Shattered Spacethe upcoming first major expansion for Starfieldfeels like Bethesda is returning to an old, comfortable armchair. However, a horror armchair with intense combat set in a half-destroyed capital city that has fallen victim to a rift in space and time. But instead of another galaxy-wide series of adventures like in the base game, this is a story told on one planet, a limited and controlled narrative that is much more reminiscent of the old Elder Scrolls Approach.
During Bethesda’s behind-the-doors demonstration of the game, Va’ruun’kai was revealed to be a planet distinct from the rest of the explorable galaxy, with its capital city torn apart by a rift in the fabric of space and time, a place described as a place where humanity seeks knowledge – which would otherwise be the overarching narrative of Starfield— has “gone too far.” Whatever the scientists were up to — and it had something to do with “gravitational propulsion technology” — it had devastating effects, and you’re now exploring the remains while various factions fight for control in the vacuum of leadership.
Buy Starfield: Amazon | Best buy | GameStop
The Shattered Space The demo footage shown at Gamescom this week began with a brutal scene of floating corpses in damp, metallic corridors, a mood that immediately spoke much more of horror than Starfield‘s more familiar science fiction cleanliness. This is a planet with a more Foreigner The landscape is much stranger and, in addition to the many things that happen to the locals, also features gravitational anomalies.
What followed in the demo was a long series of events that occurred in the wake of the recent catastrophe of the Va’ruun people, which is made even worse when you learn that these rifts in space are now letting in cruel monsters from another reality. The immediate mood was FEAR– it reminded me a lot of Monolith’s classic horror shooters, as the player character sneaked through deserted sci-fi corridors and was plagued by grim beasts that constantly pounced on them.
Bethesda’s Brian Chaplin described Va’ruun’kai as a “secluded, hand-crafted place” with an “isolated faction” living on the planet, shielded from the outside world. Their culture had therefore developed independently of what had previously existed in Starfieldwhich of course gives the team free reign to create something that feels different and distinctive and not constrained by the perhaps less popular nature of the rest of the game. If anything, it seems to have given them the freedom to go back to their roots.
You emerge after this recent crisis, which saw large parts of the capital destroyed and before reconstruction has even begun. The rest of the Citadel, which housed the area’s power structure, is now encased in a peculiar energy field and the leader is missing, meaning there is a power vacuum. This is being sought by “lesser houses”, the area’s factions – the Zealots, Spacers and Crimson Fleet – who want to fill the political vacuum. And of course, that means all kinds of rivalries between the factions.
To accommodate the different location, Bethesda also wants the game to be played differently. While most people Starfield as a long-range shooter who keeps his distance and shoots from a distance, in Shattered Spacethere is an urge to force people to act much closer and more impersonally through ambushes, hand-to-hand combat and much more panic.
“We wanted to focus on the mystery and horror aspects,” Bethesda said. “Space is scary, and to convey that we also need to use the chaos of combat.” It’s all part of an expansion that puts horror first.
You can leave the planet whenever you want. StarfieldDue to the open-ended nature of the storyline here is entirely self-contained and exploring the planet and city will lead to us finding out exactly what happened here and, we are told, “getting caught up in the political feud between the lesser houses”. You will of course help decide what the fate of the city is and which faction ultimately takes control.
This reorientation of the Starfield could be a boon for the ailing project. While Bethesda calls it “one of our biggest games,” the publisher could well also include the likes of Rogue Warrior And Wet in this list and Starfield has certainly not held onto its audience. At the time of writing, it only has 6,000 players on Steam, compared to 2015 Fallout4 with a relaxed 17,000. So releasing something that seems so deliberately different in both mood and style could be a decision at the right time.
The idea that there is a complete, detailed story that you can play through, taking place in a limited location, next to the FEAR-like atmosphere, makes me want to return to the game for the first time since launch week. Presumably Bethesda is hoping that desire is shared by the hundreds of thousands who played in July.
Buy Starfield: Amazon | Best buy | GameStop
.
