give the game more replayability so players don’t have to stop playing once the story is over.

There is a lot to Starfield’s New Game Plus, but if you’re eager to get the gist of it so you can set off and experience it for yourself, here’s a quick list of all the changes you can expect in New Game Plus.

• Starfield’s New Game Plus strips almost everything from you, including the clothes on your back. The only things you retain are your skills, level, XP, and any powers you have collected. Everything else, including your weapons, ships, credits, side quest progress, and relationships, are taken away from you.
• You do, however, get a new ship and a Starborn outfit. You also get to keep the Frontier, though it’s unlikely you will use it over the Starborn Guardian.
• At the beginning of New Game Plus, you will make an important choice that will shape the rest of your New Game Plus experience (for that round, anyway). You get to decide whether to save your main mission progress or restart the story.
• You will occasionally meet different people at the Lodge. 
• You will get different dialogue options on occasion. 

What is New Game Plus Like in Starfield?

New Game Plus in Starfield is unique because it is infinite. Once you get to the end of your New Game Plus play-through, you will be free to step back into the Unity and begin a New Game Plus two, three, four, or fifty, if you’re up to it.

Each time you start another New Game Plus play-through, you can expect to face off against stronger enemies, but the gear you pick up will also increase in terms of power and strength to make the difficulty jump easier.

The best place to start when discussing Starfield’s New Game Plus is the beginning. Starfield is full of branching decisions that give you the freedom to play your own way. As a result, no two play-throughs will ever be the same. New Game Plus follows the same train of thought.

Once you step through the Unity, you will wake up in your luxury ship, the Starborn Guardian. Your first mission is to head to the Lodge and meet with the rest of Constellation in the new universe. There, you will be offered an important choice.

The choice is whether you want to keep your main story progress or start the story over again in New Game Plus. Of course, this decision shapes your experience in New Game Plus.

What Happens if You Start the Story Over in Starfield’s New Game Plus?

• Choose the dialogue choice: [Repeat Main Quest] I want to join Constellation. Unravel this mystery with you.

If you choose to restart your main mission progress in New Game Plus, you will start over again from the very beginning with Lin and Heller in the mine on Vectera.

No one will know you’re Starborn, or even recognize you at all. You will be free to play through the story again and collect all the powers and artifacts, starting from the first one you came in contact with in the mine.

What Happens if You Keep Your Story Progress in Starfield’s New Game Plus?

• Choose the dialogue choice: [Skip Main Quest] I’m not who you think. I’m Starborn. I know what the artifacts are.

If you choose to retain your main mission story progress, you will head through the Unity and into the next universe. Your first step after waking up in your epic new ship is to head to the Lodge and meet up with the members of Constellation.

Once you get there, you can keep all of the artifacts you have collected so far, and you will be directed to the remaining ones, which you can collect in any order.

What Do You Lose in New Game Plus?

When you step through the Unity and into another dimension, you are stripped away of all your worldly possessions. That includes all of your credits, weapons, armor, and ships. You also lose all of your side quest and relationship progress because the people in the next universe don’t know you. Well, the version of you that’s you, anyway.

What you do get to keep, however, is yourself. The same ‘you’ is stepping through into the Unity, so you still get to keep all of your research progress, skills, XP, and powers. All of the progress and effort you put into improving your character can be transferred to New Game Plus.

What New Items Do You Get in New Game Plus?

You do lose a lot when you start a New Game Plus play-through. All of the material possessions you painstakingly collected throughout your journey and even your favorite weapon that fought by your side the whole way through will be left in the last universe. But it’s not all bad. You do get some pretty awesome items to soften the loss.

The Starborn Guardian

• Stats
  • Class: A
  • Fuel: 1500
  • Hull: 649
  • Cargo Capacity: 950
  • Shielded Cargo Capacity: 150
  • Jump: 30 LY
  • Crew: 5
  • Shield Systems: 630
  • Mass: 348
  • Solar Beam Weapon Systems: 24
  • Gravity Torpedo Weapon Systems: 70

The Starborn Guardian is the best thing you get in New Game Plus. It is the coolest-looking ship in the game by far, especially the interior with its floor-to-ceiling glass window that makes for some pretty amazing views throughout the galaxy. But it’s not just a pretty face. The Starborn Guardian is also a pretty good ship stat-wise.

It’s not the best ship in terms of stats. That crown still belongs to the Razorleaf in the early game and the likes of Aegis and the Silent Runner. It is definitely a far sight better than your other starting ship, the Frontier.

The Starborn Guardian doesn’t have the best weapon systems of all time, but what it does have is decently effective and unique. The ship is very light, which makes it very quick and maneuverable in battle, allowing you to quickly escape your opponent’s missiles if they’ve managed to lock onto you in combat.

The Starborn Guardian also has a huge fuel tank and a powerful Grav Drive, so it can take you almost anywhere you need to go without having to make many pit stops along the way. It has shielded cargo, too, so you can smuggle up to 150 contraband items onto planets.

The best thing about the Starborn Guardian (other than the fact that it’s free) is that it can turn invisible. That is not only extremely cool but very handy in combat. All in all, it is the coolest-looking ship, and while it lacks a little in the power department, it will still get the job done.

The Starborn Guardian’s stats will improve as you get an upgraded version each New Game Plus play through. It is capped at New Game Plus 6.

The Starborn Spacesuit Astra

• Stats
  • Physical Resistance: 149
  • Energy Resistance: 149
  • EM Resistance: 149
  • Thermal Resistance: 50
  • Corrosive Resistance: 50
  • Airborne Resistance: 50
  • Radiation Resistance: 50

The Starborn Spacesuit Astra is the second item you receive during your New Game Plus play-through. It has great stats throughout and will more than likely be the only spacesuit you need for your New Game Plus play-through.

You also get an upgraded version of the Starborn Spacesuit every time you start a new New Game Plus, but that is capped at 10.

Each suit is more powerful than the last and has its own unique look, with the final version, the Starborn Spacesuit Ventor, capping out at 246 defense. It also looks exactly like the outfit the Hunter wears, which makes it even more badass.

Is the Story Different in New Game Plus?

The overarching story, locations, and planets of Starfield remain the same in New Game Plus. There are, however, a few very interesting changes you may start to experience from New Game Plus 5 and up. These changes occur when you arrive at the Lodge after starting your New Game Plus play-through.

Usually, you will walk in and be faced with the same Constellation crew you grew to love throughout your first playthrough. The team is led by Sarah, and it is she who gives you the option of whether you want to keep your story progress or not. There is a chance, however, that you will be greeted by someone else when you walk into the Lodge.

These encounters are random. There is no guarantee you will see any differences for a long time, and there is no way to pinpoint when they will occur or even how many different scenarios there are. But here are all of the ones people have experienced so far.

1. A Lonely Vasco

In this universe, the rest of the Constellation team, yourself included, have all been killed. Vasco is the only member remaining, and although he is a little weirded out by your presence after he witnessed your death, he is willing to hand you all of the artifacts the team had collected before their demise, and you are free to head out and collect the rest of them.

2. Cora Coe all Grown Up

In this universe, you are faced with a grown-up version of Cora Coe, Sam Coe’s daughter. As you walk in, Cora becomes extremely angry and blames you for letting her dad die during the events of High Price to Pay.

This interaction can go one of two ways. You can attack her, or if you didn’t let Sam die during that quest, you can tell her she has the wrong you. If you choose the second option, Cora will give you the artifacts, and you can continue on your way. If you attack her, you will, of course, end up with the artifacts as well.

3. Walter Stroud

In another universe, you will meet Walter Stroud in the Lodge. Walter, being Walter, recognizes the value of the artifacts and drives a hard bargain. He won’t hand over the artifacts unless you hand over a large sum of credits, or you pry them out of his cold dead hands.

4. The Hunter

There is an alternate universe where you will find yourself face-to-face with the Hunter at the Lodge. This time, the Hunter is feeling less aggressive than they usually are and will hand the artifacts over after a brief interaction.

5. Andreja Teamed Up With the Va’ruun

In this universe, you will enter the Lodge to find Andreja and her crew of Va’ruun soldiers. Sadly, there is no talking your way out of this one. You will have to take her and the rest of her crew down and steal the artifacts. This one stings particularly badly if you happened to romance Andreja in your previous play-through.

6. A Room Full of Children

In the strangest universe I came across, I entered the Lodge to find it full of children role-playing the Constellation members. My first thought was that the children were the younger versions of the crew themselves, but it turns out they were just random kids playing. They aren’t a threat and hand the artifacts over to you.

7. You

Another universe, probably the most hilarious, in my opinion, shows several versions of yourself. There is Constellation You, Ryujin Industries You, Freestar Collective You, Space Pirate You, and even Loner You. Loner You works alone.

8. You Again

There is also another universe where you come face to face with yourself, but instead of a whole squad, it’s just the one. In most other cases, the version of you that resided in the universe you turn up in is already dead, but not this one.

This version of you is still alive, kicking, and confused, to say the least. The most interesting part of this universe is that if you play your cards right, you can recruit yourself.

9. You Again, but More Angry

In another universe, you will walk into the Lodge to find Sarah bleeding and injured on the floor. Soon after, you will find the person that did this to her. Unfortunately, it was you. Thankfully, you do get to take your revenge in a bitter battle between yourself. After defeating yourself, you will claim the artifacts.

Power Upgrades

One of the best New Game Plus features is power upgrades. They can only reach level 10, however, and you have to make sure you do it right so you don’t potentially miss some important upgrades.

In every New Game Plus, you can revisit all the temples you did in your previous play-through to upgrade the powers you already have, not just collect new ones. These upgrades increase the power or longevity of the move and can be extremely valuable at level 10.

You do have to make sure you revisit every single temple during each New Game Plus play-through, though, because once you finish a run, it’s finished. There is no going back to upgrade your powers after you’ve started a new New Game Plus.

If you don’t want to go through and upgrade every single power and would prefer to max out the best one, focus on the Phased Time power. It’s one of the earliest powers you collect, and it slows down time for a few seconds rendering everything (except you, of course) unable to retaliate.

At level 10, there is no time limit to the Phased Time power, and enemies will be desperately trying to make a move through the molasses-like atmosphere until you decide to end it. This makes them easy pickings if you’re getting overwhelmed.

What’s the Best Way to Play New Game Plus in Starfield?

Since playing so many New Game Plus accounts in Starfield, I feel like I now have a good idea of the best way to make the most out of your play-throughs. Unfortunately, that isn’t how I played the game. It was more of a hindsight thing, but maybe it will help you out during your play-through if you haven’t gotten too far through it yet.

The best way to play Starfield is to ignore all the side quests, faction missions, romances, and fancy ship collecting until New Game Plus 10 when you have maxed out your powers and Starborn equipment. Then do all of those things.

Since you can’t take any of that stuff with you, it seems redundant to redo quests and have to repurchase ships and the like in New Game Plus, so I just ended up walking away from the Unity and having another save to continue those things in my original play-through.

I had got so far in so many side quests. Redoing them all wasn’t something I wanted to spend another 10+ hours on. It definitely would have been much cooler doing all those things with my awesome powers and gear, though!

Alternatively, you could pick a faction and romance to focus on in each New Game Plus. That way, you’re more or less living a new life every time. That’s also a great way to make the most out of Starfield’s New Game Plus mechanics.

To Unity and Beyond

Starfield is such a great game with hundreds of hours of exploration and adventure to embark on. And the best part is that your journey isn’t over when you think it is. Really, it’s just beginning. There are plenty of ways you can tackle New Game Plus in Starfield, but if there is one thing you can take away from this guide, it would be to work on upgrading those powers.

They may be one of the most underutilized features in most players’ play-throughs, but they can be extremely awesome in combat and even more useful when exploring planets with poor atmosphere quality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Continue reading:

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Starfield Best Skills Guide: Piloting, Security, Persuasion, More

Starfield Best Starborn Powers Guide: Best Starborn Powers Ranked