Starfield: Shattered Spacefelt like it would be the saving grace for Bethesda’s contentious sci-fi epic, especially as initial mixed reviews and a lack of meaningful updates haven’t done the base game many favors. It promised a more handcrafted experience, an insight into one of the most fascinating parts ofStarfield’s vast universe, and a wealth of new content to engage with. However, perhaps unsurprisingly, it under-delivered, giving players a somewhat lukewarm experience that paled in comparison to expectations.
Many already believed it wastoo late forStarfield’sShattered SpaceDLClong before it dropped, but there was always hope it would finally give players the experience they’d been hoping for. Alas, it did not, and frankly,this feels like the last straw, not just forStarfieldbut for Bethesda too. After a handful of shoddy launches, a number of way too early reveals, and a worrisome vision for its future games, it’s time Bethesda took a long, hard look at itself and made some crucial adjustments to its gameplay design philosophy.
Everything Wrong With Shattered Space At Launch
A Mixture Of Uninspired Gameplay Design And A Boring Narrative Bring It Down
There are manyreasons why players aren’t happy withShattered Space, which range from the DLC’s disappointing and poorly written story to the underdeveloped House Va’ruun faction, which should have been the most compelling reason to play it.Players felt let down that Va’ruun’kai, the homeworld of House Va’ruun, just looked like any other location in theStarfielduniverse, lacking any distinguishing features that made it feel unique to that culture. While there were some striking locations, the repeated assets and lack of unique identifiers for the House Va’ruun faction felt lazy.
Additionally,the lack of meaningful choices coupled with the rather uninspired narrative meant that fans felt their $30 was wasted. This led to many sharing theiroutrage aboutShattered Spaceon Steam, with the expansion plummeting to a Mixed rating at launch. It adds to the ever-growing pile of mistakes Bethesda has made, arguably starting with the disastrous launch ofFallout 76, a game that barely recovered, although even by that point, Bethesda was on thin ice.
There’s More To The Shattered Space Disappointment
There’s more toStarfield: Shattered Space’s negative reviews than abuggy and broken launch, some uninspired design, and inconsequential choices. Rather,Bethesda has been piggybacking off its fans' goodwill for quite some time, and its numerous missteps have finally worn it down. It’s overpromised far too much, with even thebaseStarfieldexperience under-delivering on its space fantasywith its dull, randomly generated planets. Despite its best intentions to makeStarfieldthe nextSkyrim, it made little to no effort to meaningfully fix the majority of flaws at launch, instead opting to stick wholeheartedly to its mediocre quests and writing.
There’s a lot more toStarfield: Shattered Space’snegative reviews than a buggy and broken launch.
This first major expansion forStarfieldwas an opportunity to show fans that Bethesda still had some of that sweet magic that helped it makeSkyrimleft, with evenShattered Space’sDesign Director overhyping players, comparing it toMorrowind. So,when it launched and was, at best, perfectly fine, fans were left wondering what had happened to the once illustrious Bethesda. These negative reviews are more than merely a warning to prospective buyers; they’re a message to Bethesda to get its act together, as there are only so many rereleases ofSkyrimto remind players of a better time.
Bethesda Has To Get Better At Its Releases
It Can’t Keep Getting Away With This
There are only so many times a company can mess up and let down its users before it has to make considerable changes, and, much like Ubisoft, Bethesda has reached its last chance. Bethesda needs to completely reevaluate not just how to deal with its launches - which somehow continue to be buggy - but also its entire game design philosophy.Starfield: Shattered Spacehas proven that Bethesda is stubbornly stuck in its ways, unable to innovate or move beyond its basic quest design, world design, and combat models.
All Starfield: Shattered Space’s New Weapons, Ranked By Power
Six new weapons have been added to Starfield within its Shattered Space expansion, but these Va’ruun tools have different levels of power to explore.
It wouldn’t be fair to say that Bethesda hasn’t tried, but its attempts at offering something different have failed miserably, with its several hundred-strong team and billions of Microsoft dollars proving not enough to do what a17-person team did in 2016.Shattered Spaceshould have been a return to form, an opportunity to prove that Bethesda still has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with the other major RPG developers. Unfortunately, not only didStarfield: Shattered Spacenot deliver, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and now Bethesda has to improve or risk being left behind.
