Now the reason I struggled so much with getting through Shattered Space after the first few hours of genuine promise that I was really excited for was not because the content was horrible- it was actually the crushing realisation that Shattered Space might have been the single least ambitious pieces of DLC content that Bethesda have put out since Oblivion- and it is galling to see them bold face call this great high quality content worthy of the fee they charge. It's almost as though we're watching a delusional man with a missing limb swear-down that he is completely uninjured as the blood literally cascades out of the giant whole in his body. You can expect this to go on for years until Starfield is behind them before Bethesda will admit they didn't maybe perform to their best- and by then it will obviously be too late. Take it from Fallout 76- they react like a cocky anime villain after the protagonist's music starts swelling: overconfidently and not effectively enough.
Shattered Space felt like cut content with a little bit more on the package, a definite break from the rules that founded their least interesting modern game- procedural generation and small content pockets, but lacking in any overall purpose to define it's existence. Not that purpose is a must-have for every single questline in any wandering Bethesda game but for a major DLC in a recent struggling release that seems like a huge omission! Take us back to Fallout 4- their DLC's both attempted to address a vertical of the gameplay experience. Far Harbour was an answer to those that found Fallout 4's roleplaying options severely lacking, Nuka World was an answer to those that thought there wasn't enough evil play options- therefor Raider-cosplay DLC! And Shattered Space... was to answer those that found procedural generation lacklustre? Is that really all it tries to do?
Okay so sure, that's a purpose no matter how you cut it- but does that really add the gameplay formula? I'll admit- I actually enjoyed seeing the sights of... the new location who's name I can't remember and won't look up: I liked walking about and seeing what was there- even if none of it was exactly Bethesda at their A-game of world building; despite the relatively constricted space they had to work with. (Remember when 'Shivering Isles' did the same and managed to contain some of Bethesda's best world building?) Shattered Space doesn't really achieve the same level of quality, nor the level of scale of a traditional Bethesda game- so it just goes to demonstrate a direction that Bethesda could have gone in if they decided to put a bit more of themselves into creating their worlds and trusted less to the generation machine. Which just makes me feel sad because they didn't.
What about arguably their best title- Skyrim? Heathfire introduced constructable player housing that fed into the simulation loving audience, Dawnguard played into their alternative playstyles and made Vampires the most interesting they'd ever been in the franchise, Dragonborn expanded the adventure- Dragonborn abilities and played to nostalgia. All of these felt like honestly directed experiences with a direction and a goal- I'd even extend the same virtue to Starfield itself- though I feel the direction might have not perhaps hit everything it wanted to. Shattered Space, predominately, feels like content for the sake of content. Like you might get in a live service where a land expansion is mandated for this year even though no one really has an inspired idea on what they want to do with it- that's Shattered Space in a nutshell.
And I think it's apparent even in the name. 'Shattered Space'? Evocative, but empty in the face of context. 'Shattered' is clearly suppose to refer to the incident that befell the the Va'ruun which ended up breaking reality around them and seeping in creatures from some other form of reality into this one. (Don't get excited, this isn't Star Trek. They're just mindless teleporting bugs- no creative imagination required.) As for Space... where? What does this have to do with space? The DLC is rather pointedly landlocked throughout it's duration. With a title like that you would expect some kind of implicit shift to the foundations of the normal Starfield tries to set- that of Space Travel. Something about that has become 'Shattered'- it's wrong, broken and fits together differently now. But what we got feels a bit more like content designed to fit the title rather than a title conceived to label the content. Does that make sense?
Perhaps the enemy design best highlights the sheer lack of heart here- because outside of the teleporting bugs which are fine- not scary like the team tried to build up- they're just fine. We also get humanoid void enemies. Their thing? They shoot and they teleport. Kind of like the Starborn then? Eerily like the Starborn. Not quite. See, these guys are treated like infantry and so you'll come across them in chunks, and they seem to have basic grunt AI which means they charge you- constantly. So yes, the flagship new enemy of Shattered Space are basic grunts with a blue ghost effect slapped on them and the ability to teleport behind you- which they spam endlessly. How does that sound to you? Fun? Honestly, it's a bit annoying. And it becomes more frustrating the higher you attune their deeply unbalanced difficulty scales. At basic 'Extreme', which is one below the highest setting, you feel like you're beta-testing a broken mod from a first year game designer. I feel like how I imagine the testers for 'Fallout: The Frontier' felt- like my brain was melting along with my patience.
Need I even bring up comparisons? The new lord Vampires from Dawngaurd with their crazy cool design, new abilities and an entire league of smaller mob redesigns to buff up their faction. Alongside the creepy Chaurus Hunters. And the entirety of the Forgotten Vale with it's unique Fauna? Shattered Isles entirely unique enemy set (with a lot of reskins, to be fair- but that was back in 2006.) I know I'm delving deep into 'petty' here but it's the only way I can try and identify all the ways in which this one DLC from Bethesda has totally shattered my belief that there is a company I recognise in modern Bethesda. But there has to be, right? There haven't been that many gigantic staff overhauls- the creative powerhouses are still there, aren't they? So what are they doing?
It isn't a total disaster. The beginning mission for Shattered Space is fine, and the finale is actually uniquely cool. One of their better faction finales. But that is pretty much all it was. A fun start, a cool end and a middle so utterly bland I could not tell you what happened if you held me at gunpoint. Terribly boring characters, a script begging for rewrites and cuts, mostly uninspired quest design, (the dam one was alright) and- of course- horrifically short. Vague consequences that are hinted at but displayed nowhere. Shattered Space was the worst it could have been- a total waste of time. For me and Bethesda. And that's all I have to say on it- and it's probably the last I'll think of it too.
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