Starfield: Shattered Space’s producer sets expectations on scope and scale: “A traditional Bethesda expansion”

The official date for the upcoming Starfield: Shattered Space The expansion was announced this week at Gamescom, officially slated for release on September 30. The upcoming release will take a more mysterious, horror-esque slant than the base game, taking players to an abandoned space station to investigate a distress signal. With a brand new location and storyline, the expansion will build on the game’s existing lore in fresh ways.

The game’s expansion is set to address a great mystery of StarfieldShifting focus to the House Va’ruun. Many of the finer details are still unknown, however This could mean companion Andreja gets more of a chance to shine; This character was a former member of House Va’ruun, and would be a perfect option for helping to advance the overall lore. Unfortunately, the upcoming DLC ​​is not free – it will be available to players who have purchased it Premium Or Constellation Editions of the game or can be purchased separately.

Screen Rant Interviewed Timothy Lamb, Lead Creative Producer at Bethesda Game Studios, at Gamescom to discuss the scope and scale of the new DLC, the inspirations behind it and the biggest changes it will bring for fans.

Building on the Starfield Universe with shattered space

Expanding on House Va’Ruun and striving to make fans happy

Screen Rant: We saw at Opening Night Live that there is an additional free update for Starfield With the new Rover, but I’m curious if with the new DLC there will also be improvements that make their way to the base game that aren’t directly linked to the paywall?

Timothy Lamb: Yes, absolutely. There are two types of this, right? If you look at the updates that we’ve done almost every six weeks since September or so, there are still improvements that we have there that are outside the scope of the new content.

I’m really personally excited by some of the community notes I’ve seen going through. I don’t want to specify them here, things can always change, but I saw some things going through that I was like, “I can’t wait until we can say this is something we do.” So yes, it will be; Apart from this, there are further improvements in the quality of life that occur at the same time.

I’m sure you can’t reveal everything about this question, but we do know that the companion Andreja was part of House Va’Ruun, and I’m wondering if she’s going to factor in any way as some kind of larger role in This DLC?

Timothy Lamb: That’s a good question. It’s hard to answer because I don’t know what players have done. I don’t want to spoil her story for players who haven’t experienced it. It was certainly a consideration in the development.

Obviously, when you created the lore of the original Starfield universe, the aspects of the houses and that sort of thing. But I’m curious, from a creative perspective, are the new pieces of story and lore that you’re introducing in this DLC, are they already concepts that you had to begin with? Or was it kind of saying, “We want to expand the lore of this house, let’s dive into it now”?

Timothy Lamb: There are ebbs and flows in development where certain things gain and lose focus over the course. We have Andreja, interesting character, and it was: how much can we delve into this? There are pieces of it, but as development goes on, it expands. Once we finished the base version of the game, it was clear to the team what was really the area we wanted to focus on and dig deep. There is a lot there.

Do you have any idea how much content is coming in this DLC?

Timothy Lamb: It’s hard to explain, because I want to avoid direct comparisons to other things we’ve done. Because I feel that if I take off “Oh, it’s just like that”, there is an expectation that I don’t want to make, or like “If someone is really close to my heart, it will be just like that. I will feel exactly The same as I did when I played this. I don’t want to do that, but I want to say that all players play at a different pace in different ways. Our games support a wide variety of play styles, however It feels like a traditional Bethesda expansion, in scope and scale.

In terms of when you were developing the DLC, I’m curious the biggest challenges that came with that, was it deciding exactly where you wanted to go, or anything really in terms of development?

Timothy Lamb: Well, when I think about the scope of the vast galaxy, it’s a lot. The Biggest challenge is probably taking and making the customized bespoke place as great as it is. When you think of a landing area in vanilla Starfield, the base game Starfield, focusing everything in that to customize the place and that experience. This is probably the most challenging part.

I’m sure you can’t say anything too specific because of spoilers, but what are you most excited to see players react to when this DLC drops?

Timothy Lamb: That’s an interesting question. I mean, every time we do something, we never know what’s going to – I don’t think anyone saw that arrows to the knee are the thing in skirmishes [Laughs]. It’s like, “What’s it going to be?” We always think about what it could be.

I’ll be curious to see if I have this focused location and, “Hey, I’m here and I’m experiencing the story in this focused location and I don’t have to leave or travel around the galaxy,” if that gives an experience that players are hungry for.