After Shattered Space, Starfield's next DLC may go back to basics

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Important takeaways

  • Starfield's first major expansion, Shattered Space, took a unique direction with cosmic horror, deviating from the atmosphere of the base game.
  • The next DLC for Starfield may see a return to the core elements, focusing on the established factions and strengths of the game.
  • Despite criticism of Shattered Space, Bethesda may use revelations from the main campaign to explore new multiverse possibilities in future DLC.



Starfield marked Bethesda Game Studios' first fresh IP in decades, and had many fans excited about its direction. The studio's massive open world sci-fi RPG promised an entire galaxy of worlds to explore, and was a noticeable departure from its other flagship series, The Elder Scrolls and Fall-out. Starfield however, experienced a slightly rockier launch, with a number of Bethesda's trademark designs dividing players and critics on the quality of gameplay and storytelling. Still, Starfield was considered a success and became the #11 best-selling title of 2023.

As the developer had said, Bethesda is heavily committed to supporting and updating Starfield well into the future, with plans to keep it evolving and relevant in a way that it has done for Skyrim. Back in September, Starfields first major expansion, Shattered Space, was released. Starring the enigmatic House Varuun, the DLC was a big change from much of what the base game contained. Shattered Space leaned firmly towards cosmic horror versus the more realistic aspects of its vision of humanity's conquest of the stars. And while Shattered Space was a unique take on established elements, Starfield can now swing back to its more grounded sci-fi vibe in the next expansion.


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Starfield player character posing in the ship

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Starfield's “Highly Requested” feature may take a long time

Players have been clamoring for Bethesda to fix a long-standing issue with Starfield, but unfortunately, that may already be over.

In the wake of Shattered Space, Starfield's next DLC could mark a return to its core elements

Starfield's fragmented space was an interesting change that might be best as a one-off

Prior to release, there were various indications and assumptions that Shattered Space would center on the shadowy House Varuun faction and its strange and unsettling traits. It was an underexplored and vaguely explained part of the main experience and seemed like a natural choice to delve into a DLC. Although it was an exciting experiment, introducing an unabashed horror angle in Starfield's generally more realistic NASA punk world, it almost seemed like it could have been a different game at times.

Starfield presented a setting that initially did not contain many elements of horror in the same vein as Shattered Space. As such, it may be best for future DLCs to hone back on the strengths of Starfield's foundations rather than trying to invoke an entirely different genre within them.


How Starfield can go back to its primary premises in future DLC

With the reveal at the end of the main campaign about the existence of the Starborn and the multiverse, this would provide a potential path for the future Starfield happy to go back to his roots. Perhaps Bethesda could focus more on these implications in DLC that explores some of the stranger or more humorous versions of them. This would allow it to touch on other genres without veering too far away from its sci-fi core, but still offer new takes and visions of the possibilities that Starfields multiverse can include.


Shattered Space gave players a brand new, handcrafted planet to explore, and this could be another good starting point for Bethesda to consider. Some of the previous critics about it were that, while there are an impressive number of places in the Starfieldtheir randomly generated nature can eventually make them seem repetitive and uninspiring. Introducing a bespoke star system but with new characters and quest lines could be a way to move forward while keeping its themes of exploration and discovery at the center.

Bethesda may also circle back to some of the Starfields main factions and expand what they have been up to. Ryujin Industries, for example, is a major player in the setting and could likely have its own DLC; one with a focus on corporate espionage and power plays that were present throughout. Anyway, now that it has appeared in horror, StarfieldThe next DLC may stick closer to its established and well-realized atmosphere. Attempting such a change as Shattered Space did could risk tarnishing the franchise's identity. But returning to content more aligned to the basics can help Starfield retaining its defining aesthetic and sensibility, while expanding on the aspects that work best within them.


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