For all the years of build up and anticipation, Starfield’s launch last September didn’t exactly set the world alight. It took a bold step into sci-fi with its interstellar adventure, but felt like it didn’t quite explore its galaxy of possibilities as fully as it could have done. Launching on 30th September, Starfield: Shattered Space, the first big expansion for the game, looks set to take one of the dangling threads of potential and head down a dark and twisted rabbit hole.
Throughout the version of Starfield that shipped, you can see the vestigial remnants of some of the many gameplay experiments and ideas that Bethesda explored through the game’s eight years of development. Some remain as gameplay elements with little meaningful purpose, like building bases to refine fuel for space travel that was eventually made practically limitless, while others were left as dangling threads waiting to be revisited, like House Va’ruun.
This bunch of fanatical space serpent worshippers were easily one of the most enigmatic aspects of the main game. Ostensibly one of the biggest factions in the Settled Systems, alongside the United Colonies and FreeStar Collective, they were almost nowhere to be seen, outside of historical context and having Andreja as one of your possible companions. The presence of Va’ruun’kai, their homeworld, was kept a closely guarded secret as they retreated into isolation.
Also weird as heck experiments. Shattered Space reveals the location of Va’ruun’kai and the capital city of Dazra in the wake of a reality tearing experiment by their leading scientists, with extra-dimensional beings flooding through.
Va’ruun’kai promises to be a dark and unsettling locale to explore, the planet shrouded in deep, dark reds and purples from its sky that lend it a deeply ominous tone, while Dazra itself has been engulfed in a spatial anomaly and surrounded by a suspended explosion. Still, Dazra is basically the one safe place left on the planet, with the Va’ruun evacuating other settlements and places from across the planet to reach its relative safety.
House Va’ruun is threatened on all sides, the most eye-catching being the enemies that can burst out from another reality, whether they’re new long-limbed bugs or humanoids that are reminiscent of Spider-Man villain Mister Negative or Destiny’s Taken. There’s the potential to explore some real cosmic horrors through this rend in time and space that they’ve created, especially if Bethesda choose to reveal more about the Great Serpent itself.
While the trailers look to lean in on the horror aspect, I’m not sure the expansion will really be all that terrifying. Battling these enemies, Bethesda is pushing the combat in a subtly different direction that might ramp up the pressure and challenge you in different ways. There could be more zero-G battles, you’ll have more hostiles to deal with when exploring the wider surface of Va’ruun’kai and you’ll probably want the Rev-8 to help outrun things, but also there’s a shifting emphasis on enemies that will bullrush you and try to get within melee range. If you went through the main game hunkering down behind cover constantly, that might no longer be an option in Shattered Space as you’re pushed to stay mobile and make use of the jet pack.
However, just as impactful to this expansion will be the threats to House Va’ruun from within. There’s a power vacuum at the top of this space empire and all of the sub-factions and lesser figures are vying to step up to the big time. You’ll no doubt have a hand in deciding you gets to lead House Va’ruun into the future, and there will no doubt be the full gamut of reasonable leaders and full-on galaxy destroying nutters.
With the galaxy of systems and planets already generated, Bethesda’s expansions to Starfield can take on a much more hand-crafted approach. Shattered Space is the first fruits of this labour, building within this established framework to expand the universe narrative and make this a game worth revisiting.
