Bethesda’s Starfield had presented in June all new content for this year and for the future, “Shattered Space” being the very first of the long roadmap ahead. This DLC is arriving on September 30th and will feature a new campaign and completely new planets to explore,quests and enemies for players to sink their teeth into.
The People Will Get More Of House Va’ruun
The DLC aims to explore more of House Va’ruun which was easily attributed as one of the most interesting factions of the base game. The main objective will take place mostly on the homeworld of House Va’ruun called Va’ruun’kai and its Capital City called Dazra.
The Desolate World of Va’ruun’kai
The player will explore the ruins of the City Darza with split mountains, abandoned houses and sprawling wastelands. Players will also get introduced to a new type of enemy called the “Redeemed”. The June trailer showcased the various kinds of creatures and enemies the players will encounter who all have a familiar shine to them.
Mystery, Intrigue And Horror
Players will reach Va’ruun’kai after learning of an experiment going awry resulting in a fabric tear of space-time which swallowed a significant portion of Dazra and has adversely affected most if not all of House Va’ruun. Of course there is no Bethesda game without some politics and a power struggle happening amidst the turmoil.
This space-time tear has also invited creatures to come into the world to wreak havoc on the city’s people, Bethesda has stated that they are aiming to introduce over fifty new creatures. Some of the creatures seem like they are controlled by a hive mind and have a Xenomorph-like appearance reminiscent of the creatures from the very recent Space Marine 2.
There are also many sub-factions which are fighting each other to fill a power vacuum that was created due to the disappearance of the leader of the House, Bethesda has also stated that this storyline will affect who in the end will lead House Va’ruun. Bethesda has also confirmed that players will be able to get all new armors, weapons and mods allowing players to further tune and alter their playstyles however they want.
The Problem With “Hand Crafted”
Bethesda’s Todd did state that players will be allowed to explore one thousand planets, a bold claim which to no one’s surprise isn’t at all true since they were just procedurally generated thus they all felt the same, explore one and you’ve explored them all.
Stating that this expansion is “hand-crafted” isn’t exactly exciting players as much as it is fueling a level of doubt. Although the other side of the argument is that this expansion will only feature one planet, not multiple different ones. This of course allows Bethesda to focus on making and filling this planet up with varied areas to explore and in-depth quest lines to follow that all further the story of House Va’ruun.
A Cautious Suggestion
Overall the areas and enemies being featured are to their credit, enticing to see and the horror-mystery aesthetic that Bethesda is going with seems like an amazing theme to explore and give the player an experience. It won’t hurt to wait and see what reviewers and articles say about it.
Players have also been asking for a proper cosmetic customization feature so that they can personalize their armors, color etc but at the same time there is a fear that Bethesda may just release customized packs as microtransactions instead of as a separate feature update.
This is poised to be the first of many expansions to come to Starfield, this may either make or break with the player base since Bethesda did state that they will stick to an “annular story expansion” meaning these big story expansions will only come once a year.
On the other hand, Starfield has also been getting constant updates and the launch of the Creations Store has the potential to keep players occupied due to the ability to create full-fledged mods for the game. There is a possibility that the 3rd DLC which is likely to come out around 2026 will be the final expansion for this game but it hasn’t been confirmed.
