Everything New In Starfield Shattered Space DLC

Starfield has received its first post-launch expansion, Shattered Space. The premium DLC introduces a plethora of new content to a game that had been receiving marginal updates over the course of its first year. The last major update in Starfield added driveable vehicles for planetary exploration along with some new missions. Compared to that, Shattered Space feels like an entirely new game, as there are several fresh pieces of content to explore.

Below, you can see a comprehensive list of everything new that arrived in Starfield’s Shattered Space DLC.

The main attraction in the Shattered Space DLC is the story-driven expansion that centers around House Va’Ruun. House Va’Ruun was a largely untapped area of lore in the base game of Starfield and Shattered Space answers many questions players had surrounding the faction. The majority of the new questline takes place on a fresh planet, Va’ruun’kai, which is a moon of Kavnyk I. Players initially explore the sacred city of Dazra but missions in the questline take place on other locations within the planet as well.

Va’ruun’kai is the only new planet players get to explore in Shattered Space, but there’s plenty of depth to keep intrigue alive throughout the questline. Bethesda also stated the entire planet is hand-crafted and not procedurally generated like many other planets in Starfield. The planet itself has over 50 locations to uncover and navigation is much easier now with the addition of the driveable REV-8 vehicle.

Players’ main goal in the House Va’Ruun questline is to piece together what happened to the faction previously and determine its fate. There are several mini-factions within House Va’Ruun that players can interact with in addition to learning about the faction’s god, the Great Serpent. There’s a plethora of lore to discover, choices to make, and quests to undertake.

As you might expect, there are also plenty of smaller side quests you can accept and complete on the new planet of Va’ruun’kai. These are discoverable in the main hub city of Dazra as well as some of the other locations spread out across the planet.

One of the first side quests you’ll be able to take on is called “The Duel,” which pits you in the middle of bickering brothers who want to kill each other over what happened to their mother’s ashes. You are given a side to take, but you can also affect the outcome of the quest with your choices. Some of the side quests in Shattered Space are small, but others are longer and can extend your playtime in the expansion considerably.

Across the planet of Va’ruun’kai, you’ll discover a new enemy type, called Phantoms. These blue, translucent enemies are extremely aggressive and shoot you with lightning attacks that deal a ton of damage unless you’ve set your difficulty on the lowest setting. The added aggressiveness of the Phantoms is purposeful on the part of Bethesda, who made efforts to improve enemy AI. This improvement is on full display with the Phantom enemy types, as some of them are known to set up ambushes on you when you enter a room or location.

In addition to the Phantoms, there’s a new mini-boss enemy called the Vortex Horror. Think of this enemy on the same level as Deathclaws from Fallout or Dragons from Skyrim. Vortex Horrors are fairly rare to encounter on Va’ruun’kai, but you better be prepared for a challenge if you happen to find one. They can completely deplete your ammo and meds, especially if you’re a lower-level player.

With a new city to explore and enemies to defeat, you’ll be able to restock your inventory with a slew of new items in Starfield. This includes House Va’Ruun-specific weapons and armor, some of which you can find on dead Phantoms or in chests on The Oracle and Dazra.

However, a bulk of the new items can be bought in Dazra at various shops or earned through quests. We don’t have a complete list of every new weapon and item yet, but rest assured, there’s quite a helping of fresh gear you can add to your inventory. It’s best to explore every nook and cranny of Va’ruun’kai and search all enemies for a chance to nab a new item.

For lots more on Bethesda’s RPG, check out our Starfield guides hub