Playtime: 14 Hours
Score: 8/10

Another solid expansion for Skyrim! I remember this being my favorite add-on for Skyrim since it added a new map to explore, which is always my favorite type of expansion in RPGs. Solstheim is a great place to explore and its cool to have the more Morrowind themed world design.

Story wise I much prefer Dawnguard, as I felt it told a much more gripping narrative. This one is very forgettable, story wise. I also remember hating the fact that the bad guy can show up and steal your dragon souls after you kill a dragon, but I figured out if you destroy the stones that people are building around the island, he won't be able to do that anymore.

Overall, this is a solid expansion and is worth a playthrough whenever you pick up and play Skyrim.

- 15 hours played

I lived in Skyrim upon its release and absolutely adore that game. But I didn’t have access to the internet until 2015 and so the dlc’s came and went and I never got to experience them. The remaster came about and I played Dawnguard and messed around with Hearthfire but for some reason I left Dragonborn to the wayside. That is until now. Finally I have all the Skyrim content under my belt.

Dragonborn was a great dlc. A new land mass to explore that’s much different to mainland Skyrim. I loved the ash and the overall very gloomy vibe. The mushroom houses and the creepy new enemies. Raven rock was a great new little town as well.

The dungeons were much better and more memorable in this dlc. The perks that are rewarded for completing the black books were very useful. I got some great loot, new armour and weapons. It’s a shame I won’t be playing the base game to get more use out of these kick ass items though. I did find the main plot line of the dlc to be very short and also very disappointing. It starts to ramp up a little then it just ends abruptly. Not satisfying at all. The main antagonist Miraak is very underwhelming. You don’t learn enough about him or interact with him enough. He barely registered as a presence throughout my playthrough. Despite this I did like the Deadra you encounter and his realm was pretty cool to traverse if a little ropey visually. I get individually placing books to make up the walls in the realm of knowledge would be very taxing but the way they went about it here, having muddy textures meant to convey the appearance of stacked books looks very messy and outdated. And that’s if I was playing the dlc on release let alone now in 2024. So the main quest was pretty meh but I enjoyed all the side content.

Overall it was great to be back in Skyrim. I vibed hard, big chilling in Solstheim with the amazing ambient music and bloody lovely skybox. Shout out to the aurora borealis that hangs in the sky. I can’t wait for Elder Scrolls 6. But Bethesda seriously needs to take a long hard look at this combat model. Throw it out and give us something meaningful, impactful and actually decent because what has passed as melee combat in the past games won’t pass now.

Dragonborn is hands down the best expansion of Skyrim, it's a love-letter to newcomers and old fans alike.

The lovecraftian approach to the story is very interesting, and the new characters are pretty good.

Solstheim looks absolutely beautiful and it's quite big, there are many things that you can do in it. Overall the amount of side content is more than enough.

As for the new armor sets and weapons, they're very strong and valuable, definitely worth grinding for.

Final Rating: "Amazing" ~ 9/10.