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Starfield’s Long-Awaited Major Expansion Is Locked To One Planet

Shattered Space is on the horizon, launching more than a year after Starfield was released to the world. In 2023, Bethesda Game Studios finally pushed Starfield out to the open market, being met with a mixed reception and some critical feedback that would come to shape the future of the ambitious space-based RPG.

Shattered Space is the first major expansion for Starfield, but it won’t be the last. Recently, Bethesda took a deep dive into the core gameplay mechanics centered around Shattered Space, stressing that the entire expansion unravels on a single planet.


‘Explore Every Nook and Cranny’

In a recent deep dive published by Bethesda Game Studios, the foundational principles of Shattered Space were laid out. It was explained by BGS that the entire expansion takes place on Va’ruun’kai, the homeworld of House Va’ruun, an ‘isolationist’ society shrouded in mystery and intrigue.

In that, the team also confirmed that at no point does the DLC leave Va’ruun’kai:

From the minute you arrive on Va’ruun’kai the story never sends you off planet. You’re free to leave at any time, but the story is fully centered around life on the Va’ruun home world.

We wanted to give you the opportunity to explore every nook and cranny of this location and find clues as to who these people really are and what happened to them.

Thanks to IGN for the quotes

Eagle-eyed users noted that the description for Shattered Space mentions that Va’ruun’kai is a ‘fully handcrafted’ location, which has filled the community with a sense of hope. One of the flaws of Starfield was that the promised ‘endless exploration’ opportunities turned out to be rinse-and-repeat caves, bases, and settlements with identical structures, layouts, and enemy positions.

If Va’ruun’kai has been designed from the ground up by hand, it should at least be a little more immersive and entertaining to explore.

Sadly, the faction element in Starfield was also underwhelming, with many players (including myself) coming away with no real sense of attachment to the factions. They weren’t memorable in the same way that the Dark Brotherhood from Elder Scrolls or the Brotherhood of Steel from Fallout are memorable, which is a shame.

Hopefully, Shattered Space can heal that flaw a little, as House Va’ruun is interesting enough on paper.

Are you looking forward to Shattered Space? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Forum.


For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out what Vince Zampella had to say about the PS5 Pro price

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Avatar of jabel
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jabel

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105 messages 141 likes

While this sounds disappointing I hope the planet is hand-crafted and actually worth exploring.

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VolumeRX

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11 messages 14 likes

Can we name one thing Bethesda studios have done properly? I'm blanked

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gustoweasel

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3 messages 2 likes

Can we name one thing Bethesda studios have done properly? I'm blanked

This is funny!

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gustoweasel

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3 messages 2 likes

While this sounds disappointing I hope the planet is hand-crafted and actually worth exploring.

Why is that disappointing? Most the planets barely have anything to do. A couple well created planets is better than 100's with nothing to do

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VolumeRX

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11 messages 14 likes

This is funny!

In recent years they have done nothing but disappoint everyone

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Avatar of jabel
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jabel

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105 messages 141 likes

Why is that disappointing? Most the planets barely have anything to do. A couple well created planets is better than 100's with nothing to do

Well that is exactly the point I was trying to make.

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Avatar of SoloDolo
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SoloDolo

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109 messages 193 likes

I’m having a tough time being excited for this. I didn’t finish the base game (although I plan on it at some point) and the gameplay overview for shattered space didn’t do anything for me. If it reviews well then I’ll reconsider.

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Avatar of Brandon Morgan
Brandon Morgan

Guide Writer

27 messages 38 likes

It appears I'm one of the outliers here on the forums, as I genuinely enjoyed Starfield. I have about 300 hours in the game now, and while it's certainly not perfect, I constantly return to it when I can. That said, I really want this expansion to include a new companion or two, specifically romance options, and a handful of new weapons to play around with.

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Stark

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3 messages 5 likes

Planning to finish this game next year. I had it around 70h+ before putting it hold. At the time, they didn't have the 60FPS option for Series S so I'm eager to try it again.

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Azerka

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50 messages 38 likes

That's their own doing hyping up their number of planets like it was a metric for fun and now people are dissapointed with this news

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Jivesh

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154 messages 182 likes

This is good no? A more focused experience

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