Starfield: Shattered Area evaluation: the massive growth 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 growth. This lead-up means there’s loads driving on Shattered Area — which is a wonderfully high-quality addition to the sport that additionally feels extremely underwhelming. After a promising setup, it finally ends up largely 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 non secular sect that worships a large serpent. There, you be taught the Va’ruun have been beset by a calamity that has induced some members to vanish, others to show into violent wraiths, and a lot of different unusual and disastrous happenings in and round their foremost metropolis. After a ceremony that really 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’ll be able to technically entry Shattered Area at any level after Starfield’s opening mission, however Bethesda recommends being degree 35 or increased to get by it. I performed on a New Recreation Plus save at degree 32 and didn’t actually have any issues.)

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

Shattered Area can also be notable for being extremely targeted. Whereas a lot of Starfield’s enchantment 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 growth for Fallout 4.

This leads to some nice storylines, notably 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 non secular sect appeared standoffish and obscure. However finally, it turned clear that regardless of their full isolation and perception in a giant snake, they have been all simply individuals struggling to get by. Even the straightforward missions provide you with some new perception into the human aspect of this group, which, in the principle Starfield marketing campaign, is essentially branded as a sect of violent zealots.

However the way you do that’s typical Starfield (and Bethesda) stuff. Quests have you ever combating by dungeons, amassing or delivering gadgets, and infrequently speaking your approach out of issues. There’s a brand new backdrop, however nothing a lot has modified by way of 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 a great likelihood to check out the brand new dune buggy.

There’s nothing notably dangerous about Shattered Area. And in the event you’re simply in search of extra Starfield, that’s precisely what that is, solely in one of many extra visually and narratively attention-grabbing areas within the recreation. However after a lot time, I can’t assist however need a little bit extra than simply extra. Shattered Area had the potential to be bizarre and creepy and completely different, nevertheless it seems like gamers should maintain ready for one thing that feels actually new.