Dive into the thrilling world of Starfield: Shattered Space with our comprehensive review. Discover stunning graphics, immersive gameplay, and a captivating storyline in this space exploration epic.
When Starfield was released last year, I decided to ignore the many online reviews because I just really wanted to play it (the healthiest thing you can do in these situations). And while I found it to be quite inferior to Bethesda’s previous big RPGs in many ways, at least after playing it in one sitting I grew to like things like its story-driven New Game+ mechanic, the ship interiors, and the characters in Constellation. But coming back with the Shattered Space DLC , I’m pretty disappointed: not because it’s mediocre, but because it’s bland.
Starfield’s first major DLC does some things better than the base game: the final fight, for example, is more chaotic and interesting to watch; and the opening mission is a well-designed dungeon crawl. Basically everything that happens in the eight hours between those two points, however, can be summed up as “a wasted opportunity” that neither attempts to elevate the overall experience nor lives up to the expectations of its own theme.
The missing faction in Starfield
Shattered Space, remember, takes us to the planet Va’ruun’kai – the entire campaign takes place there, sparing us a lot of space-traveling loading screens – to explore the mysterious theocratic society of House Va’ruun that was so much talked about in the base Starfield game. Fans of Fallout or Elder Scrolls know well that a third major political faction is no small feat: the Enclave or the Brotherhood of Steel , for example, are packed to the rafters with personality and charisma , so they’ve always been popular with fans.
But House Va’ruun falls far short of that in terms of art, characters, and quests, which is doubly hard considering how they sold this town to us in the base version of Starfield. They were on the right track, I mean: they talked about a cult hidden somewhere in space awaiting the return of “the Great Serpent ,” a deity who would eventually destroy nonbelievers.
What could have been a perfectly Lovecraftian fantasy with its own overtones has ended up being, instead, a new array of NPCs from House Va’ruun that feel quite generic. Their presence is rather questionable: they have tattoos and somewhat more radical hairstyles, but they dress like ordinary citizens and do not convey emotion in their tone or in their stories. In fact, I would say that the city of Neon in the base game gave off a more dangerous vibe with its shady dealings and drug trafficking.
Not content with this, Shattered Space also has the bad habit of telling you about its best moments in the most disappointing way possible: you only see a small part of the capital, Dazra, because the rest has been consumed by the anomaly that illustrates the cover; meeting the three great families that make up the Governing Council is reduced to talking to a small number of representatives in their offices in super boring buildings (e.g. an armory) and —this is the worst of all, from my perspective— the important events lack context, weight or emotion.
I don’t know if this is due to budgetary reasons, including development time, but the reality is that after a year of hearing rumors about the dangerous House Va’ruun of criminals, cultists, and cosmic mysteries , it takes you a few minutes to complete the ritual that turns you into a Betrothed among their ranks; which is kind of the appeal and big draw of the DLC. I don’t want to give away too many details about what happens next, but I will tell you that some very important decisions for this particular society and for the future of the colonized systems are played out through two or three lines of dialogue (no exaggeration) with very poor presentation.
All of this may sound like Shattered Space is terrible, but it’s not quite that way either: rather, it’s disappointing because it could and should have been so much more, considering the backdrop they’ve chosen for this content and the legacy its developers have in making this kind of story in particular. The fact is that beyond this dense layer of unforgivable flaws there are some interesting premises: I really like seeing, for example, that your new role within that city opens up some of the most radical dialogue options without ethical limits within the conversations.
They also allow you to take very different viewpoints on the always difficult relationship between science and faith, and to directly participate in moral dilemmas that make you doubt which is the most benevolent option. The main quests and the dungeons you visit during them aren’t bad either, but (again) they don’t live up to what’s really supposed to be happening: why am I doing private errands for one of the important families of the Council? You feel a bit disconnected from the main thread for a good part of the journey.
Another thing that falls a little short is the planet itself: the idea of making Shattered Space take place in a single, more hand-crafted environment is good because it means that the terrain’s topography has been tailored to the needs of the artists and designers of all the DLC’s missions, but it’s an exterior that ends up feeling a bit monotonous: it’s not an empty esplanade like so many other stars in Starfield , but it doesn’t hide any kind of visual or thematic richness either because almost everything important is in the remaining half of the capital.
Ultimately, Shattered Space is a conformist DLC that doesn’t really want to evolve or refine the formula and is content to do just enough to deliver. After a year of travelling with Andreja in the base game, I was expecting the encounter with House Va’ruun to be more imaginative and fresh than it actually is. The 8.5 hours I spent on the journey are decent enough and sticking to one map has been good for it, but the take-home message is that it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It would have been better if it had at least brought interesting weapons, armour or powers; new companions or meaningful interactions with existing ones.
- Located entirely on the planet Va’ruun’kai
- The new faction was anticipated in the base game
- Very uneven tone, aesthetics and script
- The beginning and end of the campaign are better than the rest
- Few new items and equipment
Shattered Space is not a bad DLC, but it is a tremendously disappointing one: Bethesda has missed the opportunity to vindicate Starfield with what it lacked most from its previous RPG franchises, which is charisma and identity. After a year waiting to meet House Va’ruun and an initial mission that makes a pretty good promise of cosmic terror, the rest of the campaign falls flat with passable missions that don’t have much to do with the main plot, weak characters and environments, and a city that could have given much more of itself.