I appreciate how Starfield’s Shattered Space DLC makes the new Va’ruun homeworld location feel much more like Bethesda’s earlier open worlds, especially after the fast-travel extravaganza that was the game’s original campaign. A significant portion of the new quest content on this planet centers on a convoluted but intriguing tale of a futuristic theocracy that dangerously blends technology and religion despite their clear clash.
However, this initial growth is also not overly ambitious. Unlike, for example, the Dragonborn expansion for Skyrim, it does not provide any major new features that update anything you will do once you get in your spacecraft and depart this planet. Naturally, not every expansion can be as audacious as this one, but those that are not lose out on the chance to make a lasting, invigorating impression on a replay of a large-scale role-playing game like this, and end up being a fad.
My level 46 Starborn completed the following tasks after refreshing my save: it cleared the Unity, picked up Sarah from the Constellation Lodge, completed the Mantis mission to obtain a ship, completed a few temples, and then dove into the DLC, which was surprisingly simple to locate because it reappears the next time you go artifact hunting. When you open fire, you must be careful of what is behind you since the eerily eerie space station you start on makes full use of zero-G combat by adding bright blue walls that, if you are driven backward into them by gunfire, both do damage and disorientingly transfer you.
This is where the Phantom danger appears. These new foes are not ghosts, but they do look the part and are easy to see from a distance thanks to their glowing eyes and eerie blue energy field. This effect also disappears when they are killed, which is a very fantastic effect. They can be both interesting and annoying to combat because, in addition to being frequently high level and thus rather bullet spongey, they can teleport at will, shifting positions when you draw a bead on them and landing with a great old knife right behind you.
Listening for the whoosh sound effect of one popping into and out of existence can be your only warning before your health bar takes a big hit (especially a little later on when you might turn around and see the local equivalent of a Terrormorph tapping on your shoulder).
That is when the Phantom Menace first appears.
The floating portion does not linger too long, and as soon as you put your boots back on the ground, you are quickly transported to the Va’ruun homeworld, which was initially kept remarkably enigmatic in Starfield’s campaign. I had to laugh when the traditionally closed-off and xenophobic group urged me right away to fully convert to their religion and live freely among them. Although it is very Bethesda, where anyone may sign up and faction affiliations do not matter, it seemed a bit ridiculous to find them so welcome after playing the main campaign, even in light of the unusual circumstances.
Dazra is their city, and it is unlike any other in Starfield. The building, which has a purple tint, is quite different and appears more alien. Despite this, the Va’ruun people are still human behind all of their makeup, and they only speak like vampires on What We Do in the Shadows. (Using their constructions in your communities is possible after completing the main mission.) The residents are still recuperating from what sounds like a Thanos-style death toll, and half of the city was destroyed in a cataclysmic catastrophe that created a strange and twisted crater so large you can only truly get a feel of it by looking at the map (they have maps now!).
Although everyone seems to be talking about the surviving part of Dazra, I feel like it seems a little too tidy and orderly to truly sell this as a disaster zone. Still, it is an interesting environment.
Learning about the Va’ruun and the various factions within their peculiar space theocracy entails absorbing a lot of religious literature centered around a massive serpent. Even if it is all written and delivered to Bethesda’s high standards, spending this much time engaged in it can be taxing. But do not fear, none of this will come up on the test, and in the end, having a competent blaster on your side is still preferable.
Unlike the other major faction quest cities, Dazra’s surroundings are the sole setting for your mission to unite the three factions to resolve the current problem. Once you get to the Va’ruun homeworld, you do not even need to fly to another landing zone on the same planet to finish every quest you can find there. This is in contrast to sending you to your ship to quickly run errands on other planets.
When I got in my Razorleaf and went shopping in the Settled Systems for healing items—which are hard to come by on this planet without sleeping for days at a time waiting for the local doctor to restock—that was the only time I left in the 12 hours it took to complete the main story and every significant sidequest I encountered. (Ironically, your character will lose stat points for not doing grav jumps frequently enough if you chose the Serpent’s Embrace trait, which indicates that you were raised as a Va’ruun.)
We observe several significant spots on a single piece of extraterrestrial land.
Instead, you can either hoof it the old-fashioned manner, which I found refreshing or drive the freshly patched-in rover car to each quest destination throughout the Dazra. Because of all the planet-hopping and quick transit to new places, the majority of the primary Starfield objectives felt disconnected and jumbled; nevertheless, here we experience a more conventional Bethesda sense of place and continuity. Rather than one major object and a bunch of procedurally generated filler, we see numerous meaningful sites living on the same nearly seamless piece of interplanetary real estate. The crater’s abundance of gravity distortion bubbles is another appealing feature. If only they were employed more frequently, I think they would set this planet apart from others and allow you to float to otherwise inaccessible regions.
On the other hand, this down-to-earth approach makes Shattered Space extremely focused in the way it expands on Starfield, to the point where there is zero use of interstellar travel or space combat. As far as I can tell there’s absolutely nothing added for spacefarers other than now you have a way to legitimately acquire Va’ruun ships instead of stealing them from Zealots who attack you in space. That’s fine, as an expansion doesn’t always have to meaningfully expand every aspect of a game – but I was surprised that there wasn’t at least a token feature thrown in for space jockeys in an expansion with “space” in the title.
There are a few new weapons available for loot, and while they are essentially just Va’ruun’s interpretation of existing weapon kinds, there is nothing wrong with having more variation in terms of both their clunky visual design and their eye-catching energy effects. Additionally, you can manufacture certain grenades from the components of defeated Phantoms. Once more, though, it is a little disheartening to learn that there will not be much of a shift in your gameplay when you pass away.
You do not spend much time shooting at mainstream Va’ruun because, as Andreja promised, they turn out to be generally fine people. To break things up from becoming mixed up with Phantoms, there are a good amount of Zealots (including a very muscular new armored melee variety) and the sporadic generic spacers to battle. Since normal is so easy, and almost everything in Shattered Space is relatively manageable, I usually play on hard. The reason I say “almost” is that, although it is difficult to avoid taking damage in that gunfight, I did end up setting it back down to normal for the last battle. Mostly, though, this was done so I would not have to buy every health pack in the Settled Systems before trying it again.
Ultimately, I must acknowledge that Shattered Space deserves some of the credit for providing me with a compelling cause to revisit Starfield and experience it in light of all of Bethesda’s recent enhancements. Though the inventory is still terrible and the temples are still incredibly repetitive (and since this is a Bethesda game, it goes without saying that there are still a ton of bugs, both new and old), those improvements have gone a long way toward making this a game I am glad I took the time to revisit. The maps and the car do make a substantial difference in the inconveniences I had to overcome to enjoy the main campaign.
The Verdict
Starfield: Shattered Space is a game that bridges the noticeable gap left by Va’ruun in the main campaign. It features a substantial amount of quest content, full of mythology about snake worship and formidable foes who can teleport. Many of these plot points will be recognizable to fans of Fallout and the Elder Scrolls, but with the Starfield twist, they are more than just reheats. As opposed to hopping between primarily desolate worlds, the new planet is a pleasant upgrade as it is more of a classic Bethesda-style open world with plenty of things to do. Nevertheless, there is not much to carry with you when you depart because, aside from a few new missions, weaponry, and building possibilities, there are not any new gameplay mechanics or even abilities, that you will want to test out after a fresh pass through the Unity. Shattered Space breaks some conventions, but for those who want more Starfield, it is more of it.
