Starfield’s first big expansion Shattered Space starts off strong. The moody atmosphere of a space station long disrupted by an experiment gone wrong builds just the right mix of tension and spooky vibes. Some minor puzzles slowly dole out the stakes of the quest you’re about to set on. All of these elements play into Bethesda’s strengths as one of the premiere developers of RPGs for the last two decades.
When I landed on the expansion’s new planet Dazra an hour later, however, a long-overused Bethesda trope immediately broke the sense of immersion. And while I’m still having a decent time some five hours in (it’s definitely more Starfield), I can’t shake the feeling that the developer’s dated approach to writing around player agency is one of the big reasons why their style of RPG has fallen out of favor with fans. It feels especially strange when Bethesda’s contemporaries have long left this kind of writing behind.
