Though Starfield has acquired many updates that ironed out its metropolis navigation system and launched a land automobile to reinforce its disjointed exploration formulation, it nonetheless appears like a blended bag of stellar moments and astronomical disappointments.
That is why I used to be cautiously enthusiastic about Shattered House after spending hours exploring the bottom sport’s equivalent factors of curiosity and enduring its flawed sense of exploration.
I used to be excited as a result of I remembered all the good DLCs that enriched Bethesda‘s earlier titles, and I do know what distinction new DLC could make after beating Cyberpunk 2077‘s Phantom Liberty.
I used to be cautious as a result of Starfield was constructed upon an historical engine, and believed that its issues had been too intrinsic to easily go away with a serious enlargement pack.
After my 13 hours of purple-infused and snake-obsessed journey into the homeland of one among Starfield’s most mysterious factions, I can say that I used to be not cautious sufficient.
As a result of what ought to have been a second wind for a failing area epic— or not less than a memorable comeback with just a few critical new mechanics— turned out to be a forgettable and underwhelming expertise.
Kicking Off With A Basic Sci-fi Trope
Shattered House is a refreshingly accessible DLC that seamlessly integrates into the sport. It permits you to swiftly immerse your self in a traditional sci-fi trope— a troubled area station with a misery name.
Whereas it’s undoubtedly dated, Bethesda is aware of find out how to work magic with the Creation Engine and construct an immersive scene and ambiance. The scene in query right here is The Oracle, a analysis heart for the mysterious Home Va’ruun, which consists of individuals obsessive about a giant serpent.
This strong introduction of The Oracle was a much-welcome departure from the repetitive landmarks of Starfield’s desolate planets.
It bought even higher, additional elevating expectations, with the addition of Phantoms, a brand new enemy sort that teleport across the freakish area station. Nevertheless, regardless of initially heightening the thriller, combating them turned a chore in a short time, very similar to coping with different features of Shattered House.
Buggier Than The Base Recreation
Solely after a few minutes of letting Shattered House current its mysterious introduction and combating in opposition to these unusual enemies, did they begin teleporting into hazardous areas of the area station, eliminating themselves and breaking immersion within the course of.
Alongside their tough fight AI, Shattered House additionally launched bugs that prevented me from progressing inside mere minutes.
For instance, I used to be unable to select up a keycard required to finish an goal whereas combating in opposition to the unfair area wizards concurrently. On a number of events later within the sport, I needed to revisit particular areas a number of occasions to set off important occasions to happen.
Certainly, the bottom sport had its justifiable share of bugs and glitches as properly, but it surely was truly one of the polished Bethesda video games thus far. A low bar, admittedly, however a benchmark was set nonetheless.
Though it miserably failed to cover its engine’s technical limitations, there weren’t many bugs that impeded quest development or fully broke Starfield. Shattered House, then again, began with critical bugs and saved throwing them my means till the tip.
For that reason, it is laborious to love whilst a standalone expertise as a result of bugs and underwhelming content material, which solely consists of some new weapons alongside Va’ruun-themed tools.
It Does Get One thing Proper
The long-awaited DLC could be removed from respiratory life into Bethesda’s underwhelming area opera. However it does get one thing proper and acknowledges Starfield’s arguably most evident problem, the disappointing spacefaring expertise.
Since area journey in Starfield is fairly non-existent because it’s constructed on fast-traveling and tiresome menu navigation, finishing quests and progressing within the sport is just not as enjoyable because it was in Fallout or Skyrim.
The quests and aims are scattered all through the programs and planets, that are related to one another through…loading screens.
This technical limitation eliminated the sense of exploration, a core component that made Bethesda video games family titles up to now.
Shattered House addresses the bottom sport’s fragmented exploration formulation, to some extent, by providing a extra condensed expertise set in a single place.
It is a welcome change to expertise fewer loading screens and really traverse the panorama to achieve aims. It is even higher when the surroundings appears fascinating and stuffed with anomalies like gravity bubbles, hazardous areas, and the aggressive use of the colour purple.
Welcome To Va’ruun’kai
Shattered House is about in Va’ruun’kai, the house planet of one among Starfield’s most extremist and mysterious factions, Home Va’ruun. After their keenly felt absence in the primary sport, it solely made sense for an enlargement pack to give attention to them.
Whereas the faction is a reserved group that’s solely represented by zealots in the primary sport, Shattered House by some means manages to downplay their introduction after beginning large with The Oracle.
As quickly as I landed on Dazra, the purple-drenched capital metropolis of Va’ruun’kai, I discovered myself as the brand new savior of the troubled group inside the first half-hour of the story, which continued to weaken the large introduction and slowly began to really feel like one other generic Bethesda story.
Simply when my ideas on that had been all however cemented, I rose to prominence in Va’ruun’kai, and Shattered House tasked me with navigating via the paranoid, double-crossing, and sneak-obsessed treacherous dwellers of the planet.
This was when it began to showcase its strengths by presenting a sequence of dilemmas, participating quests, and difficult conditions.
Whereas the conclusions of these moments had been typically marred by lazy writing and unusual wrap-ups, it was nonetheless nice to see a glimpse of Starfield’s narrative brilliance uninterrupted by the bottom sport’s inherent points.
Behind the appalling lack of precise content material and lots of missed alternatives, Shattered House confirmed a few of its developer’s experience in tailoring fascinating quests and storylines, slowly unfolding in a completely completely different and welcoming panorama.
However that was it. Shattered House’s most important story consists of transient flashes of storytelling finesse, and the moments that sparked pleasure had been regularly overshadowed by its vital shortcomings just like the quest-breaking bugs, lack of recent objects, gameplay programs, and immersion-breaking particulars.
Closing Feedback
Shattered House is simply extra of what Starfield couldn’t ship. Though its centered, single-location expertise and interesting quests present a refreshing change, its general lackluster high quality proves that no updates or expansions can actually rework Starfield. Whereas moments of brilliance stay, and Shattered House does add some memorable moments to the pile, it is a DLC that ensures that Starfield does not exit with a bang like a Supernova, however reasonably fades into the vacuum of area with out a lot as a whimper.