Starfield: Shattered Space Dev Response Proves They’ll Never Fix The Worst Part Of The Game For Me

Starfield: Shattered Space, the first major expansion for Bethesda’s flagship 2023 game, failed to live up to expectations in the eyes of many fans. Released on September 30, initial critical and player reception was generally negative, based on a multitude of factors that caused the game to be underwhelming rather than an epic space expansion that would recapture players. Recently, Bethesda Game Studios design director Emil Pagliarulo responded to some of the backlash for Shattered Space, which itself became the source of criticism of the game and the company at large.

[This article contains light spoilers for Starfield‘s story.]Although the interview appeared to acknowledge the complaints from critics and fans, it also demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of the underlying issues with Starfield. It’s no secret that I wasn’t a fan of Starfield: Shattered Space — and although I understand that there are a ton of talented, awesome folks working over on the team at Bethesda, the interview with Pagliarulo has me worried about the next expansion Starfield: Starborn, and even other IPs like the highly-anticipated Elder Scrolls 6.

Shattered Space Could Have Been Great

A Missed Opportunity For Player Choice

The biggest issue with Starfield: Shattered Space to me is just the lack of player choice and reactivity from the world around you. Although it’s not the first time that a Bethesda game has suffered from false “choices,” my disappointment is amplified and crystalized by recent releases that provide players with meaningful decisions that have a distinct impact on gameplay and the world in which the game takes place. Notably, Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 are two titles in recent memory that prove there’s a large swath of players who appreciate a level of autonomy given in divergent storylines.

Starfield‘s endgame and New Game Plus promote repeat playthroughs, which completely dissolves the veil of “choice” given throughout the game. What becomes apparent on a second or third playthrough is that none of the choices I made actually mattered that much outside of a few minor differences. Trying to approach a mission or questline in a “different” way would often just result in the same results. That’s not to say this is necessarily anything new — but paired with a fairly dry and boring story, it created the perfect scenario for a DLC that just did not resonate with me and a lot of other people.

This wasn’t the case with games like Fallout: New Vegas (developed by Obsidian, by the way) or Skyrim, which encouraged exploring different choices that changed things in the game. Not all decisions felt great, but that’s also what makes those choices so important and engaging to begin with. In Starfield, I often feel like I’m going through the motions, jumping from one boring dialogue from a character I don’t care about to the next on my pre-defined train to a final, boring destination.

Starfield Needs To Listen To Fans

Starfield Devs Might Be Missing The Thread

Even though my biggest personal complaint with Starfield is the bland storylines and lack of real choices, for a decent part of my time with the game, there were certainly some experiences that I enjoyed. Standout questlines like the Ryujin Industries missions had me hooked at first, but eventually, everything I found cool with the game fell flat over time. Interestingly, it’s not even because there’s a lack of things to do; it’s that there’s so much to do, but none of it is really that compelling — a sad conundrum for any video game.

One of the most troubling parts of the GamesRadar (via GameRant) interview with Pagliarulo is the fact that it seems that he and Bethesda fail to actually understand why fans are even upset in the first place or where Starfield should go in the future. Although the admittedly amazing hand-crafted visuals of the Va’ruun’kai planet were certainly a step in the right direction, it doesn’t fix the bigger, core issues of the game at large. The narrative fails to take any risks or provide anything that feels new or fresh; updates come at a snail’s pace, and the coolest POIs are hidden behind what seem like impossible odds driven by broken RNG.

Traveling on foot was incredibly time-consuming and boring, so the company eventually delivered the Rev-8, but like many updates since its September 2023 launch, this just feels like a stopgap, and a rather lackluster one at that. The fact is once the veneer of “an RPG in space” wore off, I found myself floating out in the empty vacuum of the Settled Systems, racking my brain at how there could possibly be only one city per planet — among the many other lackluster things core to the experience.

There Is A Clear Path Forward

I Guess I’ll Try Starborn?

The upcoming expansion for Starfield titled Starborn needs to impress. Instead of sticking to the same old tried-and-true philosophy, I hope Bethesda Game Studios takes an entirely different approach. For one, decisions and choices in Starfield should matter. Even though locations in the Settled Systems are lightyears apart, the game generally feels pretty contained, while decisions like wiping out UC Sys Def don’t actually have much of an impact in the game world. Not only does this make little to no sense narratively, but it completely undercuts the decision in the end.

Events and choices should influence how cities and locations look. The Terrormorph attacks on New Atlantis seems like a blip in history, forgotten by the vacant-eyed NPCs in the city immediately after the completion of the mission. I want there to be an impact or some sort of universe different from other people’s games. Knowing I’m pigeonholed into this one fate makes the game boring. Although it would require a great deal of development effort, small touches like this could really change the entire game for me.

Next, the studio needs to lean into what players have already said they enjoy. Removing ship limits, being able to build ground vehicles or at least a bigger diversity of them, mechs, and fixes for long-running bugs should go to the top of the priority list, but they probably won’t. And really, that’s the biggest and arguably saddest aspect of all of this.

Players have already voiced what they want from the game, and even though the studio says they are listening, it doesn’t seem like their actions match their words. Disturbingly, I’ll probably fork over the $30 for the Starfield Starborn expansion in a last-ditch effort and hope that maybe bigger, more interesting themes are touched on or that, you know, I actually have a bit of fun. Sadly, from the looks of things, it’ll probably be another underwhelming experience for me.

Source: GamesRadar, GameRant