5/5 ★ – Luitenant_Gruber's review of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Hearthfire.

Great DLC for the Main game. Skyrim is an timeless, epic game with a massive world, endless possibilities and a very strong replay value. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has a relatively simple, but powerful story. Because this game is mainly focused on this story, I will spoil nothing. If you never played the game, this is something that you need to experience for yourself. You start an empty character from various races, can customize almost every inch of their bodies and then start your adventure in the world of Skyrim. You are free to roam wherever you want, when you want, how you want, all at the very start of the game, after the tutorial. This game is the definition of “nonlinear” and freedom. Right from the start, you get sucked into its beautiful open world, and can start leveling up your skills, picking some flowers, mine some ore, collect garbage to sell at vendors and finally murdering that bunny that you chased all the way to Riften. Even today, I still think Skyrim looks glorious. Sure, the textures can be a little rough here and there, animations are not as “flawless” as today’s games and flowers can look like cardboard cutouts, but for its time, this was revolutionary. There is just so much detail in everything. Wildlife, flowers, sunlight, moonlight, grass, mountains, it is all just great. Every cabin, every cave and every ruin is filled with countless items, details and decorations, and you can interact with almost all of it. Sure, this is a Bethesda game, so glitching and clipping is a thing, but that is the whole charm of this game. Seeing a bucket being launched at 320 km/h because it was too close to a table is just hilarious. Enemies are greatly designed and form a well balanced mix of beasts, monsters, bandits and supernatural beings. Sound wise, Skyrim is a work of art. The sound effects, voice acting, and (ambient) music is just perfect. When walk around town, just wanting to buy some supplies, a calm and peaceful track plays in the background. When you get ambushed by a hungry dragon and the male orchestra voices play, you now that sh!t just got serious. The menu’s, controls and interfaces work great and the overall mechanics of the game are pretty realistic. You can become overburdened with all the crap you carry with you, you can attract vile diseases from certain enemies like the Skeevers (giant rats), you can experience serious problems or debuffs when not sleeping enough, it just adds more fun and challenge to the game. The Hearthfire DLC was one of the best additions to the game. Now, you can build your own house, farm your own crops and adopt a kid and get married. It really makes the Skyrim experience complete. In my opnion, one should definitly get this DLC.