New Vegas' lead would be a Homerun

Starfield continues to try to expand its horizons more than a year after its release. Bethesda's latest sprawling sci-fi RPG adventure has seen its share of ups and downs since its 2023 launch, with mixed fan and critical reactions to its design and overall experience. Nevertheless, the developer has promised ongoing support for Starfield far into the future, and has been constantly patching in fixes and adding new features.

HoweverStarfields first major expansion, Shattered Space, received less positive reviews when it was released last September. While its space horror premise was enticing on the surface, some of the main issues players had with it were its price point ($30) compared to its length and quality of content. Shattered Space failed to move the needle for many fans and left a lot to be desired. Bethesda may have their work cut out for it then for the next DLC. And while it hasn't yet indicated what direction the apparent second expansion might take, there is one connected to the studio's franchise history that it could turn to for inspiration, ie. Fallout: New Vegas' Lonesome Road DLC.

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Fallout 5 should lean into an element Starfield is largely avoided

The direction of Fallout 5 is unclear, but the next entry has the perfect opportunity to make up for a confusing Starfield choice.

Starfield's next expansion goes the same way as the Fallout: New Vegas Lonesome Road DLC could put it back on the map

Fallout: New Vegas' Lonesome Road was an impactful and emotional journey

As the fourth and final major DLC was released for Fallout: New VegasLonesome Road concluded a number of mysteries and open questions about the player character The Courier, which was hinted at throughout the base campaign. It delved deeper into moral and philosophical issues beyond even much of what was in the main story. Lonesome Road saw a character named Ulysses confront the Courier, with the former's story through the Mojave Wasteland mirroring the latter in many ways. It created thought-provoking encounters and choices, and asked players to reflect on some of them New Vegasimportant issues and themes and their decisions. It also sent fans into a new area: The Divide, a challenging and unforgiving section of the Wasteland cut off from the rest.

Fallout: New Vegas and its DLCs were developed by Obsidian Entertainment under contract to Bethesda.

How Starfield Can Channel Fallout: New Vegas Lonesome Road For Its Next DLC

Shattered Space featured a strong cosmic horror flavor, and while it was a compelling angle, it was generally considered more than a little shallow as a whole. Although it was meant to expand the intrigue surrounding House Va'ruun, one of the StarfieldThe most interesting parts of the story, along with the new items and enemies the DLC introduced, didn't make much of an impact overall, and the consensus was that it was lackluster.

StarfieldThe NASA punk setting is grounded in hard science, which often means that exploring the galaxy results in empty and desolate places. In this case, however, it would blend well with an isolated story like Lonesome Road, which Starfield also has a healthy dose of issues similar to those seen in it, just from a more futuristic point of view. Perhaps building on the alternate universes that fans can explore after reaching Unity, players could possibly encounter one (or at least a new planet) populated by a new character or faction that has knowledge of the Starborn and the player, and like Ulysses, have followed their actions and tracked them down to confront them in a similar situation.

Although Bethesda has so far remained silent about its plans for Starfield In 2025 and beyond, it could look to the past at how Lonesome Road presented its vision and story to Starfieldnext chapter. By incorporating adjacent ideas from Lonesome Road i Starfields next big DLC, this could be a way Bethesda can give it a push to recapture some of its best and still unexplored aspects, while moving the franchise forward meaningfully.

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