Features & News

Dawnguard finally arrives

June 29, 2012, Author: Wayne Morgan

This week sees the release of Dawnguard, the first official DLC for Skyrim, and certainly one of the most anticipated add-on packages of 2012.

Dawnguard is based around Vam Harkon’s return to power, a Volkihar vampire lord who has mysteriously returned and is hell bend on blotting out the sun. Vam Harkon plans to take Skyrim into an eternal darkness by using the powers in the Elder scrolls.

Once you have  installed the content, you’ll start to hear rumors about the Dawnguard from guards in major cities if you’re over level 10. You may also be approached by a courier who will give you a note related to the Dawnguard. If you are below level 10 it is possible to locate the Dawnguard headquarters after installing the update by finding the location yourself walking around Skyrim.

As with anything in Skyrim, choices must be made and you will have an opportunity to side with Vam Harkon or side against him and hunt down the blood thirsty lord and attempt to overturn his plans.

You don’t just get a new story line to play as well, as this the DLC also brings in a wealth of new skills and abilities. Vampires can transform into flying vampire lords, which is similar to becoming a werewolf. In this form you’re given an ability called Vampiric Grip, which then suspends enemies in the air while draining their health. Naturally, you can also turn into a cloud of bats.

Werewolves also receive extra perks as well as Vampires. You can expect to see new perks like the Totem of Terror which enables werewolves to howl and affect even higher level creatures. The ability to summon another werewolf with a howl has been included as well as Gorging that will give the player the ability to heal twice as much while feeding.

No doubt every Skyrim fan will be losing many hours to Dawnguard. I will also be joining them and am looking forward to getting some time to play this story line. Skyrim is one of the games I have tried to stay as true to the main story line as possible and have enjoyed it fully. While Bethesda have already said that work on the next DLC hasn’t started yet, it is being considered. Regardless, Dawnguard seems to offer plenty of reasons for us to get immersed all over again.

Dawnguard can be downloaded now from Xbox Live Marketplace for 1600 Microsoft points.

Source : CVG