Starfield stealth is pretty terrible, but this awesome mod makes it worth your time
Had enough of getting seen through walls? Give this overhaul a try.
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What you need to know
Traditionally, sneaking around while your enemy’s back is turned has proven to be one of the most powerful strategies you can use in Bethesda’s open world RPGs. We’ve all seen the memes about Skyrim’s absurdly overpowered stealth archer builds, after all, and devastating critical hits are just as effective in the Fallout games. Surprisingly, though, this is not the case in the studio’s new sci-fi space exploration epic,Starfield. In fact, it’s quite the opposite — often times, going covert feels completely useless.
Though sneaky criticals are just as potent as they were in past Bethesda titles, it’s nigh-impossible to actually score any because of how easily the game’s AI are able to detect you. Even with full Rank 4 upgrades for the Stealth and Concealment skills, the use of stealth-enhancing gear like silenced weapons, and quiet movement, enemies are always able to somehow see or hear you coming. In many cases, they’ll even sniff you outthrough walls.
The efficacy of stealth is one of the most common things I’ve seen players criticize since Starfield released a few weeks ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Bethesda has plans to address it in an upcoming patch. If you’re playing the game on PC, though, there’s good news: community member Ixion XVII has publishedan excellent mod on NexusMods called Stealth Overhaul, and as the name suggests, it makes a variety of major adjustments to Starfield’s stealth systems.
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Ixion XVII’s goal with Stealth Overhaul has been to make sneakier playstyles “more forgiving without making it too easy,” and to that end, they’ve reduced the detection radius of NPC view cones, the AI’s general ability to detect noises made by the player, the sound players make while they’re out of an NPC’s line of sight, and any sounds caused by the use of heavy pieces of gear. They’ve also made it easier to stay undetected while running (it’s still not a good idea), and have made NPCs that are sleeping or in an exterior area a bit less perceptive, too.
I’ve been testing this mod out for a few days now, and so far, it’s made quite a big difference. Though I still find myself getting spotted by enemies if I’m careless, using the environment to stay out of line of sight, moving slowly, and investing into stealth-related perks has proven to be quite fruitful. If you’re looking to do a sneaky Starfield playthrough, I definitely recommend giving this overhaul a shot.
Ixion XVII includes installation instructions on the mod’s homepage, but the TL;DR is that you can simply unpack the mod files into Starfield’s base game directory. Alternatively, you can install it through NexusMods’Vortexmod manager software.
Starfield is finally here, and it’s undoubtedly one of thebest Xbox gamesandbest PC gamesfor lovers of space exploration, deep RPG gameplay, and the sci-fi genre as a whole.
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Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
