Starfield: Shattered Space review — A solid sci-fi expansion

"All must serve."

Those words serve as the basis that drives every individual in House Va'ruun, one of the more unknown factions in Bethesda Game Studios' Starfield, choosing to worship a deity known as the Great Serpent. They're also the central focus of Starfield: Shattered Space, the game's first story expansion. 

At the time I'm writing this, Starfield: Shattered Space is sitting at fairly mixed-to-negative reviews. From my time in the expansion, I disagree, though I do have some complaints. 

I really enjoyed my time Starfield at launch, and that's continued in Shattered Space, which changes gears from hopping between solar systems to instead focus on one world. The beautiful art direction and some fun quests are well worth spending time on, though I wish this DLC had leaned in on the horror atmosphere further and added more than a tiny handful of new enemies to take down. 

What is Starfield: Shattered Space?

Starfield: Shattered Space is the first story expansion for Bethesda Game Studios' Starfield.

This expansion adds a new solar system for players to explore, including the moon of Va'ruun'kai, home of the reclusive faction House Va'ruun. The main story in Shattered Space kicks off when you pick up on a mysterious distress signal originating from a space station that's not on the charts. From there, things spiral out as you discover House Va'ruun has suffered a horrifying catastrophe, with the survivors reluctantly accepting the help of an outsider to try and save their people. 

This roughly eight-hour plotline eschews Starfield's structure of randomized points of interest, with a significant chunk of the DLC taking place in and around the capital city of Dazra. This means that exploration and undergoing quests in Shattered Space feels more similar to an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game, as opposed to the constant zipping around through space that's seen in most of Starfield.

Starfield: Shattered Space

Shattered Space brings Starfield a new zone filled with handcrafted locations and dark mysteries. House Va'ruun has suffered utter catastrophe, and in this time of need, they're not as opposed to a possible savior from the outside.

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Starfield: Shattered Space review — What I liked

The most striking thing about Shattered Space is just how good it looks. Starfield has great art direction, with many moonlit worlds and icy planets that are hauntingly beautiful, but Shattered Space takes things to the next level. It's a gorgeous DLC, and I couldn't stop taking pictures throughout my playthrough. The light on Va'ruun'kai almost appears to bleed, emphasizing how otherworldly this place is. 

The expansion's tone follows through on that otherworldliness, with dark experiments and shady politics permeating the plot. Throughout your time with the survivors of House Va'ruun, you'll have to make some tough decisions, and while I tried to carefully balance the tension by defusing situations wherever possible, Shattered Space seems to allow you to indulge your worst impulses and act in a ruthless manner, something that wasn't often possible in Starfield's launch quests.

I married Andreja in the main game, and I definitely benefitted from having her around. Given her background as a member of House Va'ruun and belief in the Great Serpent, she had a fair bit to say about the people, culture, and situations on Va'ruun'kai.

As mentioned above, Shattered Space takes place entirely in a couple of locations, meaning it uses entirely handcrafted areas instead of the randomized points of interest found in large parts of the main game. The difference is notable, with some really fun level design that feels meaningful to explore. 

One particularly fun section, exploring an abandoned space station utilized the lack of gravity for some clever firefights that required thinking vertically, as opposed to the horizontal shoot-outs I was used to. Combined with the plot's eerie tone, it felt like something straight out of Arkane's criminally underrated Prey (2017).

There's a couple of new weapons hailing from the House Va'ruun armories, with special mention going to the Starstorm, a new favorite of mine that functions like a sort of energy gatling gun. Gathering special materials will allow you to craft new Vortex grenades. All of these options are needed when facing the gnarly Vortex Horrors, a new foe ripping through dimensions. These strange monsters live up to their name and caused the majority of my deaths across this DLC.

Starfield: Shattered Space review — What I disliked

Unfortunately, despite the heavy focus on terror that the people of Va'ruun'kai are currently suffering from, there aren't many new enemies to help reinforce that peril. The aforementioned Horrors are a fantastic addition, no question, but I was honestly expecting a bit more, even if it came in the form of a rare encounter that might force me to fight in different ways. Given the tone and focus of this DLC, only introducing a couple of horror-flavored enemies is a fairly big miss. 

I do also have to mention the price. Money is different for everyone, and I truly don't believe there's any one-size-fits-all approach for justifying the price of something, especially with inflation continuing to wreak havoc. That said, Shattered Space is a $30 DLC, and that's worth considering since the base game launched at $70, though you can easily find it below that price now.

Should you play Starfield: Shattered Space?

If you loved Starfield, then Shattered Space provides an even more focused experience to dive into. If you liked the base game, but didn't enjoy frequently hopping from planet to planet, it's still worth checking out, as the central location for all the action brings back a bit of the experience of playing an older Bethesda Game Studios title. 

Shattered Space isn't perfect, and I really do wish the developers had introduced more types of horror-themed enemies for us to fight, leaning in on the frenetic tone that permeates much of the DLC. Overall though, I've had a great time hanging out returning  to the Settled Systems and its snake-worshipping neighbors, and I'm looking forward to whatever else Bethesda Game Studios is bringing to this section of the galaxy.

Starfield and Starfield: Shattered Space are currently available on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC. Like other Xbox first-party games, Starfield is available in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.