Bethesda’s first Skyrim DLC, Dawnguard is an incredible and enthralling addition to the newest Elder Scrolls game. Elder Scrolls fans have been waiting for some new Skyrim content from Bethesda since the games opening release on Friday, November 11, 2011. That was over eight months ago and people are still playing Skyrim, the single player, Action-RPG today. Now fans can continue playing the game they love with the addition of new stories, skills, and all new equipment to play with.
New: Dawnguard does a great job of integrating the new content into the Skyrim world we already know and love. The guards and common people will talk of the recent vampire attacks and eventually you can catch whispers of the vampire hunters/Dawnguard, being rumored about the cities. Also, depending on which faction you join, (Vampires or Dawnguard) your opposing faction will occasionally send NPC’s out to fight you in the wilds. You may not even be doing a Dawnguard related quest, but the game still reacts to you being part of either faction!
Quests: The Dawnguard content is full of new puzzles, plots and quests. The first thing you get to experience is the massive cavern the Vampire Hunters built their fort in. The surroundings and the fort itself are absolutely stunning. The eerie realm of Oblivion you later venture into is a new and exciting touch on Skyrim’s aesthetics! The new questline is full of surprises and choices that will keep the player mindful of each and every decision. You will be given the choice of power as an evil Vampire Lord, or the choice of good, as the vampire hunting Dawnguard, either choice is yours. Coming back with a different Save or character is worth it, just to enjoy the other side of the story.
Abilities: As for the new abilities, many players are going to thoroughly enjoy the new Vampire Lord form and its devastating ability/perk tree! You can have power to heal yourself with a deadly bite, summon a gargoyle minion to fight by your side or simply attack your enemies with a brutal telekinesis ability that drains their health and leaves them helpless in your grasp.
The new and more bestial perk tree belongs to players infected with Lycanthropy. The Werewolf perk tree has it’s own powerful and death dealing abilities, like 50% more damage with your claws, devouring your foes corpse to gain health and eliciting a how that summons fourth a werewolf ally.
Equipment: The last and extremely popular addition in the Dawnguard DLC is the new equipment. Shiny new weapons and armor are now available to the player all across Skyrim. Enemies will occasionally carry a neat new weapon, but the best of them (like Dragon weapons and Crossbows) you will have to forge yourself or earn through questing through the Dawnguard. A couple new Legendary weapons are hidden along the questline as well. Without giving away names or spoilers, we can say that a new bow, familiar to die hard Elder Scrolls fans will be available.
Bethesda has kept us waiting on their DLC for a long, eight months… but Dawnguard was above and beyond worth it. Dawnguard as the first DLC content for Skyrim gets my opinion of 9.0 out of 10. The replayability is great, quests and character involvement is top notch and small, additions that aren’t Dawnguard specific are incredible to the game as well as its gamers.
