Summary
- Starfield's Shattered Space expansion is similar to The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion's Shivering Isles in the sense that Bethesda uses the term "expansion" to describe both of them.
- Director Todd Howard has remained secretive about details for the upcoming expansion, leaving fans speculating on what it will include.
- Still, the use of the term expansion is exciting, as based on Shattered Isles being described in a similar way, players are expecting a ton of content.
One observant Starfield fan has noticed something about the game's upcoming expansion that ties it to another masssive Bethesda RPG, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Namely, it's that with Shattered Space, the first planned expansion for Starfield, Bethesda is actually using the term "expansion," which hasn't happened since The Shivering Isles released in 2007.
The Shattered Space expansion is expected to arrive sometime in Fall 2024, around a year after Starfield's official launch. Director Todd Howard has been relatively secretive about the details of the upcoming expansion, but he says it will focus on expanding the story introduced in the base game, although whether that means adding extra content to the end of the main storyline or introducing large-scale side story content is still unknown. The Shivering Isles took the latter route, transporting players to a new realm, where they intervened in the eternal conflict between Daedric Princes Sheogorath and Jyggalag.
Starfield Player Count is Up
Bethesda Game Studios' latest massive RPG, Starfield, sees a huge boost in player count numbers following its highly praised May update.
The similarity between Shattered Space and The Shivering Isles was pointed out on Reddit by user JarusinTheStars. Bethesda did release plenty of additional content for both The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout 4 well after the release of The Shivering Isles, including the story-heavy Dawnguard for the former and Nuka World for the latter. However, the publisher referred to all this content as "DLC," not "expansion," leading some fans to believe that Shattered Space may contain a particularly large amount of new content for Starfield players to dive into.
Fans are Expecting a Lot from Starfield's Shattered Space Expansion
Even though there's still so little information about what Shattered Space will contain, players have offered up a number of theories and wish lists for what they'd like to see. Some have even used the connection between Starfield and Oblivion to point out that the lore of The Elder Scrolls would allow for Starfield's story to take place within it, and Starfield's open-ended new game plus alternate universes offer a lot of variations from the starting timeline.
Still, not everyone is sold on the idea that Shattered Space will be bigger than the DLC released for Fallout 4 and Skyrim. A number of players were skeptical about the semantics, believing that others are trying to read too closely between the lines in hopes that the expansion will bring massive improvements to the game. While Starfield broke player counts for Bethesda early on, thanks in no small part to its day-one inclusion on Game Pass, its reviews from both professional critics and fans are nowhere near the height that previous Bethesda RPGs have reached over the last few decades, and it seems like many die-hard Starfield players are pinning their hopes on Shattered Space to elevate it to the level that the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls series have reached.
Starfield
- Released
- September 6, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
Starfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity’s greatest mystery.
The year is 2330. Humanity has ventured beyond our solar system, settling new planets, and living as a spacefaring people. From humble beginnings as a space miner, you will join Constellation – the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy – and navigate the vast expanse of the Settled Systems in Bethesda Game Studios’ biggest and most ambitious game.
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
