“Bethesda tried to hype this up so much just for it to fall short.” Starfield: Shattered Space DLC reviews plummet to ‘Mostly Negative’ on Steam, and aren’t much better on Xbox [UPDATED]

So far, the reception of Starfield’s first DLC has been very lukewarm.

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Update, October 3, 2024 —Over the course of this week, the reviews for Starfield: Shattered Space have taken a turn for the worse. On Steam, the expansion now bears a “Mostly Negative” rating with only 36% of its 1,440 user reviews giving it a Positive score, and on Xbox and the Microsoft Store, its average has lowered from 3.6/5 stars to 3.4. The majority of negative reviews cite the same issues previous ones did, including an overall lack of content and short playthrough length.

Original article:Standing as the biggest addition to the space exploration RPG yet and significantly hyped up by Bethesda itself,Starfield’s Shattered Space DLCseemed poised to give the game a huge boost when it launched on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC on September 30 earlier this week. In the immediate wake of its release, though, it’s become apparent that it hasn’t delivered the experience many players were hoping for.

At the time of writing,Shattered Space has a “Mixed” reception on Valve’s PC gaming platform Steam, with only 42% of its 730 user reviews giving it a “Positive” thumbs up.Scores on the Xbox/Microsoft Store storefrontare kinder — right now, it’s got an average of 3.6/5 stars from 203 total reviews — though they still fall short of being generally positive.

Set on the enigmatic House Va’ruun home world of Va’ruun’kai and centered around a mysterious and deadly “vortex incident” that fractured the interstellar organization and devastated its seat of power, Shattered Space was marketed as a meatier and deeper roleplaying adventure compared to the base game, with a “new, handcrafted world” — after all,Starfieldis often criticized for having too wide of a setting and not enough depth in it. However, while most reviews note that the expansionisan improvement in this regard, many also assert that it still fails to live up to expectations.

“Bethesda tried to hype this up so much just for it to fall short. Was it the worst thing ever? No, but worth $30? Also no, this should have been included in the base game,” readsone reviewfrom user chaoticotaku. “It’s basically another faction quest line with one new world to roam around in … for a total of 4 hours of gameplay.”

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“The base game had more interesting writing and better story beats than anything in this DLC. The ‘new’ content that IS here is mostly reskins of weapons and armor along with some variants of already existing POIs,” writes player Khronico inanother. " … As someone who liked Starfield despite its flaws, Shattered Space fixed nothing I had problems with and even made me less hopeful for the game going forward."

Overall, the consensus amongst negative reviewers is that Shattered Space is frustratingly short and lacking in overall content to enjoy, with many positive evaluations even mentioning this as a caveat. Players report that its main story can be completed in just 4-5 hours, and engaging with side activities to get all the DLC’s new achievements will only take a few more to do. Compared to something like the Far Harbor expansion from Bethesda’s ownFallout 4that had a 7-8 hour narrative and a little over 20 hours' worth of stuff for completionists to dig into, that sounds pretty disappointing, though I should note that I haven’t played Shattered Space myself yet and can’t offer my own opinion.

Something else worth highlighting is that many negative Xbox and Microsoft Store reviews indicate fans were not able to begin the expansion despite followingthe process to start the Starfield: Shattered Space DLCcorrectly, suggesting that there could be a widespread bug with that version. There hasn’t been official word from Bethesda about this yet, though.

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Ultimately, I think Starfield’s developers are moving in the right direction with more Fallout and The Elder Scrolls-style content that prioritizes depth over width, but these initial waves of reviews largely contend that there’s still a lackluster amount of the former. The DLC did just come out, though, and it will be interesting to see if wider community opinion shifts or settles in the coming days.

For $29.99 — $10 shy of half the base game’s MSRP — you can pick up Shattered Space and form your own opinion, though the best thing to do is probably to wait for a good sale,especiallysince the expansion isn’t included withXbox Game Passsubscriptions.It’s actually discounted to $26.79 at CDKeysright now despite the DLC coming out yesterday, but there’s a good chance we’ll see steeper markdowns in the next few weeks or months. Don’t forget you’ll also have access to Shattered Space if you buy Starfield’s Premium Edition or tack the Premium Edition upgrade onto your standard copy.

Starfield: Shattered Space |$29.99$26.79 at CDKeys (PC, Steam)

Starfield’s first story expansion, Shattered Space, takes players to the alien world of Va’ruun’kai. The DLC is exclusively set on the mysterious planet, and gives players the opportunity to learn about and interact with House Va’ruun as it grapples with the devastation of a dangerous experiment that went horribly wrong.

Also see:Xbox version ($29.99)|Premium Edition (CDKeys, Steam, $68.29)|Premium Edition (CDKeys, Xbox, $96.49)|Premium Edition upgrade (CDKeys, Steam, $29.49)|Premium Edition upgrade (Amazon, Xbox, $34.99)

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).