The factor about me—and all my colleagues right here at PCG can confirm this—is that I am extraordinarily annoying. I’m 100% the tedious grognard who will not shut up about Mass Impact 1 being the very best one whereas everyone seems to be lavishing reward on ME2. I am the man who whines that the unique is best when everyone seems to be loving a remake. And, most of all, I’m the dork who continues to be speaking about Bethesda’s Morrowind glory-days in 2024.
Unbearable, I am certain you may agree, however somebody nonetheless at Bethesda should share my ardour. The studio simply launched Starfield’s first DLC, Shattered House, and guess which recreation studio design director Emil Pagliarulo is namechecking in an interview with GamesRadar? The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. Vindication, child. This can be a huge day for irritating nerds in every single place. Type of.
Shattered House focuses on the ooky-spooky Home Va’Ruun and its capital metropolis of Dazra. Pagliarulo says that designing each meant pulling inspiration from the very best recreation Bethesda’s ever made: “Morrowind and its themes and general vibe have been a giant inspiration,” he informed GR.
In any case, he continues, “The idea of celestial horror is kind of within the Home Va’Ruun DNA,” and nothing in Bethesda’s historical past captures “celestial horror” fairly like Morrowind’s bizarre psychosexual pantheon of mortals-made-gods, the Lovecraftian Sixth Home, and their energy wrestle with an encroaching, time-bending empire.
Plus, Shattered House is all about “Pushing the boundaries of the sport’s NASAPunk aesthetic,” says Pagliarulo, in addition to “pushing the boundaries of what’s and isn’t culturally acceptable.” That notion of cultural and ethical relativism, of the methods through which distinctive histories breed distinctive peoples with distinctive (and alien) techniques of morality was likewise at Morrowind’s coronary heart. No surprise Bethesda turned to it when pulling Shattered House collectively.
Sadly for Bethesda, drawing on its biggest hits would not appear to have gained over gamers. At time of writing, Shattered House is at a uninteresting, beige “Combined” ranking over on Steam someday after launch, with solely 43% of its views being optimistic.
To be truthful, fairly a couple of of the detrimental opinions appear to be reviewing, properly, Starfield relatively than Shattered House, lambasting the bottom recreation for all method of sins, however that also leaves rather a lot with gripes concerning the DLC particularly. Particularly, that the narrative continues to be a bit anodyne regardless of being higher than the principle recreation’s and {that a} new, extra detailed metropolis would not actually do sufficient to treatment the remainder of the galaxy feeling a mile huge and an inch deep. “Home Va’Ruun DLC won’t ever come near fixing an already catatonic recreation,” declares one reviewer.
