Bethesda Game Studios has released its first expansion for Starfield, Shattered Space, which takes players to the hidden planet of House Va’ruun in the wake of crisis. It’s been over a year since the space-faring RPG’s launch, and GamesRadar sat down with design director Emil Pagliarulo to discuss it.
He admitted that it isn’t “everyone’s cup of tea” and humorously added “Fans really, really, really want The Elder Scrolls 6.” However, Pagliarulo then said, “I think in a lot of ways, Starfield is the hardest thing Bethesda has ever done.
“We pushed ourselves to make something totally different. To just jam into an Xbox, the biggest, richest space simulation RPG anyone could imagine. That we pulled it off makes Starfield something of a technical marvel. It’s also, in a lot of ways, the best game we’ve ever made. But for us, most importantly, Starfield has its own unique personality and now sits right next to Fallout and Elder Scrolls.”
Starfield has been the subject of extensive discussion since its launch. While most critics praised it (we gave it a 10 in our review), the response from players has been mixed. Bethesda has provided several patches post-launch, adding new features like 60 FPS on the Xbox Series X and vehicle, the Rev-8, to navigate planets.
However, it sits at a “Mixed” score on Steam, with only 55 percent of its user reviews being positive (the controversy behind paid Creations didn’t help). Shattered Space is faring worse with “Mostly Negative” rating. Nevertheless, Starfield has a second expansion coming next year, which could be the rumored Starborn, and may even receive yearly expansions. Stay tuned for updates on that front.