Our new companion, Serana (the detached daughter of Lord Harkon), is a beautiful, articulate, and deeply intriguing character with a keener AI sense to boot. Level design begins with well-charted Skyrim staples - caves, crypts, dungeons, caves - but then journeys into sprawling, spellbinding destinations as the plot thickens. But the content Bethesda has implemented doesn’t always disappoint.
Transforming in and out of the form at-will preserves the gameplay’s overall integrity and enjoyment (townspeople no longer attack the human visage of a vampire, making the choice highly compatible with your Dragonborn identity), but isn’t free from a vulnerable, often laggy two- or three-second delay.Īs mentioned, Dawnguard’s settings and overarching narrative are nearly identical between the vampire/vampire hunter pathways - mostly minor story and dialogue tweaks are made to accommodate intersecting character subplots - and some fans will be dismayed by the lack of a true double-edged campaign. The combat can offer a blissful reprieve from the fighting conventions of Skyrim Standard unfortunately, it’s hindered by hastily designed controls: Environments are nearly unresponsive save for unlocked doors peaceful human interaction is off-limits and first-person view is curiously blocked out, exacerbating the navigational difficulties presented by the creature’s enlarged physique. The Vampire Lord power introduces combat abilities far more lethal than anything imbued to the race before, with the lord capable of feasting upon foes during melee, casting potent spells in a hovering state, skirting across the ground in wing-fluttering sprint, and upgrading his nefarious talents through a brand new skill tree. Like the civil war between the Stormcloaks and Imperials, the player determines their allegiance and, eventually, the victor, but the new exigency lends an epic vigor to Skyrim’s storyline that wasn’t found before outside the main quest, while also expanding artfully on the game’s previously-established fiction. It’s not long before the dynamic is made clear: the vampire lord Harkon is plotting a resurgence of his species by using an ancient Elder Scroll to control the sun. After downloading (and after the player surpasses level 10 - a mere hour's task for newcomers), rumors begin percolating around Skyrim's cities - along with a few bodies produced by actual nighttime vampire incursions - that a war is brewing between vampires, the cannibalistic occult, and the Dawnguard, a secretive group of titular vampire hunters. Keeping with the theme of Skyrim's presentation, the "Dawnguard" questline occurs organically - no flashy cutscenes or tedious save shuffling required - through the game's living universe. But while the long-time-coming does indeed produce significant - and satisfying - additions to Skyrim’s gameplay and lore, Dawnguard isn’t immune from an underwhelming sense of untapped potential.
For the prodigious Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bethesda’s response is Dawnguard, the first iteration of a slow-churned, "substantial" DLC agenda. It’s a question with diverse answers befitting of a diverse industry.