Dawnguard Trailer – First Impression

N ow that we’ve all had plenty of time to digest the trailer for the upcoming The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dawnguard, we can start to speculate as to story details and additions the DLC will make to the game.

In case you missed it, here’s the trailer below. Watch, wipe up drool and then continue on below.

The first bit of information we can glean from this trailer is that there seems to be two playable sides in this DLC: the Vampire Factions (which to my knowledge has not been named) and their enemies the Dawnguard. Gameplay video seems to support this theory, as they show the player transformed into a demon/vampire creature. Plus, why would the narrator ask if you sought to “feast upon the souls of the living?” if you couldn’t do so in game!

The Dawnguard seem to be the faction that protects Tamriel from the Vampire cult, bent on covering the world in darkness. It would make sense that you could be apart of this faction as well, due to the fact the name of the DLC is DAWNGUARD. Plus, anyone RPing a True Good character would not be able to partake of the DLC otherwise.

Secondly, mounted combat will be on the Xbox 360 when this game launches. As of now, the mounted combat is only available on the PC, and the updates are pending approval on Xbox and PS3. The video shows the Dovahkiin attacking on horseback, which would mean you would have to be able to do so when the game launches. Plus, we all know that the DLC will hit the Xbox 360 a month prior to the PC and PS3, so this would have to be enacted. My personal opinion is that mounted combat won’t be seen on the console until this game hits, and the update will happen Dawnguard launch day. But that is just my opinion.

While this DLC doesn’t seem to add any of Tamriel we have explored in games past, it doesn’t mean it keeps closed areas of Skyrim we can’t travel. The Dawnguard fortress seems to be located in an area where it doesn’t snow much, so it could be close to Cyrodiil or Morrowind, while the Vampire fortress is on a rocky hillside. They could possibly be just inhabiting a barren island off the coast of one of the norther cities. Still, it does add new content to the game, and that is always a plus. Also, this could open up the possibility of expanding on Skyrim and adding parts of Tamriel not open to players at this time.

This expansion to me has a “Knights of the Nine” feel, as it does follow the same kind of line that was set in Oblivion. The main difference in this is that you could only play the side of good in KotN, where as you can play both sides in this expansion, giving the DLC more repeat-ability.

With E3 being this week, expect many updates to this story, as release dates and information becomes more available. Plus, make sure you have Friday evening available, as the Elder Scrolls: Off the Record guys will be hosting a special .5 episode to recap all the news and announcements from E3 regarding The Elder Scrolls Online and Dawnguard. Recording will be at 9PM EST and you can check it out LIVE on The Quest Gaming Network’s Livestream Channel.