Dawnguard

Forward by Kurt Hvorup

With the popularity and financial success that Bethesda Softworks’ 2011 release The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has received, it was almost inevitable that an expansion would be developed to further capitalize on the strength of the latest installment.  Dawnguard, the first announced DLC for Skyrim, is set to present some new additions and themes, which are displayed in the trailer that my associate will break down for you in the paragraphs below.  Enjoy!

The theme for the Dawnguard expansion is vampirism. In this expansion, a vampire lord seems like he needs the Elder Scroll to vanquish the sun, the mortal enemy of vampires.

In the trailer for this expansion, we can see that there are crossbows apposed to the bow and arrow which is always the only ranged weapon, other then magic. This might add another perk tree to level up in. Crossbows and bows are very different in every way. The only thing in common is the half moon piece of wood and the string. The arrows are different. Crossbows use bolts as bows use arrows.

Next is mounted combat and different mounts. We can see that there is some kind of vampiric horse that you can ride and there is a guy riding a horse with an ax and completely destroys an unmounted opponent, which is always cool.

Next is the vampirism on the character. Instead of just the vampire you think of when we say “vampire” it is actually a bad-ass version of one. It has bad-ass wings, long claws, a more monstrous face and has extremely impressive powers. There is a new perk tree and it’s vampirism. But most of the moves used look magic-based when you are this bad ass vampire. We can only see him absorbing souls though in about one part of it where he has a blue hand of magic and a red hand of magic. Also, we think that turning into this vampire is like when you turn into the werewolf; it has a timed period in which you can be him. There is also another skill tree added… lycanthropy! That’s right skills for werewolfs!

The head vampire, who is also the narrator, mentions that the Dawnguard are trying to stop the vampires, but he says that they will find them. The head vampire talks about blocking out the tyranny of the sun. This will probably be the main plot to the expansion. We are not sure if being a werewolf will affect which faction you can be, but the trailer makes it look like you can choose to be a vampire or be with the Dawnguard.

A new arrow appears. It has three prongs and it looks like he is using a new bow with his arrow. When fighting a guy, he suddenly turns into a swarm of bats. It might be a perk for killing him, like decapitation is, or maybe when you kill this opponent he turns into a swarm of bats, or he turns into the bats and appears somewhere else.

The Elder Scroll seems like it takes on an important roll in this expansion. At the beginning, the narrator says he needs the Elder Scroll and his daughter has returned to him with it.At this point he makes the statement about blocking out the sun. In the trailer, you open the Elder Scroll and a overview of the new realm appears.

Next topic is on the area. There is no snow in the  trailer, so maybe it is more south of Skyrim in the Mountains, but still has the look and feel of northern Tamriel. Also, when the map comes up it has no similar land forms that can be related to the Skyrim we know. Also, when in the bad ass vampire form, it looks like you are in another realm. It looks like it might be the land of the dead. It’s all foggy and dark. This might be a perk as a vampire, changing realms. But the bad ass vampire is also seen flying around the living world.

As for the transformation of turning into this vampire, you enter a pool of what looks like blood and it flies around and you transform into a bad-ass vampire. There is also footage of a staircase-like thing that leads into a purple and black ooze thing floating around, which looks like a portal to another realm.

In the expansion there will be new enemies to fight including legendary dragons, gargoyles, death hounds and armoured trolls. But with new enemies comes new shouts and weapons (most of the weapons have been listed above).  Dragon bone weapons will be added along with a shout called Soul Tear, which rips the soul from a living enemy and will fight for the player!

Overall, this expansion looks extremely cool and fun, with an offer of many more nights without sleep playing this game to its max. There has been talk of just realizing this as an update, but that probably won’t happen. The release date has been confirmed. On Xbox 360 it’s 26th of June and 30 days later for PS3 and PC on July 26th. Have fun drinking blood or vanquishing the land of vampires in the new Dawnguard expansion for Skyrim.

-Ben Voss, Journalist