The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Released over a decade ago, and still so present in the gaming world, with an unsurpassed modding scene, and several re-releases over the course of its shelf life, there’s a lot of fruitful discussion to be had about Bethesda’s iconic roleplaying game. While some have argued that the game is shallow underneath the surface compared to its predecessors, the truth is rather the inverse – beneath the shallow exterior lies a very deep sandbox that can mean anything to anyone who plays it.
While a lot of the shortcomings in Skyrim, subjectively speaking, have been ironed out by a plethora of mods by now, and there are aspects of the game that fell short compared to earlier titles in the Elder Scrolls franchise, Skyrim’s expansion packs have never failed in building upon the base game’s mechanics, systems, and themes that its story and location have tried to tell.
A recent discussion sparked on the game’s subreddit concerning Skyrim’s three expansion packs, and it only served to prove that despite being different in length and in the type of content they provided, there was no clear favorite above the rest. Even Hearthfire, despite providing no main questline of its own, was shown a lot of support and respect for the way it changed the game.
The first expansion pack for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Dawnguard, came out in June 2012, introducing an overhaul of the game’s Lycanthropy and Vampirism mechanics. Dawnguard’s story focused on the vampirical side of Skyrim, deftly tying it to the Nord province’s history with the Falmer, all the while introducing Soul Cairn – the necromantic plane of Oblivion – into the franchise for the first time. Dawnguard also introduced Serana, Bethesda’s take on a more complex companion character, complete with her own story and a unique personality.
Hearthfire’s primary appeal was less for the adventure, but rather for the quiet moments between adventures. It introduced the ability for players to build their own home, completely from scratch, in three distinct corners of Skyrim. Furthermore, Hearthfire also expanded on the game’s rudimentary marriage system by allowing the Dragonborn to adopt orphaned children, thus letting players have fully-developed families of their own.
The last expansion, Dragonborn, released roughly a year after Skyrim’s release, was the game’s biggest add-on, offering the story a fitting conclusion on the isle of Solstheim. It told the story of Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, and his ties to the first Dragonborn, Miraak. Whereas Dawnguard represented the vampiric and Falmer themes of Skyrim, Dragonborn delved into dragon-worship and the Dunmer aspects introduced in the base game. As a culmination of the journey in becoming Dovahkiin, the expansion gave players the ability to ride dragons.
Whichever one’s favorite Skyrim expansion may be, it is clear that each of the three have a lot to offer on their own, and represent irreplaceable parts of Skyrim’s overall tapestry.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
