Starfield's Biggest Problem Can't Be Fixed By Shattered Space DLC

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launched to mixed reception, garnering some critical acclaim while simultaneously receiving a thorough beating online from critics and players alike. The criticisms were manyfold, although largely centered around the lack of traditional Bethesda design that fans had come to know and love from their plethora of award-winning titles. Thankfully, a series of updates have fixed some of the numerous issues plaguing the game at launch, and the DLC promises to further rectify even more of them.

However, it's hard not to feel that was somewhat doomed from the start and that is too late, despite the many promises it makes. There is one fundamental problem with, one that was controversial even before the game launched, with developers jumping to its defense despite its overall absurdity., with all of its good intentions, cannot fix this issue so inherently baked into game design, and only a -style series of updates could truly repair it.

is bringing game design back to the classic Bethesda formula by offering players a single large open-world location to explore. Unlike the one thousand randomly generated planets located in the base game, Va'ruun is a handcrafted world with unique points of interest and optional content designed specifically for it, much like how Bethesda handled its DLC for the and series.

It is a positive change, and fortunately, not the only feature is fixing, as it does away with the worst part of and gives fans what they've wanted all along. However, this doesn't fix the fundamental issues with the base game's exploration, namely that it isn't very fun.

Dashing around randomly generated planets can be exciting, especially when there are things to do and alien civilizations to encounter, but doesn't offer any of that. Its planets are also not particularly spectacular, proving to be small, cut-off locations with little more than empty space peppered with the occasional Crimson Fleet base to fight through, unlike, which generates entire planets and allows