Starfield: Shattered Space Review – May the Great Serpent Save Us

Starfield is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial games ever made by Bethesda. While it is undoubtedly a solid role-playing game that offers a vast world to explore and some gripping stories, it suffers from a certain lack of focus, evident in some of its elements, such as subpar exploration and traversal, the procedurally generated elements which end up being very repetitive, and a generally dated feel mostly represented by the loading screens that separate different areas.

While I still generally enjoy the experience, my opinion of Starfield has soured a bit in the past year or so. After re-experiencing Cyberpunk 2077 with the 2.0 update and the Phantom Liberty expansion, it has become difficult to look past some of the game’s archaisms, the lack of engaging activities, average quest design, combat, and progression systems with very limited options. All these issues are, in my opinion, exacerbated by the Shattered Space expansion, which offers, for better or worse, more Starfield while also taking somewhat of a step back in regards to what sets the game apart from every other RPG developed by Bethesda.

When it comes to story, the Starfield Shattered Space expansion, at least, doesn’t fail to deliver. After receiving a distress call from a space station and exploring its eery interiors, players are transported to Va’Ruun’kai, the world of House Va’Ruun, a theocracy built around the cult of the Great Serpent that has a minor role in the base game. The whole planet is in disarray following an experiment gone wrong, and it will be up to the player to solve the issue and help this faction. Things, however, won’t be easy, as navigating the political landscape of Va’Ruun’kai will prove to be just as dangerous as entering the Citadel and solving this crisis. Every major player involved could either be the greatest of allies or the most dangerous of enemies, and it will be the player’s choices that shape the adventure and its final outcome.

Doing away with space exploration and focusing on a single planet has done wonders for the Shattered Space expansion, as the new questline is among the most interesting in the entire game. The focus on a single planet also allowed for a deeper development of the lore of House Va’Ruun, in turn making the whole experience more engaging. The characters that accompany the player as needed, who are made more memorable by the vastly improved facial animations, not only improve the experience but also make making some choices quite impactful, although there are times when the available choices don’t allow for great role-playing, giving the players the chance of either being a hero or a despicable person. The short length of the main quest, around 5 hours or so, is definitely disappointing, but it also makes sure the whole adventure stays interesting from beginning to end, as there are way too many elements that can quickly make it feel like a slog.

Not counting the new story, the Starfield Shattered Space expansion offers no new feature or gameplay mechanic. On the contrary, it feels like it offers less than the base game. As the whole adventure is set on Va’Ruun’kai, space exploration is non-existent, and there wasn’t much of it in the base game to begin with. The planet does have an interesting visual design that makes it very personable with a great atmosphere, but in terms of gameplay design, it is rather bad and does not entice exploration at all. This isn’t caused by the lack of points of interest, of which there are a few, but by the fact that it is designed in a way that makes traversal with the land vehicle cumbersome and frustrating. Too many times, I felt that leaving it behind was the best choice, a choice that, however, hurt exploration pacing way too much.

Things don’t fare much better with quests and combat. While there are some interesting stories found throughout the side content, the quest design is rather average, relying on the fetch quest archetype way too much. Combat is possibly even worse. The new weapons are essentially reskins of base game weapons, and the added effects of certain melee weapons, while interesting on paper, fall flat in execution, as Starfield’s melee combat leaves a lot to be desired. The new enemies are also nothing to write home about, feeling, for the most part, like reskins of the base game’s enemies. There are some new ones, to be sure, but none that truly stand out. Ultimately, all this makes the Shattered Space expansion feel boring even after just a few hours. The fact that companions that would have quite a bit to contribute while exploring Va’Ruun’kai, such as Andreja, interact very little with the environment or the planet’s inhabitants only makes matters worse.

While Starfield’s first expansion fails to deliver compelling gameplay, it does, at least, deliver great visuals. Va’Ruun’kai is among the best-looking planets in the entire game, featuring a very peculiar atmosphere that briefly borders into space horror. The dominant purple color, however, gets a little tiring over time, and a more varied visual design would have been welcome. As already mentioned, the expansion introduces some improved facial animations that help immersion quite a bit, although other elements, such as the aforementioned issues with Andreja, have a rather big negative impact on it. Breaking immersion, and sometimes even the expansion itself, are a variety of bugs, ranging from the innocuous physics bug to progression blockers. I did not run into any of the latter, but they have been widely reported, so beware.

The Starfield: Shattered Space expansion offers an engaging new story but adds little beyond that. Fans of the game’s universe will appreciate spending more time in it and discovering a faction more complex than it appeared in the base game, but those who didn’t enjoy Starfield or were primarily interested in its space exploration mechanics won’t change their opinion with the expansion, as it doesn’t address the vast majority of the issues that still plague the experience.

PC version tested. Premium Edition code provided by the publisher.

Starfield: Shattered Space

Starfield: Shattered Space

The Starfield Shattered Space expansion leaves a lot to be desired. While it introduces a more focused and engaging story compared to the base game, the average map and quest design, along with the lack of new features, turn the adventure in Va’Ruun’kai into a bit of a slog rather quickly. Although the tighter focus is welcome, the Starfield experience as a whole needs something more substantial to reach its full potential.