I’ll admit it – I’m a Starfield fan. The house RPG has its issues however regardless of them I’ve managed to plow tons of hours into it and loved the overwhelming majority of my time. A part of that may be a willingness to change off my mind and easily benefit from the sort of quest-based video games Bethesda now produces, and Starfield provides loads of that. The just lately launched Shattered Area DLC promised to do one thing completely different, nevertheless, with its design director straight referencing my favourite recreation, Morrowind, as inspiration. Sadly what’s been launched appears to have taken the flawed classes from the very best recreation within the Elder Scrolls sequence, and reveals a lack of awareness about Bethesda’s personal legacy.
The extra RPGs Bethesda releases, the extra Morrowind seems like an unintentional masterpiece. Earlier than it got here large adventures like Area and Daggerfall, and latter video games like Oblivion and Skyrim up the size once more, although to not the identical extent. Starfield is unquestionably the largest recreation the developer has ever made, and with that has come a ton of issues – most notably the sensation that every part is identical, with few causes to discover when there aren’t any surprises.
Shattered Area promised to repair that, and to its credit score it does present a unique expertise to the principle recreation. If Starfield is an area model of Daggerfall, then Shattered Area is unquestionably extra akin to Morrowind – no less than by way of scope. It’s a small, hand-crafted expertise, all set on the identical planet with distinctive ruins and caves to discover. Morrowind’s joys, nevertheless, aren’t solely associated to the dimensions of the sport, they revolve extra round issues like tone, model, and theme, all of which appear to have been considerably disregarded in Starfield’s new enlargement.
The similarities between the 2 titles are obvious, no less than at first look. Morrowind has three nice homes battling for supremacy over Vvardenfell and Va’ruun’kai has the identical. The place Morrowind succeeds, nevertheless, is by making every of its homes distinct – a Telvanni mage dwelling in a mushroom tower is a vastly completely different character to a Redoran warrior who makes the corpse of an enormous crab their dwelling. In the meantime in Shattered Area, there are a number of thematic variations in outlook between Home Dul’kehf, Home Veth’aal, and Home Ka’dic, however by and enormous they’re interchangeable.
This method additionally applies to the bigger Home Va’ruun, who we lastly get to spend time with within the DLC. Morrowind stared fantasy faith sq. within the face, weaving collectively a narrative of religion, hypocrisy, unreliable narrators, prophecy, and the inevitability of destiny into one thing that’s in contrast to anything on the market. You aren’t trusted and it’s a must to earn your manner in a harsh world, together with your each achievement feeling earned in consequence. Shattered Area alternatively has you grow to be the chosen one inside seconds of arriving in Dazra, and people deep mysteries about Home Va’ruun you’ve spent the final 12 months theorizing about collapse as you discover out they’re only a bunch of men worshiping in caves.
There’s loads of good in Shattered Area however by straight calling out Morrowind as an inspiration, the expectation was set excessive. Morrowind’s setting, themes, and depth have all been bypassed in favor of emulating its scope, which is welcome nevertheless it leaves the enlargement feeling a bit flavorless in consequence. Va’ruun’kai finally ends up trying extra like a extra closely populated Soul Cairn from Skyrim’s Dragonborn enlargement, slightly than a fully-fledged and plausible theocracy in its personal proper.
We all know Bethesda is able to creating fantastical adventures full with lashings of meaty themes you may actually sink your enamel into – it’s executed it earlier than, in spite of everything. Shattered Area doesn’t obtain that, and by making the comparability to Morrowind Bethesda reveals that it doesn’t fairly perceive what makes it the developer’s enduring magnum opus, and could have a tough time repeating its highs till it does.