Tired of the adventuring life? Worried that you’ll take an arrow to the knee? Skyrim’s next DLC add-on is just the thing you need. Rather than all that mucking about with dragons and ancient prophecies, why not retire to a cozy bungalow in Whiterun instead? You can even build it yourself if you want to look useful in front of your kids.
Hearthfire adds a whole new level to the game, with new opportunities to buy land and put something special on it for posterity. Nobody remembers the guy who was killed by a draugr in some long forgotten crypt two hundred miles from nowhere, but everybody remembers the guy who built his own split-level condo in Windhelm.
According to the press stuff, the housey-housey DLC’s features include:
- Choose Your Land – Choose from property in the salt marshes of Hjaalmarch, the forests of Falkreath, or the vast tundra of The Pale. For the more ambitious landowner, purchase multiple plots and start building a real estate empire.
- Customise Your Home – Expand your home with a variety of room combinations including an armory, alchemy tower, kitchen, trophy room and more. Grow plants in your new greenhouse, cultivate slaughterfish in the fish hatchery, house your Arcane Enchanter in the enchanting tower, or display your latest conquest in the trophy room. Add additional features like stables, mills, smelters, gardens and more.
- New Objectives and Interactions – Guard your home from unwanted visitors like marauding kidnappers, armed bandits, and skeever infestations. Turn almost any follower into your personal steward to improve and protect your home. Or if you require more help, hire a personal bard or carriage driver to ease the burdens of home ownership.
- Adoption – Transform your house into a home with Hearthfire’s all-new adoption system. Adopt children and discover new ways to interact with your family. Play games with the kids, allow them to have pets and gain new bonuses from having a family.
For now, the DLC is confirmed for launch on Xbox on 4 September (and tagged at 400 MSP), although it’s not clear whether or when it’ll be coming to PC or PS3. Skipping PC would be a shame, what with all the obvious potential for nude house patches. Nude house patches? I mean, why not.
In the meantime, though, here’s a trailer:
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