The Starfield Shattered Space DLC is almost upon us, and though we don't know an awful lot about it yet, there's a grand and sinister story to be uncovered on Va'ruun'kai.
Starfield might not have debuted to the love that Bethesda was hoping for, but that doesn’t mean that the game’s reputation is down and out. After all, as we’ve learned with Cyberpunk 2077, disaster can turn into groundbreaking success, and Starfield certainly doesn’t have a terrible foundation to sprout from. The game might have struggled against its expectations and Todd Howard-led promises, but as the Shattered Space DLC approaches, there's an opportunity for change.
The game seems to be taking a bolder step into intergalactic horror with Shattered Space, a DLC peppered with creepy insectoids and monsters made of mysterious energy, as revealed when the publisher announced its release date. Being narratively concise could help to make Starfield feel like it has more direction in the centre of its big open universe, and it could yet deliver the story-led experience that players were hoping for in the core game, but until we get our hands on it, we’re left to speculate. Luckily, though, we don’t have long to wait, even if the mystery of Starfield's Starborn trademark still looms large. Here’s everything you need to know about the Starfield Shattered Space DLC release date.
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Starfield Shattered Space DLC: release dateThe Starfield Shattered Space DLC release date is Monday, September 30, 2024. The DLC is expected to be live and easily accessible via its own listing on the Xbox and Steam storefronts, and will be easy to download from there. Though Bethesda hasn't yet revealed any details about the time that we can expect the DLC itself to launch, the original Starfield launch time was 1am BST / 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT, so this could very well be the time when we see the expansion go live.
Starfield Shattered Space DLC: priceThe Starfield Shattered Space DLC will cost £29.99 / $29.99 / $AU50.45 on both Xbox and Steam. The DLC itself isn't set to come to Xbox Game Pass, though being subscribed to the service will grant you a saving of £3 / $3 / $AU5.05. It isn't much, but hey, at least if you're subscribed, you don't have to buy the base game at all.
Starfield Shattered Space DLC: Va’ruun’kai’s story explainedThere are still a lot of mysteries to be uncovered in Shattered Space, but luckily, Bethesda has been drip-feeding hints to the longstanding narrative of House Va'ruun on Twitter.
The Starfield Shattered Space DLC will take place entirely on one planet named Va’ruun’kai, a new “hand-crafted” world developed for the expansion alone. It is the home of House Va’ruun, and home to the capital city Dazra, a religion that offers its worship to the deity The Great Serpent.
If you weren't paying attention in the base game, House Va'ruun began with people on a colony ship that launched from New Atlantis, that grav jumped, leading passenger Jinan Va’ruun to experience a vision and a conversation with the celestial being known as The Great Serpent.
It told Va’ruun that its hibernation was about to end and it was about to reclaim the Milky Way (that it claims to have created) in an event it called the Shrouding that would devour all life except its loyal servants. As such, the people of the ship settled on the planet they called Va’ruun’kai and established a government run by the recipient of the vision.
The planet now operates under the rule of a High Council and Va’ruun’s descendant Anasko, and is so secretive of its place in the galaxy that it doesn’t even share return coordinates with agents it sends out into the wider systems for reconnaissance. Little is known yet about how players can expect to get there, so we imagine it’s either via the discovery of a closely-kept secret, or the wildest accident in history. Players can, of course, choose to be a follower of the House Va'ruun religion at the start of the game, by selecting the Serpent's Embrace trait when customising their character, but any solid details about the house in the base game are sparse, to say the least.
The DLC, packed with plenty of nasties and even some bonus land vehicles, is set to be a big deal for those still caught in the orbit of Starfield – and if it can excel, it might even talk around some of the game’s naysayers too. We’ll certainly hear Bethesda out on this one.
