I had very high expectations for Skyrim: Dawnguard
How could I not? Creator Bethesda touted it as the type of DLC that would feel like an expansion pack, a nice chunk of crazy new content for RPG fans to dig their dragon-weary paws into. And of course, Skyrim was one of last yearâs best video games. I spent some 80 hours exploring and inhabiting its massive, secret-filled world.
https://lastchance.cc/bethesda-skyrim-dlc-will-feel-more-like-expansion-pack-5885983%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
That didnât happen.
Hereâs what you should know about Dawnguard, which Bethesda released earlier this week for Xbox 360 (and will release later for PC and PlayStation 3): It adds two divergent faction lines to the game. One has you allying with a castle full of vampires; the other has you hunting down and killing those vampires. Both stories task you with acquiring a MacGuffin or three, which means youâll have to run around the world map through locations both new and old, mashing your trigger buttons and sniffing through caves on your quest to Save The World Again.
Dawnguard also fills Skyrim with a handful of other quests, tasks, and random scenarios. As a vampire, I found myself constantly accosted by the eponymous vamp-slaying Dawnguard, who would suddenly pop up in every city I visited, tracking me down like I had an iPhone. This protagonist-detecting ESP seems limited to the computer. While playing as a Dawnguard, you are instead just chased by psychic vampires (some of whom will apparently kill random NPCs everywhere you go).
https://lastchance.cc/playing-a-vampire-in-skyrim-dawnguard-5921294%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
WHY: Because youâve seen, heard, and played most of this before.
Skyrim: Dawnguard
Developer: Bethesda
Platforms: Xbox 360 (played), PC, PlayStation 3
Released: June 26 (Xbox 360), Later (PC, PlayStation 3)
Type of game: RPG DLC
What I played: Spent close to 15 hours finishing the vampire quest line. Took my time. Explored the world. You know: Skyrim stuff.
Two Things I Loved
Having an excuse to revisit the world of Skyrim
The vampire questâs new follower, whose name and nature I wonât spoil. Sheâs awesome.
Two Things I Hated
Boring, vast quests. Boring, vast areas.
The game seems buggier than ever
https://lastchance.cc/heres-your-first-look-at-skyrims-dlc-in-action-5921282%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Made-to-Order Back-of-Box Quotes
âYou liked Skyrim, right? Here.â â -Jason Schreier, Kotaku.com
âHope you like caves.â -Jason Schreier, Kotaku.com
Because of this DLCâs nature, I should admit that I definitely havenât seen everything it has to offer. Although I finished the vampire side of Dawnguardâs main story and saw a few of its new sidequests, I did not scour every location in the game in search of new content, and therefore itâs very possible that I missed some awesome features. But what I did experienceâand what your average new player will experienceâwas nothing short of underwhelming.
The new quests are underwhelming: other than a few cool new conceptsâlike murdering a civilian while wearing Dawnguard armor so everybody thinks the Dawnguard did itâyouâve seen everything here before. Go here; find this; kill him; get that. Thereâs nothing here as unabashedly awesome as, say, a certain quest at the end of the original gameâs Dark Brotherhood plot line.
The new areas are underwhelming: one, Soul Cairn, is just a soul-stuffed clone of Skyrimâs Blackreach. Itâs big, purple, and completely empty. To finish its quests, youâll have to spend a lot of time walking through vast stretches of sheer nothingness. Youâll have to fight a mini-boss, walk ten minutes through nothingness, fight another mini-boss, walk another ten minutes through nothingness, and so forth. This is not particularly fun, interesting, or emotionally engaging. Neither is the part where somebody asks you to hunt down ten pieces of paper and you just groan, wondering if youâve accidentally stumbled into an MMORPG.
The new vampire powers are underwhelming: you canât use potions or spells while in Vampire Mode, and worst of all, youâre stuck in third-person perspective. Teleporting around as a swarm of bats and draining enemiesâ life is cool, but completely impractical for regular use. To use items, open chests, and get through some doors, youâll have to switch back to human form, which means youâll have to sit through a long, laggy animation sequence before you can do anything. This is very irritating.
Even the bugs are underwhelming: other than this ridiculous moment toward the beginning of the game, Dawnguardâs many bugs and glitches couldnât even get me to crack a smile. Particularly unfunny was the part where my follower suddenly disappeared and I had to replay an hour of progress because I couldnât activate the next quest trigger.
The sheer lack of creativity here makes it almost hard to believe that the same team worked on both Skyrim and Dawnguard. Keen-eyed Bethesda fans might notice that some of the gameâs new features draw from the Skyrim game jam that Todd Howard discussed at DICE earlier this year, and indeed, interesting mechanics like water currents, dark dungeons, and skeletal mounts are all in there. But theyâre all minor moments. The game jam itself was far more interesting than any of Dawnguardâs new content.
https://lastchance.cc/kinect-enabled-shouts-and-dragon-mounts-will-skyrims-g-5883580%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
If I had to summarize Dawnguard in two words, it would be this: more Skyrim. For many people, thatâs enoughâand if youâre in that boat, you should most definitely get your hands on this DLC. But if you wanted something special, something unique, something that could give you that feeling of giddiness you got the first time you entered Bethesdaâs hulking role-playing game and started exploring its caves and cities, then you might want to look elsewhere. Or at least wait for Skyrim: Game of the Year Edition
