Bethesda seems to be channeling its inner Dead Space with Starfield Shattered Space - and it genuinely looks interesting

OK, OK, I know all about the memes. But you can say ‘dead game’ as much as you want and you still won’t be able to undermine one, incorruptible truth: Starfield’s Shattered Space expansion looks great. In a behind-closed-doors presentation at Xbox’s booth at Gamescom ‘24, Bethesda gave me about 15 minutes of information on the game’s upcoming DLC pack, and I have to tell you: I’m sold. It actually reminded me of Dead Space, more than anything.

Shattered Space, which has been shrouded in mystery for a very long time, was properly shown off at Xbox’s Showcase in June 2024, but even after the media blowout, specific details about the expansion have been hard to come by. Since the initial reveal trailer, we’ve known that Shattered Space will take us to the home planet of House Va'ruun – an un-fleshed out faction in the main game – to investigate some sort of planet-wide calamity.

But in this new showcase I saw this morning, I’ve learned that things are getting more intimate on this planet. As Todd Howard outlined in an interview not long after that initial reveal, the whole new area is ‘hand-crafted’, so the environment will feel more curated and less generic than most of the planets in the main game. It’ll be open-ended; any of the quests you pick up during the DLC will help you tap further into the mysterious House and its homeland, and you’re arriving shortly after a massive accident has happened. The population is still reeling, and – like any proper RPG protagonist – you’ll be the one to pick up the pieces.

In terms of gameplay, though, that’s where things get really interesting as far as I’m concerned. “We want to lean in on the mystery and horror aspects of Starfield”, says a developer during the deep dive. He notes that the main game was open, and relied heavily on long-range firefights where combat could be resolved without ever getting up close and personal. In Shattered Space, “we want to close that distance.”

What followed was a sizzle reel of chain guns, melee weapons, and close-range firefights. I know there was a lot of criticism of how melee and unarmed worked and felt in the base game, so it seems like Bethesda is doing what it can to address this in the DLC. Of course, this means that the religious-themed locales - all chapels and pillars and monuments - will be set up to favour short-ranged fights. Some of the arenas outright looked like Doom levels.

These set-pieces are seemingly interconnected with tight corridors and blind corners; expect jump scares and in-your-face fights. It couldn’t be more separate from the open exapnses and sniper nests of Starfield itself, and I vibe with that. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Further to that Dead Space comparison, a ‘space-time event’ has caused little pockets of zero-G to spring up all over House Va’ruun’s home planet, which means that some of the traversal and exploration will have you dithering about the air, and using your maths brain to figure out some pretty-looking environmental platforming. How it’ll handle is another thing altogether, but hey; Bethesda gets points for creativity here.

It was only a quick, hands-off video, but I came out of my first Gamescom ‘24 appointment impressed. For those players that have stuck to the game, this is something very different to fuel their fiending, and for those that have lapsed (like me, admittedly), it’s got enough hooks to claw you back. Colour me intrigued; if this is the future of Starfield, Bethesda may have what it takes to rewrite the legacy of its best-performing game at launch.

Shattered Space arrives September 30 on PC, and Xbox Series X/S. It won’t be Starfield’s only expansion, and Xbox is likely hoping it can breathe a bit of life into one of 2023’s most divisive titles.A new free update for the game also arrived last night and it finally lets you drive about on the surface of planets in a moon buggy.