Bethesda’s Starfield: Shattered Space DLC launches today on Xbox and PC, offering many improvements and a new, self-contained story.
The wait is over for Starfield gamers! Starfield: Shattered Space launches today, the first of what game director Todd Howard hopes will become yearly expansions. The DLC was released at 11 a.m. ET (8 a.m. PT) and costs $29.99 USD. While the base game is included in a Game Pass subscription, subscribers can get a discount on the new DLC. Despite Starfield receiving mixed reviews, this release might bring more explorers back to the game.
CGMagazine’s Philip Watson outlined the upcoming changes in Shattered Space a few weeks ago: “Bethesda boasts 50 new locations will be added to the map, and new formidable enemies will populate the area aside from the standard enemy fare. They’re called Redeemed and Vortex Horrors. New grenade weapons can be crafted from harvested organic materials, and Bethesda promises ‘it’s gross.’ The Crimson Fleet, Zealot, and Spacer menace from the base Starfield title will also appear in Shattered Space, marking a familiar enemy in unfamiliar territory.”
The Shattered Space expansion was designed to solve many issues players were annoyed at with the base game. First of all, there is no chasing around empty worlds here. The entire story takes place on a single planet, which was entirely hand-designed. This should provide the joy of exploration typical of older Bethesda games that was missing in Starfield that allows players to have a refined experience on one sandbox versus meaningless experiences on multiple ones. This DLC will also fix loading screens, in response to player feedback.
Here is the description of the new Starfield expansion:
“In Shattered Space, players will visit the homeworld of House Va’ruun for the first time. Explore a fully handcrafted new location and unravel the mysteries surrounding the followers of the Great Serpent. House Va’ruun is on the brink of collapse and their people need help finding a path forward. When your sudden presence on their hidden home planet is seen by some as divine intervention, it’s up to you to restore House Va’ruun and decide the fate of this secretive faction.“
Starfield had mixed reviews since its original launch. The game received good reviews (the PC version has an average rating of 85% on Metacritic). On Steam, 59% of user reviews were hailing the space RPG. No reviews are out online yet, but should begin populating the internet threads soon, or tomorrow.
Starfield: Shattered Space is out now on Xbox Series X|S, Microsoft Windows, and Steam (PC). If you own the Premium or Constellation editions of the game, you’ll receive the new content as part of your original purchase. If you have the base edition, you can still purchase the Premium upgrade to get Shattered Space along with a variety of other collectibles, including digital art and the soundtrack.
