Starfield: Shattered Space | Review

Initial release date: September 30, 2024

Genres: Role-playing video game, Adventure game, Shooter game, Fighting game

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Engine: Creation Engine 2

Key Takeaways

• $30.00 for this is over priced
• The main campaign isn’t long at six hours give or take
• Va’Ruun’Kai as a planet was cool with alien geography
• Only a few Va-Ruun weapons
• Phantom enemies were okay
• There are a choices involving with the various House’s of Va’ruun
• Presentation still felt soulless in regards to talking to NPCs
• Most Side Quests were fetch quests
• A few main quests were good
• Story more focused and concise
• What the hell was the final battle at the Citadel? It sucked!
• Visually looked good but didn’t run at a consistent sixty FPS
• A let down after the ending and didn’t care to dive back in.

Introduction

Starfield: Shattered Space when it was all said and done was a let down and exposes the overall fundamental problem of Starfield just not having an “it” factor. Granted I did enjoy The base Starfield at the time of release.

I admit as the year went on after initially beating Starfield my taste for it declined and Shattered Space ultimately didn’t change my stance. I’ll go into a little detail on why I didn’t like Starfield: Shattered Space. Let’s get it.

Presentation

One of the main aspects I enjoyed about Shattered Space’s presentation was it being concentrated on one planet, Va’Ruun Kai. Story missions flowed better within a nice structure while alleviating some loading screens in the process.

There were the occasional Bethesda bugs and glitches but nothing game breaking. I really hated the ending boss fight at the Citadel as it was cluttered and confusing. There were a few new Va’Ruun weaponry and creatures to battle.

Most side quests ended up being pedantic fetch quests by non-seasoned NPCs and this is where a lack of soul comes into play. Most, if not every NPC in Shattered Space was forgettable. Maybe it’s the writing to blame?

Story

A major catastrophic incident happened on the planet of Va’Ruun Kai where the protagonist is tasked with helping the three main houses of Va’Ruun with issues of their own. A Zealot leader is trying to start a machine to activate ancient phantom super soldiers that could help Va’Ruun take over the settled systems.

I chose to destroy the phantom super soldiers and it’s machine housing them. I then killed the mad zealot leader of Va’Ruun. Story was not the best for a Bethesda DLC. The missions that tied into each story arch were okay. Maybe it was just my choices in-game that wrote a bad ending.

Gameplay

Gameplay is just like base Starfield where you can play in first person or third person mode. There are combat sequences that incorporate stasis like gravity bubbles that tried to spice up the combat.

The most fun I had while playing through Shattered Space was driving around with the Rev-8 popping and blasting alien creatures and zealots. Main missions were unique enough in presentation but reminded me of the base Starfield campaign where you have to work with various factions etc.

The new Va’Ruun weapons included a pistol, shotgun, heavy gun and sword all looked unique but offered nothing else really. Some missions felt sloppy in design mechanically as they were too confusing to navigate which way to go etc. Oh and starting the DLC was a pain the ass.

Sound | Music

Music was pretty good for the most part. Dialogue and voice acting of NPCs was soulless as hell. Writing needs to improve and voice work lip synching etc. Music sound very spacey and intergalactic sythwave-ish.

Graphics | Art

I played Starfield: Shattered Space on my Xbox Series X and thought it looked and ran better than the base game? I played on performance and quality mode if you care. Va’Ruun does have a nice alien-esque art style which looked foreign compared to the other settled system planets in the base Starfield.