Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Surprisingly good"

The official GS reviewer was a bit harsh in his rating of 7, but otherwise, he's on-the-mark - except I didn't experience any bugs.

Crafting arrows of all kinds is outstanding. Dragonbone weapons are quickly my favorite. Make them, enhance them, double-enchant them, you're suddenly a bigger bad@$$. I carry a Dragonbone Greatsword and Bow, with the Dragonbone arrows, which are 1 point better in damage than Daedric. Chop up some wood, gather some dragonbones, hit the smithy.

Serana is one of the most animated NPC's I've seen, with much more 'life' and variety in her speaking and ambient random actions than any in the game. The voice acting overall for all the new characters keeps up the quality with the game.

The new castles and events tie in neatly with the history of the Snow Elves and Falmer, the Daedra, the Divines, the history of Tamriel. It all gels for me, and I'm well-schooled in the lore of Tamriel since I've been with the series since Daggerfall (ESII).

At first I was disappointed that the new DLC was about vampires, but I got over that quickly once I started playing.

If the DLC packs continue to be this well-conceived, Skyrim has lots of life left in it.