The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dawnguard DLC - Xbox 360

    Dawnguard is the first DLC expansion to be released for 2011's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Interestingly, a large amount of the content found in Dawnguard, as well as in future DLC episodes for Skyrim, was first conceived of when Bethesda Softworks gave their employees a week of creative freedom. During this week, employees were instructed to let their imaginations run wild and create whatever they wanted using the game's engine. A video showing some of the results of this week-long experiment can be viewed here.

    Dawnguard's storyline begins with a rise in vampire activity across Skyrim. Previously, vampires were known only to attack unwary travelers that ventured into their underground lairs with the few exceptions of single attacks on villagers. Dawnguard sees more brazen attacks on entire cities by vampires in broad daylight. In order to combat this new fanged threat, the DLC's titular faction, the Dawnguard, begins recruiting aspiring vampire hunters.


    The hero of Skyrim, the Dragonborn, will have the decision to join up with the Dawnguard, or to follow a more sinister path and become a vampire. No matter the choice made by the player, Dawnguard's main quest takes you to many breathtaking new areas of Skyrim and introduces the player to new enemies as well as forgotten secrets hidden deep in Skyrim's history. Will the Dragonborn fight to destroy the vampire threat, or will he or she join the ranks of the night dwellers, helping to complete a mission which, if successful, would affect the entire planet of Nirn?

What a peaceful vacation home!

    The Dawnguard expansion introduces a variety of new content to Skyrim including new weapons such as the Dawnguard's weapon of choice the crossbow. New monsters also join the ranks of the vampires such as the extremely powerful vampire lord. A few new areas have also been added to the game. These areas are all striking in their own way, but tend to be large open lands without much of anything of interest in them. One area of note was actually quite frustrating as it is incredibly large and the quest that brings you to the area gives little direction to the player leading to annoying wandering without clear aim.

    The main questline consists of relatively unremarkable quests such as "go here, kill this enemy." A few quests present enjoyable scenarios, however. Rewards for quests, including the main quest, are quite limited and rarely worth the time spent acquiring them as the player likely has better equipment on hand before even starting the expansion. The real reason to quest through Dawnguard is to experience the plethora of new content offered by the DLC.

The only known weakness of a vampire lord is sparkles. Quick! Sparkle harder!

    Dawnguard's main quest content will last players around 10 hours if most areas are explored. Additional content, including the addition of new perk trees for both werewolves and vampires, have the potential to add much more gameplay time to the expansion.

    Overall, the Dawnguard DLC adds a huge amount of quality content to Skyrim. At points, the quests may seem meandering, but the expansion delivers a satisfying story overall. I love the fact that so much of this DLC as well as other expansions to Skyrim were born in the week given by Bethesda to its employees to run wild. I think that more companies which employ creative talent should let loose the reins on their artists periodically. I bet that they would find, more often than not, that some of the best ideas come from such freedom.

Amulets and Ale Rating: