Six long years passed before Elder Scrolls fans got their sequel to Daggerfall. Thankfully, Morrowind (PCG rating: 90%, July 2002) proved worth the wait, and now the expansions are coming thick and fast.

Bloodmoon, the second add-on, takes place in the frigid island of Solstheim, where another dark threat needs thwarting.

A cast of all-new friends and enemies populates a land of frozen castles, ice tunnels, blizzards, and epic struggle. You trigger the expansion by asking any NPC about “latest rumors,” which will lead you to the northern city of Khuul, where you can take a boat to Solstheim. Your journey begins at Fort Frostmouth, the Imperial beachhead on a mostly wild island. It’s larger than Mournhold from the Tribunal expansion pack (PCG rating: 78%, February 2003), but there are no transportation shortcuts, and you’re still running as slow as ever. Nevertheless, the land is picturesque and dangerous, dotted with mysterious formations, ancient barrows, a frozen lake, and more.

A level 20–or-better character stands a good chance of success, although you can also adjust the difficulty slider if your favorite character can’t hack the challenge. The new loot is impressively powerful, and be sure to keep an eye out for some fairly strong types of armor (Hint: hang on to bear pelts.)

Perhaps the most visible addition is the werewolf. You’ll fight them at night in the frozen wastes, and may become one of them if you catch their disease, Sanies Lupinus, during combat. (If you’re already immune to disease, it’s possible to voluntarily become a werewolf during the main quest.) It’s a rough lifestyle — you’ll transform every night, during which time you can’t pick anything up, access inventory, or cast spells.

You can attack only with your claws. Each night you must kill an NPC or you’ll lose health every hour. And if anyone sees you transforming, you’ll be attacked by friend and foe on sight, for the rest of the game. Tough gig.

That said, living as a werewolf is still pretty cool. You can inflict serious damage with those claws, leap amazing distances, and take on more enemies than would be possible in your human form.

The werewolf’s strength makes the AI especially underwhelming. Combat is still mostly a click-fest, with strategy proving a factor only when mages get involved. You can also see enemies from a ways off; curiously, most of them will just stand in one spot until you get close enough to annihilate them. But if you didn’t mind the leisurely combat of Morrowind, you won’t be turned off by this scheme, since the system continues essentially unchanged.

Whether or not the main quest is more than just an excuse to introduce cool new gear, it’s still fun to wander around lackadaisically — to survey the land by moonlight while standing atop a stone outcropping, to plumb the depths of an icy cave, to sneak through a dark forest at night in search of a safe place to rest. In short, to do the Morrowind shuffle.

— Tom McNamara