I thought maybe I was just being left out this time around, which hey, it happens, but as it stands, there are apparently no review codes going out for Starfield: Shattered Space.
That’s according to IGN reviews editor Dan Stapleton, who was told by Bethesda there would be no codes for the Shattered Space expansion going out. My own code requests went unanswered entirely. So, there will be nothing to read and no scores to analyze before actual launch day on Monday, September 30.
Why? That we don’t know, and press has not been told. This may be for technical reasons, somehow. Or Bethesda may be going back to their old ways, where for a spell, they did not given out review codes at all for games like DOOM and Prey, a policy that was reversed pretty quickly. Starfield of course did in fact have review codes sent out, which resulted in an 83 metascore score. That’s quite a bit lower than the previous mainline Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, the lowest of which was Fallout 4 at an 87, with the others in the 90s.
Shattered Space is an interesting expansion in that it is meant to sway a number of users who played the game through Xbox Game Pass to actually shell out for the expansion. Though a few million did get the “total package” upgrade at launch that came with the DLC ahead of time. The game, of course, is also out on Steam where it did well at launch. Unlike other Bethesda games, Microsoft has not announced any date that Starfield may come to PlayStation. It’s possible, if not likely, that it never does, as I think Microsoft views it as a valuable exclusive IP. Though who knows with them these days.
Given that this is an expansion and not a full game, I think that no review codes is not as big of a deal as a full release would be. But obviously ahead-of-time reviews worked out well for something like Shadow of the Erdtree. Other games, like Destiny 2 and its Final Shape expansion, were not reviewed due to their online-focused nature. But that is not true with Starfield, a single player game where this should be possible.
It’s just as well, as I am busy playing Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred ahead of its October 8 launch (they made the online nature work there, at least, as they did with the base game). So, I will plan to play Starfield live at launch alongside everyone else and perhaps get a review out by the end of the week. It’s weird, but I’m not going to jump into the theory they’re hiding something.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
