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cover-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn

Wednesday, May 31, 2023 8:38:48 PM

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn Review (Madrias)

The definitive DLC for Skyrim.
While Dawnguard was okay and Hearthfire was a wet fart we dealt with for the modding content, Dragonborn is the DLC that made us wish for more. We got a look at a place that some people hadn't been to, ever, and some people had been to a very, very long time ago - Solstheim, just off the coast of Morrowind. For some, the last time they saw this bitter winter island was during the events of Morrowind's Bloodmoon expansion. For the rest of us, it was a glimpse into the alien Dunmeri architecture, the Old Ways of the Skaal, and a glimpse at the last remaining pack of werewolves.
Unlike Dawnguard and Hearthfire, Dragonborn was a proper expansion pack, akin to the Shivering Isles of Oblivion. We got a new worldspace, weapons, armors, a whole new main DLC quest, a bucket of sidequests, new followers, new perks from the Black Books, a ton of mod-author-friendly assets to reuse, a nostalgia kick to the gut for Morrowind fans, new shouts, new enemy types, and, most importantly, it didn't do much inside Skyrim's main worldspace beyond getting you to go there.
For a lot of people, Dragonborn is the gateway to Morrowind. For some of those people, they'll find Morrowind too clunky, too old, too hard, and for them, I recommend Morroblivion. Yes, you'll need both Oblivion and Morrowind to set it up, but once you have, you end up with all of Morrowind's epic story quests and mostly-playable DLCs packed into Oblivion's more forgiving game engine.
For all of us who played Morrowind in one way or another, we're left with moments of outright jaw-dropping nostalgia. Master Neloth. The Telvanni towers. Visiting places where we once tread long ago in another life, a different character, and seeing how much changed.
And yet, we're not here for one of Hircine's games. We're here because someone named Miraak sent cultists to kill us, claiming we were the "false Dragonborn." So, like any hero being pestered by random attacks with notes attached, we go wandering over to go kick some butt. And our quest eventually leads to a face-off between us, the Last Dragonborn, and Miraak, the First Dragonborn.
But outside of the questlines, what do we get?
Weapons, armors, a new worldspace to explore, dragon-riding fast travel, a new daedric worldspace to explore, more assets for the mod authors to build with, a bundle of new shouts, and some interesting powers courtesy of the All-Maker Stones, which grant you a one-time-use power that is very powerful, but will need to be gathered back up at the stones again to use it again. Oh, and three buckets worth of nostalgia dumped on your head for anyone who played Morrowind.