Starfield's Shattered Space DLC has met with an unexpected outpouring of fan disappointment. Released on September 30, 2024 - just over a year after the base game's initial launch - Shattered Space was supposed to breathe new life into a stagnating Starfield. It would explore the underdeveloped House Va'ruun faction from the base game, introducing new locales, weapons, armor, and lots more in a terrifying story that had more flavor on one planet than the base game had in an entire galaxy.

But Steam reviews for Shattered Space are poor, and have trended downward since launch: releasing with Mixed reviews, it's since plummeted to Mostly Negative with over 1,400 reviews, the second-lowest rating a Steam game can get besides Overwhelmingly Negative. Criticisms of Starfield's DLC cover a wide range of gripes, from those that have always existed with the base game, to a whole new world of problems introduced by the DLC. Though many of these complaints are justified, some players may have put unfair expectations on Starfield's first DLC.

Why Shattered Space Is "Mostly Negative" On Steam

Base Game Concerns, Content Shortages, & The Illusion Of Choice

In a Reddit thread discussing the reasons for Shattered Space's Mostly Negative rating, Carinwe_Lysa expresses a common criticism: Starfield's DLC was just poorly executed. Sure, House Va'ruun is a fascinating faction, based only on what players know of them from the base game. They worship a mysterious entity known only as the Great Serpent, they live on a hidden planet where they grow powerful hallucinogens, and they believe they're the chosen ones, destined to bring the entire galaxy under their thumb.

Then, the player gets there, and half of House Va'ruun's capital city (Dazra) has been blown to smithereens in the massive unexplained explosion that makes up the DLC's inciting incident. And what remains of Dazra is scarcely any more interesting. For an isolationist society, Va'ruun'kai's major landmarks sure do look a lot like those in the base game's major cities, including, for some baffling reason, a Chunks. House Va'ruun uses the same ship parts as everyone else. They have a few unique pieces of clothing and weaponry, but, Carinwe_Lysa points out, they feel more like reskins of items from the base game.

In a response, comparisons between Shattered Space and Morrowind, suggesting there's a fundamental misunderstanding about why players enjoyed the latter. Morrowind's Three Houses slot right into the setting - each feels distinct, and forged by its environment. The three houses in Shattered Space are almost identical beyond surface-level differences in policy, so they're nowhere near as interesting to explore.

Others, like TalkingFlashlight in the same thread, criticize the quality of Shattered Space's writing. Although they ittedly like the DLC, and believe it delivered on the "more traditional Bethesda experience" promised by its handcrafted single-planet setting, they were surprised to find that Andreja, the base game's House Va'ruun-d companion, doesn't interact with the events of the DLC near as much as they expected. The problem isn't limited to Andreja, either; many of the side quests are simply boring. Others give players the illusion of choice, but their ultimate decisions don't feel near as impactful as they're presented to be.

So, between Shattered Space's failure to resolve issues with the base game, dearth of meaningfully new content, relatively short length, and uninteresting writing, many players simply feel it wasn't worth the $30 price tag, or the year-long wait. Read any of its Mostly Negative Steam reviews, and these same critiques will be repeated ad infinitum, indicating a critical consensus on Starfield's first DLC.

Has Shattered Space Failed To Deliver?

Some Expectations May Have Been Set Too High

Looking back at the early reveals and marketing for the DLC, it's clear that Shattered Space somewhat misrepresented itself in its first trailers. Showing players descending through abandoned space stations, while disembodied voices delivered cryptic monolgues. Unfortunately, it's become apparent since the DLC's release that Shattered Space expends all its spookiness in the opening moments: once the player actually makes it to Va'ruun'kai, it becomes just another boring Starfield questline.

Players are rightfully disappointed at this, but expecting Shattered Space to fix the base game's tedium was more than a little unfair. At most, it might've provided a short reprieve from the doldrums of Starfield's main storyline. It was never going to retroactively resolve pre-existing issues.

That said, Shattered Space was marketed on the strength of its handcrafted world. Players have every right to be disappointed by its relatively short length and uninteresting worldbuilding. While Shattered Space producer Tim Lamb was reluctant to draw such comparisons directly, this promise evokes the brilliantly realized worlds of older Bethesda games and DLC, like Oblivion or Far Harbor. Expectations certainly pointed towards a more classically Bethesda experience, which the DLC didn't deliver in either quality or scope.

What Needs To Happen For The Next DLC?

Starfield's Second DLC Can Improve

Bethesda has announced that it plans to release more DLC for Starfield, and definitely has the potential to do better with its next installment. The very fact that Shattered Space uses handcrafted environments suggests that Bethesda is listening to player opinions, and it needs to continue doing so. Speaking of handcrafted environments, that's one thing Shattered Space certainly delivers, even if what's there isn't particularly interesting or substantial. It'd be the wrong lesson to return to procedural map generation the next time around; Starfield's second DLC should still have a handcrafted, condensed map.

There just needs to be a little more creative risk-taking when it comes to deg the people and culture who inhabit it. Some truly different new ships, clothing, weaponry, side quests, et cetera, would make all the difference in Bethesda's DLC. Comparisons to other Bethesda games and DLC should be completely off the table - not only because they create unrealistic player expectations, but also because the next DLC should be unlike anything Bethesda has ever made before.

And honestly, if the next Starfield DLC is roughly on par with Shattered Space in of length, it may be time to start thinking about lowering the price. $30 has become standard for video game DLC, but not every DLC is created equal. Players could equally spend that $30 on Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC, which includes game-changing options for character builds, a thrilling story where choices actually matter, and a new map with a distinct identity. By comparison, Shattered Space might be more fairly priced at $15 or $20.

At this point, the damage is done - it's time to write Shattered Space off. This first effort at DLC was a stumble, and while many players' expectations were too high, it's pretty clear that Shattered Space failed to deliver where it counts. At this point, all players can hope for is a better second swing when it comes time for Starfield's next DLC.