Starfield’s large Shattered House growth isn’t bizarre sufficient

It’s been a very long time coming for Starfield gamers. Bethesda’s sci-fi tackle Skyrim initially launched final summer time, and whereas there have been some updates and enhancements since then, it’s taken greater than a yr for the sport to get its first main growth. This lead-up means there’s rather a lot using on Shattered House — which is a superbly high-quality addition to the sport that additionally feels extremely underwhelming. After a promising setup, it finally ends up largely being extra of the identical.

Issues begin, as they so typically do in expansions, with a misery name. This one leads you to a derelict area station that’s brimming with ghostly apparitions and which ultimately whisks you away to the house planet of the Home Va’ruun, a spiritual sect that worships an enormous serpent. There, you study the Va’ruun have been beset by a calamity that has brought on some members to vanish, others to show into violent wraiths, and quite a few different unusual and disastrous happenings in and round their foremost metropolis. After a ceremony that really converts you to the church, your job turns into fixing the thriller of the calamity and serving to the Home put issues again so as.

(Observe: you may technically entry Shattered House at any level after Starfield’s opening mission, however Bethesda recommends being stage 35 or greater to get by it. I performed on a New Recreation Plus save at stage 32 and didn’t actually have any issues.)

It’s a terrific premise that guarantees every kind of cosmic horror. The planet you’ll discover is rendered in a garish purple and purple, stuffed with unusual glowing growths, bubbles the place gravity doesn’t exist, and oddball creatures that might look proper at residence in No Man’s Sky. The primary metropolis — which appears to be like like a cross between a frontier city and an historical temple — is stuffed with individuals struggling by the turmoil, whether or not it’s misplaced family members, meals shortages, or a disaster of religion.

Shattered House can also be notable for being extremely targeted. Whereas a lot of Starfield’s attraction has been the sheer scale of its universe, right here, you’re restricted to a single planet that’s dense with issues to do and see. It’s harking back to the largely standalone Far Harbor growth for Fallout 4.

This leads to some nice storylines, notably within the sidequests, which have you ever doing every part from investigating a haunted orphanage to looking down a livestock thief. At first, the non secular sect appeared standoffish and obscure. However ultimately, it grew to become clear that regardless of their full isolation and perception in a giant snake, they had been all simply individuals struggling to get by. Even the straightforward missions offer you some new perception into the human facet of this group, which, in the primary Starfield marketing campaign, is basically branded as a sect of violent zealots.

However the way you do that’s typical Starfield (and Bethesda) stuff. Quests have you ever combating by dungeons, accumulating or delivering objects, and infrequently speaking your method out of issues. There’s a brand new backdrop, however nothing a lot has modified by way of the construction or moment-to-moment expertise of Starfield. These alien monstrosities are simply extra enemies to battle; the ghostly wraiths are simply extra troopers capturing at you. On the very least, the fetch quests are probability to check out the brand new dune buggy.

There’s nothing notably unhealthy about Shattered House. And in case you’re simply searching for extra Starfield, that’s precisely what that is, solely in one of many extra visually and narratively fascinating areas within the recreation. However after a lot time, I can’t assist however need somewhat extra than simply extra. Shattered House had the potential to be bizarre and creepy and totally different, but it surely appears to be like like gamers must maintain ready for one thing that feels really new.