Skyrim: Hearthfire Officially Announced

Skyrim: Hearthfire

Bethesda Softworks finally decided to state the obvious. The developer confirmed the Hearthfire downloadable content rumors for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by officially announcing the DLC today.

Hearthfire will be available for Xbox 360 players on September 4. PC and PlayStation 3 versions are expected to come later but no release date for those versions has been announced.

The DLC will give Skyrim players a chance to ditch the dragon slaying for the domestic life. Gamers will be able to buy a plot of land and construct a cottage from the ground up. Homes can be simple one-room dwellings or elaborate compounds with add-ons such as an armory, greenhouse, or alchemy laboratory. What cottage is complete without a garden, stable, or fish hatchery?

New tools like the drafting table and carpenter’s workbench will be available in Hearthfire to help turn quarried stone, clay and sawn logs into structures and home furnishings.

If that all sounds boring, Hearthfire will introduce the biggest challenge of all to Skyrim: raising children. Gamers will be able to adopt children with the new DLC because apparently this is what domesticated people do. Adopted kids will want to play games with their parents. The age old question, “Can I keep him?” will be asked in the game as children will be able to have pets if allowed. New bonuses can be unlocked based on this family business.

Skyrim: Hearthfire

Homesteaders who feel building their home from start to finish is too much work can hire a steward to buy materials and furnish the home. Stewards can also provide transportation options.

As any homeowner would say, work at the home is never complete. The same is true in Hearthfire. Players will have to protect their home from incoming invaders. There is no Megan’s Law in Skyrim so gamers will have to protect children from kidnappers. Skeevers try to infest homes so players will have to be prepared for extermination. Pesky neighborhood giants also attempt to take over player’s homes.

Hearthfire is a small expansion and that will be reflected in the price. It will cost only 400 Microsoft Points or $5 in human currency.

Ryan Bloom

Ryan Bloom

Associate Editor at Gaming Illustrated
Ryan Bloom is a writer and avid gamer from Santa Ana, CA. He received a B.A. in Communications with a minor in American Studies from California State University, Fullerton in 2010. Follow him on Twitter @BloomsTweets.
Ryan Bloom

@BloomsTweets

Associate Editor, News & Preview Lead, Game Reviewer for @GamingIllustrat, professional writer and multimedia journalist
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  • Rachel Gray

    I want this. I need this.

  • Sporacle

    Wow! This looks really dull. Even if I was interested in this sort of thing their are already mods that do these things. I get the feeling this will soon become the new horse armor.

  • Jingles, Why Not.

    Nice line at the end, “It will cost only 400 Microsoft Points or $5 in human currency.” Defiantly true, why can’t Microsoft just stop being, ‘special’, and arrogant that they need their own type of currency. They should really be using “Microsoft Points” if you could earn/win them. And, seriously Bethesda, get your priorities straight, starting, and finishing another DLC without even finishing the last one! I’d bet that there are about 2 to a whopping 3 people working on Dawnguard. I also have a question, will there be any form of storyline, or other side quests of any sort? Or is this DLC to just make money?