Starfield‘s first-ever DLC, Shattered Space, launched yesterday to an overall lukewarm reception. The DLC was much anticipated, in no small part due to its promises to address many common criticisms of the game. Shattered Space offers a hand-crafted map, one of the first of its type in Starfield, alongside a horror-slanted story that would add a much-needed injection of flavor to an occasionally bland setting.

But much of that excitement seems to have fizzled out post-release: at the time of writing, Shattered Space sits at a “Mixed” rating on Steam. Steam collects game ratings from players, requiring them only to choose whether a game is “Recommended” or “Not Recommended,” but actively encouraging them to write as much as they want on the subject. A “Mixed” rating means that there’s a smattering of both positive and negative among its 584 reviews, and there may be any number of reasons why.

Why Starfield: Shattered Space’s Steam Rating Is So Low

Bad Bugs & Great Expectations

One possible reason for Shattered Space‘s mixed reception is that the DLC launched with a handful of irritating bugs. Many players downloaded Shattered Space alongside an expansive Starfield update on day one, only to find out that they couldn’t play the DLC. Many mods, including those supported by Starfield‘s official Creations marketplace, were also unusable. Some found that they couldn’t get the starting mission to trigger; others couldn’t even load their saves. Still others discovered that the planetary textures of Va’ruun’kai, and much of the NPC dialogue that takes place on it, appeared to have gone blank, swapped for placeholder designs and subtitles reading, “LOOKUP FAILED!”

A review written by Steam user Naerumi addresses this issue, opening, “Another game breaking DLC brought to you by Bethesda.” Starfield‘s developer does have a reputation for releasing buggy games, and for making those bugs worse when it later follows up with DLC. This particular player, however, is mainly concerned with how they update affected their mods.

Mods for any game always experience a little downtime when a new update comes out, as their independent developers can’t anticipate all the changes made to the base game.

Frankly, Shattered Space‘s reception isn’t too terribly surprising, con sidering the base game was similarly received, and also has a “Mixed” rating on Steam. Starfield‘s biggest problems are its lackluster exploration caused by its procedurally generated map, its lack of real-time space travel, and its unimpactful story decisions. Shattered Space addresses many of these criticisms, but many players feel it doesn’t do enough. A Steam review by user Toop puts it bluntly: “Shattered Space changes none of this. It’s just more Starfield.”

The problem is, as much as Shattered Space might offer on its own, it doesn’t fix all the issues with base Starfield. Leave the DLC, and it’s the same old story: planets are empty, points of interet are repetitive, and space travel is a no-go. It’s a short reprieve from all the problems with Starfield, but no more.

And indeed, many negative reviews of Shattered Space simply speak to the quality of the DLC in and of itself. Many question its value relative to what it provides. A review by user Sealthief provides a full breakdown: costing $30 USD, the DLC provides “0 new companions, 0 new gameplay features, 0 new ship parts,” and “over 100 new loading screens.” “If you stack this up against any of Bethesda’s prior dlc this is by far the worst value for your money.”

Shattered Space Is A Good Start

The First DLC Of Many

So it would seem that Shattered Space didn’t quite live up to fan expectations. Many of those expectations were fair: a $30 DLC should provide a significant expansion, and should be released in a playable, largely unbroken state. Believing Shattered Space would resolve all the problems with the base game, however, is a little unrealistic. At best, it can be expected to build on the better parts of its foundation while introducing new features.

Still, Shattered Space represents a good first step in Starfield‘s redemption arc. Its handcrafted environment and spooky story suggest Bethesda is listening and responding to player criticism. Shattered Space may not have compensated for all of those flaws yet, but there’s always potential for future DLC to continue filling in the gaps. So long as its developers continue to take player feedback, Starfield may one day become the best game it can be.