Starfield: Shattered Space was released on September 30, 2024 and received mediocre reviews on Steam.
What kind of DLC is this? Starfield: Shattered Space is the first story expansion for Bethesda’s sci-fi role-playing game. In it, players find themselves on a new planet, in the city of Dazra. There it is important to uncover the secrets of the followers of the “Great Serpent”.
Shattered Space released without much fanfare for Xbox and PC on September 30, 2024. Owners of the base game can own the DLC for 29.99 euros if they have not already purchased access through the premium edition of Starfield.
As design director Emil Pagliarulo explained in an interview with GamesRadar, inspiration was drawn from a completely different game from Bethesda: Morrowind. The motifs and general atmosphere of the classic role-playing game would be found primarily in the city of Dazra.
It is quite unique, especially compared to other cities in Starfield, in terms of its fiction and aesthetics, says Pagliarulo. But how is this received by the players?
You can get an idea of the expansion in the launch trailer:
Starfield shows its first story expansion, Shattered Space, in the launch trailer
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Only balanced reviews on Steam
How was the expansion received? Shattered Space caused a small peak in the number of Starfield players on Steam when it launched on September 30th: at the peak, there were almost 21,800 players in the game at the same time, more than ever since December 2023, around 3 months after release.
For the majority of these players, however, the spark doesn’t really seem to have ignited: On Steam, Shattered Space has a lukewarm “mixed” overall rating, and only 41% recommend the expansion.
However, some fans in the Starfield subreddit are also enthusiastic. In fact, for one player, Shattered Space is the best DLC Bethesda has ever made. The thread has almost 3,800 upvotes on Reddit.
When you look at the comments and reviews, it quickly becomes clear where this discrepancy comes from. Shattered Space seems, for better or worse, to be one thing above all else: more Starfield. As one player wrote on Reddit: “I’m about 6 hours in and this is definitely how the base game should have been.”
The city of Dazra in particular is convincing: players feel like they have been transported to a kind of space Skyrim, one even calls for all other cities in the game to be reworked along the lines of Dazra (via Reddit).
Anyone who hasn’t really warmed up to Starfield will probably not enjoy the expansion. On Steam, players also criticize the scope of the expansion: The DLC can be played through in around 4.5 hours, then another 2 hours for 100%.
You’ll look in vain for new companions, gameplay features or ship parts. For many people, the price point of 30 euros is simply too high.
Meanwhile, the space MMO Star Citizen wants to offer exactly what Starfield players once hoped for: being able to travel across space. You can find out more about this here: Everyone at Starfield wanted to be able to fly to new systems themselves – the space MMO Star Citizen does exactly that