Starfield could not have landed with the type of affect that many previous Bethesda titles have achieved for a lot of (personally, I cherished 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 return down the road), however the recreation is quickly additionally set to get its first main paid growth within the type of Shattered House. 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 totally different factions throughout its interstellar setting, and although the mysterious Home Va’ruun wasn’t as outstanding part of the sport or the story as many different had been, that’s set to vary with Shattered House. 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 can 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 House would be the first time we’ll get to see it ourselves. Upon arriving on the planet, gamers will discover that the folks of Home Va’ruun – who’ve lived in voluntary seclusion from the remainder of the human race for a very long time – had been experimenting with grav drive expertise, with that experiment failed and led to disastrous penalties all around the planet- that you just now must cope with.
In actual fact, when you arrive on the planet, that’s the place many 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 often identified for was a lot much less outstanding for a lot of gamers’ tastes. With Shattered House, nonetheless, Bethesda is seeking to ship a single, massive, totally 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 massive the planet of Va’ruun’kai goes to be in comparison with the opposite handcrafted planets present in Starfield, however based mostly on all the pieces that Bethesda is saying, it’s going to be fairly sizeable. The developer has mentioned that the growth is about to open up over 50 new places for gamers to hunt out and discover on Va’ruun’kai. All through the planet, gamers can even discover gravitational distortions often known as Vortexes, which can carry their very own distinctive challenges (extra on this in a bit).
DAZRA
One of many essential places that gamers can be exploring in Shattered House is Dazra, the town that serves because the capital of Va’ruun’kai, and, by extension, the seat of energy for the complete faction. Gamers can count on 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 at no cost in August – can even be usable all through the town and the remainder of the planet.
HORROR ELEMENTS
As you make your method by way of Shattered House, it’s also possible to count on 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 undoubtedly did sprinkle a bit of little bit of horror into proceedings, and it seems to be like that’s going to be a way more outstanding a part of the expertise from starting to finish in Shattered House.
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 over a way more outstanding position within the upcoming Shattered House, you’ll be able to count on an excellent 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 a complete.
NEW ENEMIES
Starfield: Shattered House goes to have gamers going up in opposition to loads of smaller factions inside Home Va’ruun, with the bigger group going through inside turmoil amidst its newest disaster, however they received’t be the one enemies you’ll be taking over. Bethesda has confirmed the growth is about so as to add solely new enemies to tackle as well- similar to monstrosities often known 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 you might count on, Starfield: Shattered House can be going so as to add new gear and weapons for gamers to seek out and use- that is an RPG, in any case. Additional particulars on that entrance are considerably scarce, so we don’t but know what the extent of the additions right here can be. One new addition particularly that has been talked about is the Vortex Grenade, which probably 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 House isn’t going to buck that development. Bethesda is promising numerous selections for gamers to make as they make their method by way of 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 way of with Shattered House. After all, Bethesda has additionally beforehand mentioned that Shattered House 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 massive of an growth is Shattered House going to be? This being a Bethesda growth, it shouldn’t shock you to study 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 House goes to be comparable in scope to Fallout 4’s acclaimed growth, Far Harbor, which suggests we’re seemingly a 10-20 hour growth, relying on how extensively you interact with all of its non-obligatory content material. “Content material-wise, we’re type of like what we did with Far Harbor on Fallout 4,” Howard mentioned. “It is 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’d in earlier video games and provides folks not utterly that have, as a result of it’s nonetheless Starfield, however this new type of alien world that you just’re in a position to discover.”
