Key Takeaways
- Shattered Space DLC in Starfield drew inspiration from Morrowind for planet and city design.
- Starfield: Shattered Space expands lore with new missions, locations, and gameplay features.
- Team aimed to make Va’ruun’kai distinct and alien, embracing strangeness in the DLC.
Bethesda Studio design director Emil Pagliarulo revealed that Shattered Space, the recently released DLC for Starfield, drew inspiration from The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind when designing its central planet and the city of Dazra. This Starfield DLC came out on September 30, and Pagliarulo talked about how they came up with the ideas behind its development.
Starfield is a space exploration RPG developed by Bethesda Game Studios, where players can create their own characters, explore a vast galaxy, engage in space battles, and complete quests. The game combines classic RPG elements with the freedom to explore planets, follow faction-based storylines, and customize spaceships. Its first story expansion, Starfield: Shattered Space, adds even more content, including new missions, locations, and gameplay features. This expansion broadens the game’s universe, giving players more chances to dive deeper into its rich lore and storylines.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Bethesda studio design director Emil Pagliarulo offered some behind-the-scenes insights into how Starfield’s newly released Shattered Space DLC was created. He explained that the team took a lot of inspiration from the look and feel of Morrowind, especially when it was designing the main planet, Va’ruun’kai, and its capital city, Dazra. This inspiration also played a big role in shaping the mysterious nature of House Va’ruun. By doing this, the team aimed to create a world that felt different from other places in Starfield. The team’s goal was to capture a sense of strangeness, similar to the world-building found in Morrowind.
Starfield’s Shattered Space DLC was Inspired by Morrowind’s Themes and Overall Vibe
Pagliarulo also explained that when the team was designing Starfield‘s Shattered Space DLC features, it wanted to push the boundaries of Starfield’s “NASAPunk” aesthetic. According to Pagliarulo, Dazra represents a human faction living on the edge of what’s considered “normal” civilization, challenging what is and isn’t acceptable in the game’s universe. Pagliarulo also mentioned that during the early stages of developing the DLC, the team had discussions about how much to embrace the “weirdness” of Va’ruun’kai. The team wanted this faction to feel distinct and alien to players; its goal was to make Va’ruun’kai beautiful in its own unique and strange way.
Shattered Space expands the story of Starfield by letting players explore House Va’ruun and the planet Va’ruun’kai. In this DLC, players discover what happens after a failed space-time experiment that warps parts of space, leading to new challenges and dangers. As players explore the new alien enemies and locations in the expansion, they’ll be stepping into a world that draws inspiration from Morrowind.
