Starfield: Shattered Area assessment: the massive enlargement isn’t bizarre sufficient

It’s been a very long time coming for Starfield gamers. Bethesda’s sci-fi tackle Skyrim initially launched final summer season, and whereas there have been some updates and enhancements since then, it’s taken greater than a yr for the sport to get its first main enlargement. This lead-up means there’s lots driving on Shattered Area — which is a superbly wonderful addition to the sport that additionally feels extremely underwhelming. After a promising setup, it finally ends up principally being extra of the identical.

Issues begin, as they so usually do in expansions, with a misery name. This one leads you to a derelict house station that’s brimming with ghostly apparitions and which finally whisks you away to the house planet of the Home Va’ruun, a spiritual sect that worships a large serpent. There, you be taught the Va’ruun have been beset by a calamity that has precipitated some members to vanish, others to show into violent wraiths, and quite a few different unusual and disastrous happenings in and round their primary metropolis. After a ceremony that truly converts you to the church, your job turns into fixing the thriller of the calamity and serving to the Home put issues again so as.

(Observe: you possibly can technically entry Shattered Area at any level after Starfield’s opening mission, however Bethesda recommends being stage 35 or greater to get by it. I performed on a New Recreation Plus save at stage 32 and didn’t actually have any issues.)

It’s a fantastic premise that guarantees every kind of cosmic horror. The planet you’ll discover is rendered in a garish crimson and purple, full of unusual glowing growths, bubbles the place gravity doesn’t exist, and oddball creatures that might look proper at house in No Man’s Sky. The primary metropolis — which appears like a cross between a frontier city and an historical temple — is full of individuals struggling by the turmoil, whether or not it’s misplaced family members, meals shortages, or a disaster of religion.

Shattered Area can be notable for being extremely targeted. Whereas a lot of Starfield’s attraction has been the sheer scale of its universe, right here, you’re restricted to a single planet that’s dense with issues to do and see. It’s paying homage to the largely standalone Far Harbor enlargement for Fallout 4.

This ends in some nice storylines, significantly within the sidequests, which have you ever doing all the things from investigating a haunted orphanage to searching down a livestock thief. At first, the spiritual sect appeared standoffish and obscure. However finally, it grew to become clear that regardless of their full isolation and perception in a giant snake, they had been all simply individuals struggling to get by. Even the straightforward missions offer you some new perception into the human aspect of this group, which, in the principle Starfield marketing campaign, is basically branded as a sect of violent zealots.

However the way you do that’s typical Starfield (and Bethesda) stuff. Quests have you ever preventing by dungeons, gathering or delivering objects, and sometimes speaking your method out of issues. There’s a brand new backdrop, however nothing a lot has modified when it comes to the construction or moment-to-moment expertise of Starfield. These alien monstrosities are simply extra enemies to combat; the ghostly wraiths are simply extra troopers taking pictures at you. On the very least, the fetch quests are likelihood to check out the brand new dune buggy.

There’s nothing significantly dangerous about Shattered Area. And if you happen to’re simply in search of extra Starfield, that’s precisely what that is, solely in one of many extra visually and narratively attention-grabbing places within the sport. However after a lot time, I can’t assist however need somewhat extra than simply extra. Shattered Area had the potential to be bizarre and creepy and totally different, however it appears like gamers should maintain ready for one thing that feels really new.