Todd Howard says Starfield's Shattered Space DLC has been built "traditionally" and is most similar to Fallout 4's Far Harbor expansion

A screenshot from the Starfield: Shattered Space trailer, overlooking a strange planet structure with a red aurora in the background.
(Image credit: Bethesda Game Studios)

Starfield director Todd Howard has been speaking a little bit more about what RPG fans can expect from the upcoming Shattered Space DLC, and it sounds promising for those who enjoyed Fallout 4's Far Harbor expansion. 

Speaking in an interview with MrMattyPlays on YouTube (below), Howard confirms that "the bulk" of the Shattered Space expansion will take place within the new area created for the DLC. He explains that this has allowed Bethesda to take a more traditional approach to its development. 

"It allows us to build a landscape like we would traditionally do, and have the city and the quest," he says. "And so, that story takes place there, and the landscape's kind of… content-wise we're looking at kind of like what we did with Far Harbor on Fallout 4, where like, okay, this is a scope that works for our development in doing this kind of annual story expansion type of thing."

Howard says he's "really excited" about the DLC, and says the approach Bethesda has taken "lets us kind of do some things the way we would in previous games." He clarifies that "it's still Starfield," so it's not that the experience will feel entirely like the studio's older releases, but ultimately it should provide a new alien world for enthusiastic spacefarers to get lost in.

The Shattered Space expansion got its first trailer during the recent Xbox Games Showcase, which unveiled some surprising cosmic horror vibes and confirmed that it's set to release at some point this fall. As Howard indicated in this new interview, though, the team is looking to create yearly expansions for the game, so it won't be the last DLC Starfield gets. It sounds like the already chunky RPG is just going to keep getting bigger.

For more games to dive into, be sure to check out our roundup of the 25 best RPGs you can play now.

Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.