Shattered Space is getting tons of negative reviews just hours after release. There’s speculation on Reddit that this is review-bombing.
After Starfield was met with mixed reviews at best by players, many of them hoped that the first expansion Shattered Space could turn things around.
A glance at the Steam reviews shows, however, that this dream has now been dashed. The recently released expansion comes with 43 percent just a “balanced” rating. But what bothers the players about it?
“It’s just more Starfield”
One of the most frequently mentioned criticisms is the lack of innovation, especially in view of the hefty price tag of $30.This is how Steam user Enzevil puts it:
Unfortunately, this is not what I expected from Bethesda and I just wanted more Starfield like in the main game. I was hoping they would address more of the feedback [from players] in terms of story, writing, characters, and quest design. But sadly, it doesn’t look good.
Furthermore, is criticized for having too many pointless tasks. The heavy focus on the extensive dialogues of the main story is also not to everyone’s taste. This is what Steam user Steve Johnson writes about :
Add a handful of weapons and features and fill the remaining 99 percent of the expansion with dialogue. I can already hear the first players calling the expansion Shattered Spacebar
because there is so much dialogue to push through.
But is the expansion really that bad? We’ve already tested it for a few hours and so far we think: Bethesda still has it! And we’re not alone in our opinion. So it’s no wonder that a discussion has broken out on Reddit about where the bad reviews come from.
Some users suspect review bombing, i.e. the targeted bombing of a product with negative reviews in order to worsen its public perception. This is how DeviceNo5980 writes:
A large portion of [the bad reviews] are review-bombing by people who, according to their Steam accounts, have not played the DLC. It’s way too early to write a thorough review right now.
At this point, it should be noted that expansions on Steam always have a play time of 0.0 hours.
But he is right in that meaningful reviews can hardly be written at this point.
At the moment, we can only speculate about the actual extent of the influence of alleged review bombing. The safest thing to do is to wait until the expansion has been extensively tested by all users and the trade press.
Despite all the negative reviews, there are also numerous players who praise Shattered Space. For example, Steam user Matty Engs writes:
This DLC is an improvement on some of the weaker parts of the main game. The developers were allowed to spend more time on smaller areas, which has resulted in a better environmental narrative. It is also much more entertaining to move around the city, examine the buildings and interact with the world.
Even the user More Sly has only good things to say about it :
I don’t understand all the hate that’s been coming down on Starfield. There are things that could be improved, but I love the game. And I’m glad there’s more of it now.
Some frustrated users on Steam go a step further and even transfer their disappointment to games that haven’t even been released yet. You can find several reviews in which it is reported that trust in Bethesda has been lost or even that anticipation for The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 has completely disappeared.
