Summary

  • Bethesda rushed the ending of Starfield leading to some disappointment among players.
  • The dimension-hopping concept in the finale allowed for reuse of earlier areas, cutting down time and resources needed.
  • The DLC, Shattered Space, is expected to add new content like locations, quests, items, and a story campaign, hopefully satisfying players.

Starfield's lead quest designer has explained why the ending was so underwhelming for many. Prior to its launch, Bethesda marketed the game as being an epic space adventure, spanning over 1000 planets, and while it was extremely well received by critics at launch, its popularity soon seemed to dwindle with players, with complaints that many planets seemed empty and ultimately, there wasn't as much to do as they wanted.

[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Starfield]While some of the missions in Starfield were on par with other Bethesda titles, Starfield's lead quest designer Will Shen - who has since left Bethesda - believes the studio hit the "panic button" when it came to creating the game's final mission due to running out of time. As reported by PC Gamer, when speaking at the 2024 Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Chen stated that "it became very clear that we were missing the large final location that was going to tie the story together and have a satisfying action-filled payoff."

Two Starfield characters in space suits stand in a rocky desert, bathed in a golden glow.
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Starfield's Dimension-Hopping Finale Let Starfield Reuse Earlier Areas

This Concept Cut Down The Time And Resources Needed

A mustachioed Starborn stands in front of a sun-like sphere and a multitude of Stars. They wear a space suit with helmet removed.

Shen turned to Starfield's senior level designer, Steve Cornett, for help delivering a finale to the game. According to Shen, Cornett was the one who came up with the dimension-hopping concept in which players become one of the Starborn, finding the Unity and crossing over into another dimension.

This triggered a kind of New Game Plus where decisions are wiped, and the story can be replayed or skipped entirely on the next playthrough. Although some elements aren't quite as players from a previous playthrough, it ultimately created a cyclical narrative. While some would argue this was a fun twist on the New Game Plus idea, from a technical perspective, this allowed Starfield to reuse earlier areas of the game in the ending, cutting down the time and resources needed massively.

2024 will see the launch of Starfield's first DLC, Shattered Space. While Bethesda hasn't revealed any official information surrounding the expansion, many are hopeful that something of its size will add plenty of new content, such as new locations, major quests, items, gameplay, and ultimately, a new story campaign. How this expansion will impact the already cyclical loop of Starfield's current narrative is yet to be seen, but hopefully, with its new content, it will please those that were unhappy with Starfield's previous reuse of assets.

Source: PC Gamer