After more than five hours with Starfield’s first major expansion, the newly released Shattered Space, I can confidently say that it has won me over despite my less-than-stellar experience with the base game.
When the open-world space-faring adventure first released back in 2023, the promise of a whole universe filled with intricate, Skyrim-style worlds was something that I just couldn’t pass up as a lover of previous Bethesda role-playing games (RPGs)
Unfortunately, anyone who has actually played Starfield will already know that it was never quite that at launch. Sure, there were thousands of planets to explore, plus a lengthy single-player story to sink your teeth into, but to me it always felt like it was missing one key ingredient.
In Skyrim or Fallout 4, you could walk for a minute in almost any direction and find something worth your time. Whether it was a randomized non-player character (NPC) encounter, the beginning of a previously unknown side quest, or just a cool location to roam, you were never hurting for things to do.
In Starfield, you would easily spend hours wandering around a new planet and not discover a single thing of note. There was still a lot to like, but for me it needed that sense of wonder and discovery to bring it all together. Fortunately, this is exactly what this new addition delivers.
Back to basics
By far the biggest selling point of Shattered Space is the fact that it’s small. That might sound a bit odd at first, but if there’s one thing that the vast world of Starfield taught me, it’s that size isn’t everything.
The expansion kicks off after you jump to any empty area of space in your ship. A creepy-looking space station called The Oracle suddenly appears, beaming out a worrying distress signal that automatically adds a brand-new quest to your log.
You’re under no obligation to start the quest right away (which is good news for newer players as it’s recommended that you reach at least level 35 before you begin) but seeing it integrated into the content of the main game quite so seamlessly was a pleasant surprise. When you are ready to take the plunge, you simply dock your ship to the station and begin to explore.
Right off the bat, it’s clear that something has gone very wrong on The Oracle. The gravity-less rooms are filled with floating bodies, plus these weird, almost crystal-like growths. They glow with bright blue energy, bathing everything in a rather atmospheric light. You quickly discover that you’re not alone too, fighting your way through waves of ghostly phantoms as you attempt to restore the station’s gravitational field. An allied voice guides you as you progress and, without revealing too much, I was immediately drawn into collecting the various optional audio logs in order to discover what truly happened here.
After solving the mystery on the station, you’re suddenly transported to the world of Va’ruun’kai. True Starfield-heads might recognize the name as the home of House Va’ruun - one of the game’s most enigmatic human factions. Va’ruun’kai is the setting of the vast majority of the expansion’s content, mercifully cutting out the constant need to sift through annoying space travel menus and endure lengthy loading screens.
Sights to see
Va’ruun’kai is littered with gravitational anomalies, large glowing orbs that cause you to float around freely when you enter them. They're a lot of fun to mess around with and allow for some enjoyable parkour if you need to reach higher places.
The second you land, it’s very clear that this world is quite different from the others. For starters, it looks absolutely stunning. Many of the worlds that I found in the base game lacked any real sense of color. An abundance of gray dust and craters makes sense, of course, it is literally space at the end of the day, but it didn’t make for many pretty sights. There’s no shortage of color on Va’ruun’kai though, which is bathed in bright reds, rich purples, and neon blues.
I immediately wanted to explore and I quickly learned that this location feels truly handcrafted in the best possible ways. No matter where you go, there’s no shortage of things to discover. From hidden chests filled with useful items out in the wilds to the plethora of cool side quests found in the planet’s central city, it’s one of the only times that I’ve felt properly rewarded for going out of my way to wander. It’s all very reminiscent of past Bethesda games, and I mean that in the best possible way.
There’s still a story to pursue, of course. It suffers a little bit from the usual Bethesda formula where you show up somewhere new and immediately become the most important person in the room through completely contrived events, but it’s fine enough on the whole. You join House Va'ruun and meet its central powers, completing tasks to try and bring them closer together and tackle an existential crisis facing the planet and its people.
I’ve had quite a good time so far, thanks in no small part to some quite cool set-piece moments that I won’t spoil, but, as of right now, my journey through the main quest line has hit an impasse. What seems to be a broken objective marker is stubbornly refusing to tell me the location of a particular cave, instead sending me traipsing around the world completely unguided, desperately hoping that I somehow accidentally stumble upon its hidden entrance.
I’m sure that I’ll find it eventually, but I’m not in any particular rush. After all, it’s hard to be upset about being stuck on a planet when it looks quite this good and has so much else to discover.
Starfield: Shattered Space is available now for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.
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