'Starfield' unveils 1st look at 'Shattered Space' expansion (video)

Starfield: Shattered Space - Official Trailer - YouTube Starfield: Shattered Space - Official Trailer - YouTube
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Despite the generally favorable reviews and great sales numbers, Starfield failed to impress some longtime Bethesda fanatics, mainly because its vast yet relatively more grounded sci-fi universe wasn't as engaging as it could be. 

However, the data supports the ongoing work that all major Bethesda Game Studios releases have received in the past until they reached their full potential, and the first expansion, Shattered Space, is already on the horizon.

Straight from Bethesda Softworks, here's the fresh synopsis: "A mysterious power stirs in the city of Dazra on House Va'ruun's hidden homeworld. Investigate a frightening cosmic threat, explore a new planet, and find unique weapons, spacesuits, and gear in this all-new adventure." Indeed, Starfield players eager to learn more about the game's universe will finally get to meet House Va'ruun properly and see what they've been up to. The prominent faction was oddly underrepresented in Starfield's base game content, which led to many fans theorizing that the mysterious side of the Settled Systems was going to be explored in Shattered Space. Now we know they were totally right.

Promotional art for Starfield's "Shattered Space" update. (Image credit: Bethesda)

Shattered Space seems to be adding much of the mysticism, horror and zaniness that some players felt were missing to the game, and we can't wait to see where this story arc is taken. Additionally, we believe players will get to access tons of cool new loot and equipment (and maybe even some awesome ships).

If you want to look at the cosmic horror-heavy adventure that is arriving towards the end of 2024, watch the first full trailer, together with an introduction to the all-new free (and paid) content now available in-game alongside official mod support.

As for the stuff presented at the end of the video, players are now able to access, much like in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4, Starfield's own Creation Club, which is found in-game and streamlines the process of adding mods to the game. There are, of course, some limitations to this system versus the more intricate, out-of-game process of modding, but it's a tidy and quick way to add plenty of mods to your game. Also, this is available for the Xbox version of the game too, albeit with some size and content limits.

Promotional art for the all-new free (and paid) content for Starfield available now. (Image credit: Bethesda)

As soon as you jump into this section of the game, you'll see that some new pieces of content from Bethesda Game Studios and verified modders need to be bought with the premium credits, so make sure you like what you're seeing before doing so. As a quick reminder, the Premium Edition of the game, which has access to Shattered Space, also includes 1,000 of those credits, so that's nice.

Regardless, Bethesda has added free content to the CC as well, and you should grab it as soon as you load up the game, as those bits are 'achievement friendly' too (regular mods disable achievements). 

Keep scrolling and you'll also find the ever-growing list of regular free mods, and that's just the stuff being uploaded to Bethesda's platform. For PC players, this is just the beginning of a refreshed, juiced-up space odyssey now that modding tools (known as Creation Kit) are finally out. 

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Fran Ruiz

Fran Ruiz is our resident Star Wars guy. His hunger for movies and TV series is only matched by his love for video games. He got a BA of English Studies, focusing on English Literature, from the University of Malaga, in Spain, as well as a Master's Degree in English Studies, Multilingual and Intercultural Communication. On top of writing features and other longform articles for Space.com since 2021, he is a frequent collaborator of VG247 and other gaming sites. He also serves as associate editor over at Star Wars News Net and its sister site, Movie News Net.