Starfield fans are pretty sure Bethesda just dropped the first teaser for the game's second expansion: 'We look forward to the adventures yet to come'

Hard to believe but it's been two years since Bethesda unleashed Starfield onto the world, a sci-fi epic that—to torque a metaphor—didn't quite achieve escape velocity. Updates have followed at something of a ponderous pace, but there's been no sign of the second expansion that was promised more than a year ago.

But now that seems to have changed. An otherwise unremarkable post on X acknowledging "two incredible years" contains a wee little "Happy Anniversary" video clip--and in that video are brief, scattered flashes of letters. A mystery!

Well, not really. It's pretty easy to make out what it says, although you might need to scrub through it once or twice. Or you could just pop over to Reddit, where they've done the heavy lifting—and, spoiler warning, stop reading here if you don't want to blow the surprise.

DLC2 is titled "Terran Armada". from r/Starfield

To be perfectly clear, the clip definitely says "Terran Armada," but there's no official confirmation that it is, unquestionably, the second expansion. It probably is—I'd lay money on it, in fact—but all we have at this point is the tease, so while I'm ready to call it, I'm not actually calling it. We'll have to wait and see.

But if it is the second expansion, that invites speculation as to what might be in store. "Terran" is a reference to creatures or objects originating from Earth, but in Starfield—more spoilers ahead!—Earth has been uninhabitable for more than a century. An armada from Earth, then, would be quite the unexpected surprise.

Also open to speculation is how this new expansion—again, if that's what it is—will impact Starfield's fortunes. While not a flop in the strictest sense, Starfield certainly didn't live up to expectations, and the concurrent player counts on Steam are only a fraction of Bethesda's previous big-time RPG, the much older Skyrim. With two years already slipped past and not much to show for it in the way of meaningful improvements, turning that particular frown upside-down will be a monumental task—which isn't to say it can't be done, but Terran Armada (or whatever the second expansion proves to be) will have to be uniquely impressive to even have a shot.