Starfield might not have landed with the kind of affect that many previous Bethesda titles have completed for a lot of (personally, I beloved it), however lengthy earlier than it had launched, developer Bethesda Recreation Studios made it abundantly clear that it’d be supporting the space-faring epic with new content material for years after launch. Clearly, a few of that has already come within the type of a handful of free replace (with extra presumably to come back down the road), however the recreation is quickly additionally set to get its first main paid growth within the type of Shattered Area. From reverting to specializing in handcrafted content material like previous BGS titles to mixing its sci-fi choices with a splash of cosmic horror, Starfield’s debut growth is making some intriguing guarantees, and right here, we’re going to go over all of these key particulars.
STORY
Starfield’s base expertise launched a number of completely different factions throughout its interstellar setting, and although the mysterious Home Va’ruun wasn’t as distinguished part of the sport or the story as many different have been, that’s set to vary with Shattered Area. The growth will start with gamers coming throughout an deserted area station dubbed The Oracle, with a message telling you to remain away and never board it. That, after all, means you will board it, from right here gamers will probably be inadvertently led to the mysterious dwelling planet of Home Va’ruun.
SETTING
Home Va’ruun’s dwelling planet – Va’ruun’kai – was briefly referenced just a few instances in Starfield, however Shattered Area would be the first time we’ll get to see it ourselves. Upon arriving on the planet, gamers will discover that the individuals of Home Va’ruun – who’ve lived in voluntary seclusion from the remainder of the human race for a very long time – have been experimenting with grav drive know-how, with that experiment failed and led to disastrous penalties everywhere in the planet- that you simply now need to take care of.
The truth is, when you arrive on the planet, that’s the place a lot of the growth will happen, as per Bethesda. A lot of Starfield’s base expertise noticed gamers hopping from planet to planet, which implies that the natural exploration and emergent design that BGS RPGs are normally identified for was a lot much less distinguished for a lot of gamers’ tastes. With Shattered Area, nevertheless, Bethesda is trying to ship a single, giant, absolutely handcrafted location that can span the overwhelming majority of the growth and its content material choices.
OVER 50 NEW LOCATIONS
We don’t know precisely how giant the planet of Va’ruun’kai goes to be in comparison with the opposite handcrafted planets present in Starfield, however based mostly on every little thing that Bethesda is saying, it’s going to be fairly sizeable. The developer has mentioned that the growth is ready to open up over 50 new areas for gamers to hunt out and discover on Va’ruun’kai. All through the planet, gamers will even discover gravitational distortions referred to as Vortexes, which is able to deliver their very own distinctive challenges (extra on this in a bit).
DAZRA
One of many major areas that gamers will probably be exploring in Shattered Area is Dazra, the town that serves because the capital of Va’ruun’kai, and, by extension, the seat of energy for your entire faction. Gamers can anticipate to be spending fairly a little bit of time within the metropolis, with Bethesda additionally promising loads of room for exploration, secrets and techniques, and extra. The land car Rev-8 – which was added to Starfield without spending a dime in August – will even be usable all through the town and the remainder of the planet.
HORROR ELEMENTS
As you make your manner by Shattered Area, you may also anticipate a tonal shift in comparison with the bottom recreation. Particularly, Bethesda is promising a extra horror-tinged expertise. Anytime you probably did have run-ins with Home Va’ruun within the base recreation, Starfield positively did sprinkle slightly little bit of horror into proceedings, and it appears like that’s going to be a way more distinguished a part of the expertise from starting to finish in Shattered Area.
FILLING IN THE GAPS
Home Va’ruun was a intentionally mysterious and ambiguous a part of the setting and the backstory in Starfield’s base expertise, however with the faction taking up a way more distinguished function within the upcoming Shattered Area, you possibly can anticipate variety of these mysteries to be tackles. As per Bethesda and Microsoft, the growth will fill in purposeful gaps within the base recreation’s lore, explaining why Home Va’ruun reduce itself off from the remainder of humanity and what these choices led to for the faction as an entire.
NEW ENEMIES
Starfield: Shattered Area goes to have gamers going up in opposition to loads of smaller factions inside Home Va’ruun, with the bigger group going through inner turmoil amidst its newest disaster, however they gained’t be the one enemies you’ll be taking up. Bethesda has confirmed the growth is ready so as to add fully new enemies to tackle as well- comparable to monstrosities referred to as Redeemed and Vortex Horrors, who’re amongst a number of extradimensional threats which have come pouring out on Va’ruun’kai after the faction’s aforementioned failed experiments.
NEW WEAPONS AND GEAR
As chances are you’ll anticipate, Starfield: Shattered Area can be going so as to add new tools and weapons for gamers to seek out and use- that is an RPG, in spite of everything. Additional particulars on that entrance are considerably scarce, so we don’t but know what the extent of the additions right here will probably be. One new addition particularly that has been talked about is the Vortex Grenade, which doubtlessly means that we’ll be utilizing new weapons tied to Home Va’ruun’s experiments with grav drive tech.
CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCE MECHANICS
Selection and consequence mechanics are an enormous deal in any Bethesda RPG, and Starfield: Shattered Area isn’t going to buck that development. Bethesda is promising numerous decisions for gamers to make as they make their manner by the growth, whereas an Xbox Wire preview has additionally teased choices that may “have an effect on the broader galaxy” as soon as you’re by with Shattered Area. After all, Bethesda has additionally beforehand mentioned that Shattered Area is meant to be a largely standalone expertise, which suggests its story is unlikely to have an effect on the bottom recreation, and vice versa- so maintain that in thoughts as you dive in.
LENGTH AND SCOPE
Let’s get to the query on everybody’s mind- precisely how giant of an growth is Shattered Area going to be? This being a Bethesda growth, it shouldn’t shock you to be taught that it’s set to be a sizeable addendum to what was already fairly a large recreation. Talking earlier this 12 months in an interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, director Todd Howard revealed that Shattered Area goes to be related in scope to Fallout 4’s acclaimed growth, Far Harbor, which suggests we’re possible taking a look at a 10-20 hour growth, relying on how extensively you have interaction with all of its elective content material. “Content material-wise, we’re taking a look at type of like what we did with Far Harbor on Fallout 4,” Howard mentioned. “This can be a scope that works for our improvement in doing this sort of annual story growth kind of factor, so we’re actually enthusiastic about that. And it lets us type of do some issues the best way we might in earlier video games and provides individuals not utterly that have, as a result of it’s nonetheless Starfield, however this new type of alien world that you simply’re capable of discover.”
