With Starfield's promised "exciting things" for 2025 still yet to materialize, it feels like we've been left to suffocate in space

It's been a long, disappointing road for Starfield fans this year. And last year, quite frankly. Including for yours truly. After an exruciatingly long wait for what millions thought would be one of the best space games ever, the reception to Bethesda Game Studio's first new IP in decades didn't exactly go down a solar storm. A black hole of negativity quickly swallowed Todd's big space-faring adventure, with complaints ranging from how interstellar exploration was a bizarrely absent part of its otherworldly premise, and how planetary exploration was, for lack of a better term, boring. And that stung a little. But perhaps not as much as the wait for a "more rewarding" experience out in the Settled Systems.

Back in March, the Starfield Twitter lit up to reassure the remaining playerbase that Bethesda's sci-fi shooter wasn't simply drifting around the galaxy like George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. "We know you're eager for an update," it starts, "while we're not ready to share specific details just yet, we have a lot of exciting things planned for the game this year that we can't wait to talk about when the time is right."

The keyword here, dear reader, is "this year." And with the last major gaming event of said year coming and going with Thursday's Golden Geoffs, you might be able to hear the collective screams, groans, and sighs of Starfield's last few hopeful enjoyers. Although as they say, in space, no one can hear you complain about Bethesda's timeline. And with 3,300 people egging on Reddit user Raging_Raccoon, who yesterday pointed out how long it's been since the promise was made, there's genuine concern that any news could be nothing more than a multi-platform release. Which isn't that exciting for those simply eager for new content.

Shattered Space, the game's first of supposedly many expansions, launched one year after Starfield came and went at lightspeed. Promising to let players investigate "a frightening cosmic threat," the whole thing took place on a single new planet with a new faction to deal with. 'Mostly negative' reviews on Steam chalk it up to being "underwhelming for the price tag." Which is fair given it costs around $30 for what's still not really the space game players expected. Our own Alex even made the case that it demonstrates Bethesda's misunderstanding of its own legacy.

But it wouldn't be fair to say that there's been absolutely no mention of Starfield from Bethesda this year. A few months ago, Tim Lamb spoke up in a developer spotlight video to reaffirm that the second DLC hadn't been shelved. A post for the game's second birthday in September also hid a message among rapidly flickering yellow-tinged boxes that appeared to tease its title - Terran Armada, anyone?

Personally, I can't hear Terran without thinking Blizzard is about to drop Starcraft 3, but this particular other B-word promising the T-word is one I'll happily take, too. Maybe not for another $30 down payment, given how well that went last time, but something, anything is better than being left to stare up at the stars. Even then, it was a tease. There's no Terran Armada expansion page up on Steam, and there's still no word of any other meaningful (paid or free) updates to the base game.

So, the point still stands. We've had tiny trickles of what the year may hold for Starfield. But with mere weeks to go before we complete another spin around that big, beautiful star that keeps threatening our increasingly expensive PC components with solar flares, can you blame Starfield fans for being ready to give up after being largely led on for nine straight months? Business will always be business, but even bad news is better than no news at all.