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If there’s any studio that knows how to make a memorable DLC, it’s Bethesda.
If this sounds far from the procedural sprawl of Starfield, you’d be right for thinking so.
“You know, we get it,” adds Pagliarulo.
“The vibe is very different between random, procedurally generated content and bespoke goodness.
Or rather, we went wide,” Pagliarulo says.
“We knew a lot about them, but didn’t really deep dive into the specifics.
But those high-level details told us a lot.
We knew House Va’ruun was the most “alien” of all the human factions in the Settled Systems.
We knew they were isolationists, weird sort of Lovecraftian cultists, in a sense.
And we knew their homeworld was Va’ruun’kai.”
And we’d be able to give players Va’ruun’kai.
And however else you want to describe it, Va’ruun’kai would be… weird.
And weird in what way?
What could we pull off?"
It tells the story of a human faction that is at the edge of ‘normal’ civilization.
In fact, Morrowind and its themes and overall vibe were a big inspiration."
“The concept of celestial horror is sort of in the House Va’ruun DNA,” says Pagliarulo.
They’re 2/3 Cthulhu cult by design.
So there really isn’t a House Va’ruun DLC without those kinds of elements."
Of course, Starfield is no stranger to veering into the realms of weirdness.
“Controlling gravity isn’t exactly in the SpaceX employee handbook.
What’s real and what isn’t.
And that’s where cosmic horror lies in wait.”
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