Skill points are a huge part of progression inStarfield, but despite how many skills are in play, they’re not necessarily that easy to acquire. Although one skill point can consistently be earned for each level up, there aren’t any other proper methods of attaining them, so grinding out XP is the only way to keep the momentum going.Starfieldis also a massive game with plenty of unique features and unusual quirks, however, and surprising possibilities are still being discovered over a year after its September 2023 launch.

One interesting facet ofStarfieldis how central the New Game Plus experience feels, a diversion from most games where the mode is more of an afterthought than anything. After completingStarfield, starting back over in New Game Plus connects to a particular part of the narrative to change the experience on the second go-round. It’s also much easier to breeze through the early parts of the story in New Game Plus, aslevels and skills are retained, making it possible to explore more of the skill trees throughout the course of a playthrough and build a thoroughly developed character.

Starfield Custom Character Next to Background Selection List for Best Early Skills Before Starting Adventure

Starfield Background Skills Get A New Game Plus Boost

Free Starfield Skill Points Are Easy To Miss

A Reddit post from userZeroone199makes a note of their experience starting New Game Plus, explaining that there’s a seemingly counter-intuitive way to gain more skill points acrossrepeated playthroughs ofStarfield.According to Zeroone199’s observation,New Game Plus grants a new rank of a character’s background skills at the start. As it’s common to pick backgrounds with a specific build in mind and max those skills out before the end of a playthrough, it would be easy to never realize this possibility and waste the opportunity, starting New Game Plus without any skill boost.

Free Skill Points Aren’t Right For Every Playthrough

Rushing To New Game Plus Isn’t For Everyone

To make use of the technique, players are better offpicking aStarfieldbackgroundthat they don’t want to level early, leaving it open for the free skill point application in New Game Plus. In theory,it should be possible to gain nine extra skills across the course of three playthroughs, a substantial boost when moving through the story quickly. This might not make much sense for roleplay purposes, as backgrounds can affect some dialogue options and more, but it’s possible to have different goals for how a background applies to the story and how it applies to the mechanics.

One Starfield Romance Option Doesn’t Make Any Sense If You Took A Certain Trait

While Starfield offers a great array of romance options for players, those who pick a certain trait can have an entire character ruined for them.

Using New Game Plus to gain extra skill points won’t be relevant for every style of play inStarfield, as focusing on New Game Plus isn’t for everyone. For that particular experience, however, it’s a concept that’s worth pursuing, and it’s one that’s shockingly easy to never even stumble upon.Starfielddoesn’t provide many options for acquiring skill points, so when there is a way to grab them for free when starting up a New Game Plus, it definitely deserves a shout-out.

Starfield Combat Medic Background with Skills Displayed

Source:Zeroone199/Reddit

Starfield

Bethesda Game Studios presents Starfield - the first original IP from the studio in twenty-five-plus years. Set in the year 2310, the United Colonies and Freestar Collective are observing a shaky truce after a war set 20 years prior. The player will customize their character as a member of a space exploration team called Constellation while navigating The Settled Systems and the conflicts between the warring factions. According to Bethesda, players can explore over 100 systems and 1000 planets to find resources and build their ships, living out their own sci-fi journeys.

Andreja from Starfield on the left, Sam Coe in the middle and Sarah Morgan on the right.

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