Today, Bethesda Game Studios released an official deep dive video for Starfield Shattered Space, narrated by Lead Creative Producer Tim Lamb and a few other key developers from the team. They highlighted the focus on a singular planet, the mystery and even horror aspects that will be featured in the story and gameplay, and the increased focus on melee combat players will find in this expansion.
We love Starfield’s massive open galaxy, but from early on in our planning, we knew we wanted to introduce some more secluded and handcrafted locations, similar to what you’ve seen from our past expansions. There’s so much mystery to House Va’ruun, and because they’ve so thoroughly isolated themselves, it made them the perfect faction to explore in a completely self-contained experience.
From the minute you arrive on Va’ruun’kai, the story never sends you off-planet. You’re free to leave at any time, but the story is fully centered around life on the Va’ruun homeworld. Everything you discover, every location you visit, every side mission you seek out, it all tells the story of what happened here and how the Va’ruun people have survived being cut off from the comforts of the Settled Systems and the rest of humanity.
One of our main themes throughout the base game is humanity’s search for knowledge. Starfield Shattered Space is still about that search, but it’s also about what happens when it goes too far. It’s a very extreme pursuit and it has backfired horribly for the people of House Va’ruun. Before the start of Shattered Space, a secret experiment involving Grav-Drive technology went terribly wrong and it resulted in a massive tear in the fabric of space-time that swallowed a significant portion of the Va’ruun capital of Dazra.
You arrive just a few weeks after the Vortex Incident. It’s still very fresh in everyone’s mind. There’s a massive crater in their city, nothing has been reconstructed, and people are still searching for missing loved ones. The Scaled Citadel, the seat of power for the Va’ruun government, is now trapped within a strange field of energy. Among those missing is Anasko Va’ruun, leader of the Va’ruun people and Speaker for the Great Serpent. In his absence, the minor Houses that make up House Va’ruun are all vying for control over the faction’s future.
Va’ruun’kai and Dazra City are like no other location in the base game. From its inception, House Va’ruun has been driven by a singular, unique vision. Because of this, Va’ruun’kai has a completely distinct visual identity. We say it’s very “alien”. You’ll see this in the extraterrestrial landscape, gravity anomalies, and much more in Starfield Shattered Space.
Va’ruun’kai is located in the Kavnyk system, and it’s not the friendliest environment. They believe that the Great Serpent led them to Va’ruun’kai, and their whole purpose in being here is to await its return. It’s a dangerous planet, and a lot of the people have retreated to Dazra in order to survive and protect their culture and their way of life.
Now you’ll find areas of the planet that were abandoned and have since been taken over by zealots, spacers, and Crimson Fleet. And humans aren’t the only danger in the badlands of the planet. With the line between reality and the Vortex breaking down… creatures from the other side can slip through, like the Vortex Horror. When you disturb the barrier between our world and theirs… they can sense it, creating these honestly terrifying ambush scenarios.
In the base game, there was a lot of focus on ranged gun combat. You can engage in a firefight from way in the distance. In Starfield Shattered Space, we’re closing that distance. We wanted to lean in on the mystery and horror aspects. Space is scary. Part of getting that across is amping up the aggression and chaos of combat.
As you explore the city of Dazra and the surrounding planet, you’ll learn the truth of what happened, become entangled in the political feud between the minor Houses, and ultimately decide the fate of House Va’ruun.
Starfield Shattered Space is slated to launch on September 30 for PC and Xbox Series S|X. Rumors of a PlayStation 5 version continue to swirl, but last we heard, there were no definitive plans as of yet.
