TL;DR – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been lucky enough to receive two large and decent DLC’s (plus a smaller one), in a manner similar to it’s predecessor Oblivion. Of the two major DLC’s I’d say that Dragonborn is the most engaging one as it offers up an entirely new area which has plenty of content and a wide variety of unique gear and enemies, while Dawnguard is largely more of the same. That’s not to say that Dawnguard is lacking in new content as it does offer a new companion, a new area and some new weapons (plus the ability to turn into a Vampire Lord) alongside some new enemies, but ultimately it falls short of the expansion pack feeling that Dragonborn manages to offer. Then there is Hearthfire, which while nice in it’s own little way is definitely a case of “last and least” as opposed to last but not least. Ultimately these Skyrim DLC packs are worth a playthrough, but they definitely peak with Dragonborn.
Quick Note: If you own the Special Edition or Anniversary edition (I.E. the only versions of Skyrim still available for sale) then this content is included for free.
Following on from last week’s review of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim or just Skyrim for short, I’m taking a quick look at the two and a half DLC packs that came out following the game’s release. Of the three, the shortest by far is Hearthfire which allows you to build a couple of houses and generally faff around with children and marriage but is otherwise short on content. Then you’ve got Dragonborn and Dawnguard, which are each much more substantial and are about equal to Oblivion’s Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine respectively. In Dragonborn you are attacked by some cultists who have been sent from an isle that is located conveniently just off the main world map of Skyrim, and so you have to track them down to a Dunmer port “city” (more of a village really). From there you’re able to explore an entirely new island with a myriad variety of new enemies, alchemy ingredients and NPCs while on a quest to stop a different dragonborn who is trying to enslave the world. In Dawnguard meanwhile you’re dealing with enemies who are (mostly) located in the realm of Skyrim, even if some of them are new. These new enemies take the form of vampires and their thralls, although you can choose to join them if you so wish in which case you’ll be responsible for tracking down various vampire hunters and turning the hunter into the hunted. Of the two major Skyrim DLC expansions Dawnguard is unique in that it offers two separate quest chains, albeit with considerably overlap, due to the fact that you have two factions to choose from. Your choice will determine whether or not you gain the ability to transform into a Vampire Lord, alongside the fate of every mortal in the land.
Upon hearing of the ability to turn into a Vampire Lord, you might suspect that joining the Dawnguard (for whom the DLC is named) would be largely pointless and you’d be entirely correct. I still choose them anyway as it felt bizarre for my character who had quite literally just saved the entire world from dragons to then decide to pull a heel and condemn that same world, but the Dawnguard route is definitely the weaker option. Fortunately enough the new companion Selena doesn’t have much of a preference one way or another and is happy to side with you as you genocide her entire kind, but outside of that defection you don’t really get anything. The Dawnguard themselves are largely po-faced and while a few of them can provide skill training, they’re just mortal folk and as such there isn’t much they can offer you. You won’t gain many new abilities or valuable new spells from their route and there isn’t too much in the way of new gear or equipment (aside from some Dragonbone armour and the long awaited return of the Crossbow). That’s not to say that the DLC as a whole lacks new weapons and spells, as you can get some anti-vampire or pro-vampire items alongside a few new Dragon Shouts and spells/buffs, but most of these are available whether you side with the Dawnguard or not. As a consequence there isn’t much of a pay-off for being the hero and so the option comes down to player preference, as the main reward is choosing whether to become a Vampire Lord or not. That’s not to say that it’s bad or not worth playing, but I would generally recommend that players go with the Vampire route if only because that’s clearly where most of the effort went. One thing that might tip you towards the Dawnguard is the fact that you can hire new Armoured Trolls as companions. They are much as you’d expect, normal trolls but with more health and armour. While it’s a small comfort to be sure, at least it’s something and honestly having them obliterate the myriad wolves and bandits that keep nipping at the players heels is quite amusing.
Regardless of which faction you pick however the game does have two segments which take place outside of the normal lands of Skyrim and which are the highlights of this DLC. The first is the realm of the Soul Cairn, a sinister afterlife populated by those who’s souls have been stolen. Here you’ll not only fight a variety of new enemies, but you’ll also be able to receive a handful of quests from the deceased (one of which rewards you with a spooky ethereal horse). It’s an appropriately bleak place and the lack of both vendors and most loot gives it a barren feel, which is enhanced by the flat terrain and dark colour palate. The zone feels like the background of a Daedric quest and while the main quest contained within it is fairly bland, the area definitely gives the DLC a boost and is one of the more memorable parts. It also contains some opportunities to fill your soul gems, as is fitting. Then once you’ve finished your business in the cursed afterlife, you’re quickly sent off to the Forgotten Vale which is the land of the (almost entirely) exterminated Snow Elves. Here the main quest has some cool moments such as fighting your way through Falmer camps and wandering through halls filled with frozen solid enemies, while you search for an enchanted bow which has the power to save the world or bring it to your character’s heel. Much like the Soul Cairn it also contains a swathe of unique enemies and it’s a visually appealing area which is filled with some references to TES lore. While you don’t spend too much time in this area, you can return and there are some cool moments including a fight against two dragons at the same time and some hidden loot (including a mineable creature). These two zones feel like they were a focus for the DLC and are both interesting in their own right, while encouraging exploration and allowing you to return to either at your leisure.
Once you’ve done these zones, the quest chains are basically over and you’ll be attacking the base of the other faction. If you’ve gone with the Dawnguard then you’ll be rushing the evil vampire’s castle, and if you’ve gone with the Vampires then you’ll be destroying the Dawnguard’s castle. In either case you’ll charge in with the friendly faction’s NPCs (some of whom will probably die) before fighting your way through the castle and ultimately facing off against the faction leader in a fight. At this point you’ll use the enchanted bow for good or ill and decide the fate of Skyrim, again. Once everything’s been wrapped up you’re free to loot the place and then things largely return to normal, with your faction’s NPCs heading back to their base camp so you can continue to utilise their skill training abilities (and/or recruiting armoured troll abilities). Outside of this quest chain and the two new areas, there isn’t much in the way of new content outside of the aforementioned handful of new pieces of armour, weapons and some faction related side quests. Two things I haven’t touched on yet are the Werewolf skill tree, which functions much like the Vampire Lord one in that you gain points by making use of the transformation as opposed to just chucking points into them once you’ve levelled up. Both of these transformations come with some caveats, such as the fact that “normal” friendly NPCs will start attacking you on sight as you’re a monster and that some abilities can’t be used due to the fact that you are now BIG and so you’ll need to craft items when you’re not a werewolf or large vampire lord. Finally this DLC does also unlock the ability to change your appearance via a new NPCs located in the Thieves Guild base.
Next up in chronological order is Hearthfire, which is the smallest of the Skyrim DLC’s that were released as paid content. There were two smaller DLC’s including a small quest revolving around a Portal 2 reference and the HD texture pack, but both of those were free leaving Hearthfire as the most modest Skyrim DLC we’ll be taking a look at. In Hearthfire you get the ability to build houses at three new locations, alongside the ability to adopt children and get married to your spouse. Alongside these new features you also get a handful of NPCs that can be hired as carriage drivers and personal bards, alongside some busy work (in the form of fending off groups who of bandits/skeevers/giants who attack your home) and uh… some new food items alongside updated models/visuals for some existing soups and stews. That’s about it as far as the new content goes, aside from the handful of new materials which are used for house and furniture building. Fortunately enough building houses is integrated fairly well with the base game and the requirements aren’t too onerous, although the whole process is paced so that you’re unlikely to be able to build the house of your dreams in one sitting. Instead you’ll need to build up your new home(s) one stage at a time, and of course the first stage is buying the land which involves doing some quests for the local Thane. Once these are done you can purchase the plot of land for 5000 gold, which comes with enough materials to build a basic cottage and then if you wish to upgrade it you’ll need to accumulate various metals and crafting materials. The whole thing is surprisingly engaging and the ability to build up your house means that it will be larger than any of the pre-existing homes you can get in the game, although the requirements involved mean that you’re unlikely to be able to build a great house until you’ve spent a decent amount of time playing as your character. This is due to the fact that while a basic cottage is easy enough to build, the sheer amount of materials required for building a two storey main-hall alongside the three wings (from which you have multiple options such as a Spellcrafters tower, trophy room, extra storage space, etc) is significant. Then you have to factor in all of the furniture and the fact that you’ll need to visit multiple mines/merchants to gain all of the necessary materials, even if you can afford them. On the plus side there are no limits to the amount of homes you can own, so you’ll be able to have a house or build a house in every hold except for Winterhold. Just be aware that one of the Dark Brotherhood radiant quests involves killing Helvard in Falkreath which will make purchasing the Lakeview Manor plot impossible, unless the Jarl is replaced by siding with the Stormcloaks in the civil war questline.
Last but certainly not least is the Dragonborn DLC which is in my opinion the most interesting, due to the fact that it contains an entirely new island which is filled with content, quests and enemies to deal with. As mentioned at the start of this review, the Dragonborn DLC involves facing off against another Dragonborn (Miraak) from the era when Dragons ruled the world and who is a servant of the Daedra prince Hermaeus Mora. Perhaps unsurprisingly Miraak is exceptionally powerful indeed and due to his close affiliation with Hermaeus Mora you’ll be tasked with braving the horrors of yet another Daedric realm whilst gathering the forbidden knowledge you need to save the world (again, again). Fortunately Miraak gives you a heads-up as to his evil schemes by sending a handful of weak cultists to try and murder you, a task doomed to failure thanks to the player’s ability to reload saves. Once you’ve tracked him down you’ll be free to explore the island of Solstheim which is riddled with content to explore, even outside of the main questline that is itself quite fun to playthrough. This main questline involves liberating various groups from the malign influence of Miraak, as you gather books and scrolls which let you venture into the Daedric realm of Apocrypha.
Apocrypha itself is a cool new zone with some striking visuals that can be best thought of as a collection of small dungeons, as you’ll be wandering through miniature levels of this realm before teleporting to the next one by reading various books that are dotted around. Entering this realm is itself dependent on reading forbidden lore, which transports your Dragonborn (in mind if not always in body) into these levels which have a handful of unique hazards and enemies to contend with. It’s worth noting that these enemies are tough and that healing items are relatively limited whilst your in Apocrypha, which caused my Argonian mage some real issues. Fortunately you can just run past most of the enemies, and in some ways this is encouraged as you’re only here to gather forbidden lore before escaping back into the real world. Just be aware that Miraak is no pushover either, so if you’re struggling with the generic enemies then he is going to be a tough boss fight. On the plus side if you take the time to explore each area of Apocrypha fully, you can gain plenty of otherwise rare books which are perfect for finishing the new library in your charming Hearthfire home. As it’s the realm of knowledge there are also some spell tomes, books and mage specific potions scattered around although there are also some debuffs that enemies can inflict which make playing a mage in this realm tricky.
Of course as this is the final DLC for Skyrim, the “real world” as shown by Solstheim is no pushover either. The new enemies can hit hard and they come in many forms, from the broadly humanoid Ash Spawn through to Lich Priests, Werebears, Goblins Rieklings and Ash Guardians (a type of Atronach). Plus there are some new dragons, draugr and even spiders to contend with. Fortunately Solstheim also offers a variety of new armour, weaponry and spells which can be used to vanquish these horrors alongside some new friendly NPCs that can teach you these skills and which offer a myriad assortment of new quests. Oh and I nearly forgot that one of the main selling points of this DLC is (was?) the fact that you can learn some new shouts including the ability to fly around the map on dragons. While this last ability is learned fairly late in the main questline, gaining it is obviously a pretty good way of getting across the island and dealing with enemies dumb enough to fit you outside. Luckily enough most of the approximately 28 side quests involve fights in the wilderness of Solstheim, so this ability can easily come in handy. Plus it’s always nice to make friends with the new dragon who was trying to snuff you out, although it should be noted that having your dragon blast your enemies to death will deprive you of XP.
There’s a lot to be said about the various side quests and even the miscellaneous quests, such as hunting down the East Empire Company pendants for loadsemoney but as there are so many of them it would take too long to go over them with the depth they deserve. So all I’ll say is that working your way through all of the content in Dragonborn will take a considerable amount of time and while doing this you’ll be involved with multiple interesting and unique quests which offer good rewards. The two new settlements are also appealing, with the Dunmer enclave being riddled with cool side content (including tracking down a rare copy of The Lusty Argonian Maid) and possessing a great visual style while the smaller Nord settlement has a smaller amount of quests but does provide you with the ability to mine an entirely new and somewhat overpowered type of Ore. It definitely feels that Solstheim was an attempt by the developers at Bethesda to give Skyrim one last Hurrah and they definitely succeeded.
To conclude while the DLC’s in Skyrim aren’t quite as good as the ones from Oblivion, they’re definitely still a great series of additions to the game and are undoubtedly worth playing through. Dawnguard might be slightly underwhelming if you take the Dawnguard route (ironically enough) but outside of some initially tedious quests to hunt down NPCs that spawn at random locations, the main quest chain is still enjoyable and gives you two new areas to explore alongside some new weapons, enemies, spells and the like. Then you’ve got Hearthfire which is modestly sized but excels at enabling you to build up your own home and roleplay as a family man/woman/lizardwizard. Finally you’ve got Dragonborn which is the best of the bunch as it offers at much larger assortment of equipment/spells/enemies/quests than Dawnguard and does it all across an entirely new island which is riddled with content. And if all of that wasn’t enough, Dawnguard vastly expands on the experience of being a Vampire and/or Werewolf while Dragonborn lets you ride dragons and engage in strafing runs against those seemingly suicidal wolves and bandits. As a consequence I’d have no problem recommending these DLCs to Skyrim fans or even more casual WRPG fans in general, especially as they come included with every version of the game that’s been released since the base versions came out back in 2011. There’s a wealth of content to be found here and while some of it can be bland, most of the quests are great and many of the new locations look brilliant for such an old game.
PS: If you can’t find the Dawnguard hunter and own Dragonborn, then there’s a chance he’ll be in Solstheim for some reason – which is probably why you can’t find him. God knows I had that exact issue and assumed my game had just bugged itself