*Cracks fingers in preparation* It has been almost a year since I have dived back into the Bethesda title, ‘Starfield’. You can find my original review here, but upon reflection, I was probably generous with my base review.

Starfield did not entice me to stay as long as any of my beloved favourite Bethesda titles. So after a year, I have hopes that some spit and polish has been put into their new expansive DLC, ‘Starfield: Shattered Space’ to light a fire under my ass to get back into it.

After attending a bizarre signal, you go to the space station known as ‘The Oracle’ overrun with aggressive Vortex Phantoms. After fixing the station’s ability to warp you are taken to the moon, Va’ruun’kai, a city that worships a serpent god. Your hero’s job is to solve what has caused the religious sect, the ‘House of Va’ruun’ to spiral into a disaster of missing members, dangerous rifts and a plethora of tasks from troubled citizens.

I did enjoy the story in this, especially if you ignore the convoluted and long-winded explanations of everything in the dialogue. If you push through it there is such a fantastic sci-fi feel that it could be out of any good episode of Star Trek (Enterprise series.. obviously). 

Some side quests are noteworthy, in particular, a set of brothers set out to duel till death. There are some great storylines wedgied in here.

This DLC can be started at any time, but it is recommended you be at level 35, which I also recommended as creatures can be level 40 at times or higher. A decent build at 30ish should suffice though. Thankfully you can do this DLC without ever leaving the planet, meaning it feels like a stand-alone game. The gameplay is the same as the base game and it is a shame there weren’t more unique items and gear included to make it more worthwhile. There are some but not nearly enough or anything particularly memorable that adds variety to the gameplay.

The surface buggy is a cool addition from previous updates not necessarily the DLC. But again that probably should have been there from the beginning as the insane treks between missions were diabolical before it was around.

The planet itself is beautiful though. In amazing hues of purples, pinks, and reds, a retro and synth-wave style that stands out from any other planet I have explored. This planet also feels more alive with floating boulders, gravitational bubbles, weird and denser flora, and creatures that reminded me of ‘Starship Troopers’, making me paranoid and bringing back trauma from that movie. At least this fixes my gripe with planets being empty in the base game.

The character models still have design flaws held back by the Creation Engine 2 they are created in. Facial expressions are not great still with such dead eyes even in parts that should be emotional, in saying that though, they have slightly improved since launch.

Once again though, the audio scape of this game is impeccable. The orchestral music is magical and so atmospheric. The sound effects are impactful from creatures and vehicles to weapons and jetpacking. The voice acting is delivered at such a high quality that it makes listening to lines of dialogue mildly bearable.

Starfield: Shattered Space is a decent trip back into Starfield but despite the tight narrative and insanely cool planet, it just left me wanting more. Bethesda do feel like they are moving in the right path though, and I look forward to future additions that could knock us out of this orbit.

Written by: Stacey