Starfield: Shattered Space

Starfield’s first expansion is an excellent dive into one of the game’s key pieces of lore.  There are answers to be had and mysteries to be born anew. It is all wrapped up in one of the best ‘looks’ I’ve seen in a video game to date.  For any fan of the base game, this is a solid 10+ hour adventure you do not want to miss.

Starfield: Shattered Space is a solid addition if you’re looking for a deep, story-driven experience or a chance to level up while exploring a new society. But if you expect a major shift in the game’s scope or mechanics, this isn’t it. Still, it’s a satisfying ride for fans of the universe…

Starfield: Shattered Space has some excellent side quests and interesting new places to explore. Unfortunately, it’s all tied together by a largely boring main quest, and leaves what could have been its standout character as completely optional and in the background.

While Shattered Space is quite possibly one of Starfield's most enjoyable storylines to date, it once again struggles to offer any real consequences. And its new setting feels woefully underutilised.

Shattered Space is a fun and meaty addendum for those who enjoyed what Starfield's base experience had to offer, but those hoping for any significant improvements will be left disappointed.

Shattered Space is damned by its disinterest in addressing Starfield's failings.

Starfield is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial games ever made by Bethesda. While it is undoubtedly a solid role-playing game that offers a vast world to explore and some gripping stories, it suffers from a certain lack of focus, evident in some of its elements, such as subpar exploration and traversal, the procedurally generated elements which end up being very repetitive, and a generally dated feel mostly represented by the loading screens that separate different areas.

Shattered Space is just more of what Starfield couldn’t deliver. Although its focused, single-location experience and engaging quests provide a refreshing change, its overall lackluster quality proves that no updates or expansions can truly transform Starfield. While moments of brilliance remain, and Shattered Space does add some memorable moments to the pile, it's a DLC that ensures that Starfield doesn't go out with a bang like a Supernova, but rather fades into the vacuum of space without so much as a whimper.

Starfield: Shattered Space is a big disappointment in almost every way. We loved the base game, for all its flaws, and we were willing this to be the big, exciting DLC drop that'd make us love it all over again. However, what we've got here is a very average narrative expansion that fails to add any big choices, upgrades, new enemies, biomes, loot or anything that could potentially excite or draw in new players. It's buggy, janky, badly acted in places, and there are a myriad of bugs and performance issues to be ironed out. What a missed opportunity.

Throughout the DLC, dialogues feel like narrative dumps, with the science behind the sci-fi delivered via overly verbose snore fests with complex terminology at nearly every corner. String theory, a multiverse: the same tired old tropes that have gained popularity over the last decade. Although the religious fanaticism of the deviant Va'ruun is present, it never feels extreme enough, reducing them down to a joke. Joining a cult should feel uncomfortable, but in Shattered Space, Va'ruun feels like any other faction. An opportunity to inject true dread or a sense of paranoia, creeping doubt, or ...

$30 for a four-hour main quest sounds a bit steep, but the new weapons and side quests may make it worth the investment for diehard Starfield fans that simply want more - once the bugs are ironed out, anyway. Future updates will likely make it a lot easier to recommend Shattered Space, but for now, fans may want to hold off until its more egregious bugs and glitches are addressed.

The exact opposite of what Starfield needed, with a DLC expansion that magnifies the parent game’s failings and sidelines its more positive elements.