Destroyed spaceupcoming first major expansion to Star Fieldfeels like Bethesda is returning to the aged, comfortable chair. Although it is a horror-driven, combat-heavy chair set in a half-destroyed capital city that is the victim of a rip in space-time. But instead of another galactic, sprawling adventure set like the base game, this is a story told on a single planet, a circumscribed and controlled narrative that feels much more like the aged Scrolls of the Elders approach.
During Bethesda’s behind-closed-doors gameplay reveal, Va’ruun’kai was revealed to be a planet separate from the rest of the galaxy being explored. Its capital city was torn apart by a rip in the fabric of space-time, a place described as a place where humanity seeks knowledge — which otherwise drives the overarching narrative Star Field— “went too far.” Whatever his scientists were doing that had something to do with “gravity drive technology” had devastating consequences, and now you’re left exploring the remnants as different factions fight for control in a leadership vacuum.
To buy Star Field: Amazon | Best buy | GameStop
This Destroyed space The demo shown at this year’s Gamescom started with a brutal scene of floating corpses in damp, metal corridors, which immediately gave the impression that this was something more terrifying than Star Fieldmore familiar science fiction purity. It’s a planet with more stranger feel that the landscape is much more peculiar, and among the many problems that local residents face are gravitational anomalies.
What followed in the demo was a long series of events taking place after the recent catastrophe of the Va’ruun people, made all the worse when you learn that these rifts in space are now letting in some gruesome monsters from another reality. The immediate atmosphere was FEAR— it reminded me very strikingly of the classic scare shooters from Monolith studio, with the player character creeping through abandoned sci-fi corridors, harassed by sinister beasts that constantly jumped on him.
Bethesda’s Brian Chaplin described the Va’ruun’kai as an “isolated, handcrafted location” that housed an “isolated faction” that lived on a planet cut off from outside communication. Their culture therefore developed independently of what had previously been explored in Star Fieldwhich of course gives the team free rein to create something that feels different, distinct, and unfettered by the perhaps less-than-adorable nature of the rest of the game. If anything, it feels like it’s given them the freedom to return to their roots.
So after this last crisis, when huge parts of the capital were destroyed and rebuilding hadn’t even started, you come in. The rest of the citadel, where the power structure of the area was based, is now locked in some kind of strange energy field, and the leader is missing, meaning there’s a power vacuum. And the “minor houses,” the factions of the area—the Zealots, the Spacers, and the Crimson Fleet—are all looking to fill the political void. And that of course means all kinds of factional rivalries.
In order to fit into a different locale, Bethesda wants to see the game played differently. While most people have approached Star Field as a remote shooter, keeping your distance and shooting from afar, Destroyed spacetrying to force people into closer and more impersonal contact by using ambushes, close combat, and creating a lot more panic.
“We wanted to focus on the mystery and horror aspects,” Bethesda said. “Space is terrifying, and part of conveying that is using the chaos of combat.” It’s all very much a part of an expansion that’s all about horror.
Although you can leave the planet at any time, provided that Star FieldOpen nature, the plot is completely closed here, and exploring the planet and the city will lead to the discovery of what exactly happened here, and, as we are told, we will be “embroiled in a political feud between the minor houses.” Of course, you will participate in deciding the fate of the city and which faction will ultimately take control.
This refocusing on how Star Field is played and experienced, could be a boon to the ailing project. While Bethesda describes it as “one of our biggest games,” the publisher could just as easily include games like Warrior Rogue AND Wet on this list and Star Field certainly didn’t retain its audience. At the time of writing, the game has just 6,000 players on Steam, down from 2015. Fallout 4 with the occasional 17,000. So releasing something that feels so deliberately different, both in feel and nature, may be a well-timed decision.
The idea that there is a complete, detailed story to play out, all happening in one confined location, next to its FEAR– atmosphere, makes me want to return to the game for the first time since launch week. Bethesda is likely hoping it’s a desire shared by the hundreds of thousands of people who played in July.
To buy Star Field: Amazon | Best buy | GameStop
.
