Wednesday, September 25th 2024
Bethesda to Launch $29.99 Starfield: Shattered Space Expansion Without Early Reviews
Starfield's next DLC will be called Shattered Space, and it is set to launch on 30 September 2024 at $29.99 on PC, and Xbox. However, if you're a gamer that wants to know more about what you're getting into before you spend your money, you will seemingly need to wait, since gaming media won't have access to the expansion ahead of its launch.
The news was revealed by IGN journalist Dan Stapleton in a post on Bluesky that reads: "Aw dang, I'm told no Starfield: Shattered Space review copies are going out ahead of launch. We'll have something up on it ASAP but I imagine that's gonna be a few days at least." Stapleton doesn't seem to have been told why Bethesda won't be sending out review samples, but he does note that it will make reviewing the expansion while it is relevant more challenging.Not sending out game keys for early review also makes it more difficult for gamers to know what they're getting into. For starters, some game reviewers will be more rushed to get their reviews out as early as possible, meaning they'll potentially miss details or produce inadequate coverage. Secondly, while many gamers will already have pre-ordered Starfield: Shattered Space, many are likely waiting for reviews so that they can make informed decisions.
That said, the Starfield community in general seems to be fairly optimistic about the new expansion, largely because of content Bethesda has published and information the company has divulged in interviews since the expansion's announcement. In a deep dive video posted to YouTube, Bethesda explained that Shattered Space is a departure from the standard Starfield formula, which was largely criticized for being too vast and somewhat bland. Instead, the new expansion will focus on up-close encounters in engaging, hand-crafted locations.
Sources:
Dan Stapleton on Bluesky, Bethesda on YouTube
The news was revealed by IGN journalist Dan Stapleton in a post on Bluesky that reads: "Aw dang, I'm told no Starfield: Shattered Space review copies are going out ahead of launch. We'll have something up on it ASAP but I imagine that's gonna be a few days at least." Stapleton doesn't seem to have been told why Bethesda won't be sending out review samples, but he does note that it will make reviewing the expansion while it is relevant more challenging.Not sending out game keys for early review also makes it more difficult for gamers to know what they're getting into. For starters, some game reviewers will be more rushed to get their reviews out as early as possible, meaning they'll potentially miss details or produce inadequate coverage. Secondly, while many gamers will already have pre-ordered Starfield: Shattered Space, many are likely waiting for reviews so that they can make informed decisions.
That said, the Starfield community in general seems to be fairly optimistic about the new expansion, largely because of content Bethesda has published and information the company has divulged in interviews since the expansion's announcement. In a deep dive video posted to YouTube, Bethesda explained that Shattered Space is a departure from the standard Starfield formula, which was largely criticized for being too vast and somewhat bland. Instead, the new expansion will focus on up-close encounters in engaging, hand-crafted locations.
We love Starfield's massive open galaxy, but from early on in our planning, we knew we wanted to introduce some more secluded and handcrafted locations, similar to what you've seen from our past expansions.Given how much hype there was around the initial launch of Starfield, and how the final game eventually turned out, it is still probably a good idea to wait a week or two for independent reviews before spending the $29.99 on the Shattered Space expansion.
21 Comments on Bethesda to Launch $29.99 Starfield: Shattered Space Expansion Without Early Reviews
And from what i can gather both games are the same.
But No Man’s Sky in 2024 is just far more complete.
My question:
Who copied from the other?
…considering that Starfield was ANNOUNCED after NMS was already released it’s a bit of a silly question. But I honestly feel like the original vision that Todd had (if we believe his claims of SF being the game he always wanted to make) was very different and it never really congealed. There were stories of a really troubled development and at some point, after MS acquisition, it feels like the higher-ups just ordered to ship SOMETHING and that’s what we got.
Well, and, of course, we shouldn’t forget that Beth runs on decades of tech debt by now - there was never any chance that
netImmerseGamebryoCreation Engine can do what they seemingly wanted and I am baffled they thought otherwise.The one thing Bethesda should copy from Hello Games is admitting they had issues and work as hard as they can to resolve them and satisfy the playerbase with free updates. to existing customers.
At least have the decency to buff the game up with enough features and technical improvements before daring to release a 30 dollar DLC.
The problem with Starfield imo is that their is no patch for boring. The game would have to be redesigned and remade from the ground up. The long delay for releasing the modding tool kit just made matters worse.
Because of that, I won't ever re-install the game again and start over. Fruck it, is not worth it.
The man's a talking head. There is no innovation in any of the TES's or Fallouts anymore, and this has been the case since... well everything we got post-Fallout 3. The only vision that is left at Bethesda for their open world franchises is this: extract money. The game underneath is secondary to that, it shows in their monetization strategies, the re-re-re-release of the same games, etc.
They're awfully busy with all the things that aren't integral to the game or franchises' development themselves, and it shows, because the end product is a clusterfuck of loosely connected 'features' that get transplanted between those franchises. There's no cohesion, there's no vision. There's just game components tossed in a blender, the typical AAA approach these days. Bean counter gaming.
Starfield is the ultimate example of this. Its literally a bunch of systems taped together, with some extra tape in the places where it falls apart, they're called loading screens, or infinite space where nothing actually moves. The only, like literal only thing that is somewhat acceptable in Starfield is the writing around the overarching main quest, the only place where there is some speck of innovation by making you replay the same thing ten times. We're also calling it 'innovative' that there is a complete disconnect between playing for the story and levelling up your character - if you don't know, you're in for a massive time sink for no reason whatsoever, and again... no cohesion, no connection between these two disjointed approaches to playing the same game. And for all that innovation and its new setting Starfield isn't even a real open world game anymore. Its just a bunch of tiny, empty maps strung together with a few assets, NPCs and quest markers tossed in for good measure.
My faith in a half decent TES sequel is just about -100
are they so out of touch with reality?
The problem of "without early reviews" is easily fixed by not preordering and waiting until reviews come. Or, ahem, playing a copy obtained in "other ways" as a demo, which is what I usually do.
As for comparisons to No Man's Sky: It's a completely different game. In NMS you can travel through space and enjoy solitary exploration without a story getting in the way. In Starfield you fast travel from place to place and do story things. I enjoy both games but don't consider them similar.
The concept isn't bad, they just need way more meaningful content to fill all that space.
I'm just going to leave this video here because it touches on more ways the game holds your hand and insults the player: