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Bethesda’s first major expansion to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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Fight With or Against Vampires

Superpowered Vampires

Crossbows

There’s At Least One New Horse

Swimming Dragons

An Elder Scroll

The trailer shows a vampire castle containing eldritch devices and a pinch-faced, ember-eyed NPC who is very serious about discovering your intentions.“Is it to be one of us?” he says, at which point the trailer shows a transformation scene where you morph into a vampiric monster. This seems to indicate that you’ll have to choice to either quest for this vampire faction (which could very well be the Volkihar Clan), or against it.The opposition force is the Dawnguard, based in a new castle, who hunt vampires and try to prevent the undead blood hoarders from blotting out the sun with their villainy.It’s not yet clear what kind of effects your decisions will have on the game world, but this is The Elder Scrolls, so it makes sense if you had some choice in the matter. Perhaps if you choose to aid the vampires and wipe out the Dawnguard, vampires will no longer suffer in the sunlight?Because regular vampires just aren’t exciting anymore, Bethesda will allow you to transform into a grotesque winged demon creature in Dawnguard. Movement will be a little floatier than normal if the footage is indicative of actual gameplay, and you’ll be able to move at high speeds across the landscape. Perhaps you can switch between the monster form and your standard body at will, or perhaps you can only exist as a monster during specific moments during the quest line.It also appears you’ll gain the ability to walk right up to fully awake NPCs and gnaw on their veins, as shown in the trailer’s vampire bite cinematic kill. Also, bats.As with many of Bethesda’s downloadable content releases, new weapons and armor are added in. The most notable addition here is the crossbow, which comes can be used on foot and while riding horses. Speaking of riding horses…The most impressive (non-modded) mount to date in Skyrim will be available in Dawnguard, a ghostly horse with a mane of blue flame, likely associated with the main story. Suddenly Shadowmere doesn’t feel so special anymore.Bethesda also chose to highlight mounted combat in Dawnguard, though this isn’t strictly an add-on feature – the ability to use weapons on horseback is actually part of the 1.6 patch update, currently in beta testing through Steam.After Dawnguard, dragons will no longer be confined to land and air – they can dive directly through the ice in combat. What exactly they do down there – regenerate health, surface again directly underneath your feet, or simply hang out with Argonians – remains to be seen, but it’s especially interesting as it indicates dragon behavior after Dawnguard may be much more varied.More new enemy types will be included as well, including what appears to be a fanged ice giant.As called out in the trailer’s voice over, an Elder Scroll will play a prominent role in Dawnguard’s story. In fact, at the trailer’s beginning you can see a character actually carrying a scroll on their back.Later the scroll is opened, and a flash of a modified map of Skyrim is shown. What exactly this means isn’t yet clear, but the terrain appears to show off the northwestern section of Skyrim, highlighting the cities of Markath and Solitude with reddish (bloody?) symbols.

That’s what we’ve got to go on for now. Dawnguard is supposed to launch sometime this summer for Xbox 360 for 1600 Microsoft Points, with PlayStation 3 and PC versions to follow sometime afterward. Expect more details to surface at E3 2012, which takes place from June 5 – 7.