Skyrim Fans Debate the Game’s Best Expansion: It’s called 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 throughout its shelf life. There’s a lot of fruitful discussions to 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 instead the inverse – beneath the simple 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 ironed out by a plethora of mods by now. 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.
There was some debate about Skyrim’s three expansion packs in the game’s subreddit. Even though they were different in length and content, there was no clear favourite above the rest. Even though Hearthfire didn’t have a main storyline of its own, it still got a lot of support and respect because it made the game more exciting and fun.
The first expansion pack for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Dawnguard, came out in June 2012, introducing overhauling the game’s Lycanthropy and Vampirism mechanics.
Skyrim Fans Debate the Game’s Best Expansion
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 made it possible for players to build their own homes from scratch in three different parts of Skyrim.
Hearthfire also added to the game’s basic marriage system by letting the Dragonborn adopt orphaned children so that players could have fully-formed families of their own.
The last expansion, Dragonborn, came out about a year after Skyrim came out. It was the most significant addition to the game, giving the story a fitting ending on the island of Solstheim. It told the story of Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, and his ties to the first Dragonborn, Miraak.
Dawnguard focused on the vampiric and Falmer aspects of Skyrim. While Dragonborn looked into dragon-worship and the Dunmer parts of the game that were in the base game. Finally, as a reward for becoming Dovahkiin, the expansion let players ride dragons, which was the journey’s end.
Whichever one’s favourite Skyrim expansion may be. It is clear that each of the three has a lot to offer on their own and represent irreplaceable parts of Skyrim’s overall tapestry.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available for P.C., PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
