Summary
Starfield: Shattered Spacelaunched to"Mixed" reviewson Steam beforequickly dropping to “Mostly Negative"that same week. The community was mostlydisappointed by its narrativeand price tag, butcritics also disparaged the expansionfor being “unstable” and “weighed down by bugs”, leaving it with an aggregate score of just 59.
In short, Shattered Space has been a disaster. Many are so dissatisfied with the DLC and the Bethesda formula as a whole that they’re losing faith in all future games from the studio.
This is a sentiment that one player shared with lead writer Emil Pagliarulo on Twitter in a surprisingly level-headed thread, writing that they don’t want to seeStarfieldfail, and that they “don’t doubt the passion” of the developers, but that the community wants “to feel like their concerns are not being dismissed”.
Pagliarulo responded to this thread with his own, addressing much of the backlash directly: “I’m very proud of Shattered Space. We all are. Most of the quests and levels were done by designers who have worked on previous Bethesda games and DLC, going all the way back toMorrowind. They’re good at what they do, and it shows.
“If folks haven’t played Shattered Space, and they like Starfield, I think they’re missing out. If folks have played Shattered Space and still don’t like it, that makes me sad, honestly. Just know that we’ve also been hearing from plenty of people who love it. Maybe it’s a game of expectations. Fans want a lot, and we do all we can to accomodate them. Here’s what I can tell you - nobody, and I mean nobody, at Bethesda is patting themselves on the back while ignoring our players.”
He went on to explain how Bethesda has spent the past year improving Starfield based on criticism from fans and critics, such as the confusing map and lack ofdriveable land vehicles. But a key concern he points out is that, “with a game as big as Starfield, every fix could potentially break something else.”
Pagliarulo then ends the thread by saying that he is a big Bethesda fan himself, having played its games since the ‘95 Terminator FPS, and that all anyone at the studio wants to do is “make those games and then make them better”.
Starfield: Shattered Space
Shattered Space is the first DLC for Bethedsa’s space RPG Starfield. It expands the core story, adding a horror-like twist as players head to the homeworld of House Va’ruun.
