Dawnguard Review

I’ll admit I was a bit late to the Skyrim party.  But trust me I’ve made up for lost time.  After playing it for longer than was probably good for me, I was excited to hear of the new Dawnguard DLC for the game.  What did I think of it?  Well, I liked it a lot.

Dawnguard introduces two new factions to the already huge and complex world of Skyrim: the titular Dawnguard and the vampires of Volikhar Castle.  Both offer you more or less the same quest lines; find out what the head of the vampires, Lord Harkon, is planning.  Here’s a spoiler from the trailer, he wants to blot out the sun.  Ideally this would allow you to side with either faction and not lose aspects of the game, but that’s a load of horse hockey.  I’m going to be honest I doubt that there are many people who’d side with the Dawnguard.  Why?  Because siding with the vampires allows you to become a vampire.  And that’s awesome.

I should be more specific.  Siding with the vampires allows you to become a Vampire Lord.  It’s similar to transforming into a werewolf, which also gets a perk tree in the expansion, but you can do it at will.  Also the Vampire Lord gives you some nifty new spells, cool vampiric powers, and a huge boost to your health and magicka.  It’s worth the constant attacks by Dawnguard members, need to feed, and weakness to sunlight.

As far as the content goes, it adds a lot.  I mean a lot.  I spent hours doing some of the main quest, and that’s just on the vampire’s side.  There are new side missions, locations and cool new characters.  The best of which is easily Serana, Harkon’s daughter who becomes your follower for most of the story.  She’s a great companion and makes full use of her magic and melee attacks.  Also, she’s pretty durable and a fun companion.

The main story is pretty good and it’s relatively simple in its execution.  Go to Ruin A, get artifact B, rinse and repeat until the climax.  However what really gets the story going is the emotional and family undertones to the whole situation.  Let’s just Serana and her father don’t see eye to eye.  It’s entertaining and is a fun little story.

In terms of value, I’d say buying the DLC is worth it.  You get a ton of new content, new equipment, like crossbows, a new follower and the awesomeness that is the Vampire Lord power.  It’s really a life saver in tough circumstances.  You get your money’s worth for the content.

Overall, I liked the Dawnguard DLC.  It’s fun, addictive, and adds some cool new aspects to an already great game.  It’s worth your time and money.

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