The success of Skyrim's first DLC pack, Dawnguard, has created a new generation of Oliver Twists that cling onto Bethesda's coat tails asking "please sir, can we have some more?" Admittedly, that's partly because Dawnguard wasn't as good as it could have been, but demand is demand.
As such, rumours regarding the next DLC are cropping up all over. One in particular, however, seems a little more concrete than the rest. Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media made a trademark application earlier in the year for "Hearth Fire", covering "downloadable computer game software offered via the internet and wireless services". Could "Hearth Fire" be Skyrim's next DLC pack? Let's take some massive leaps of faith and entertain that possibility for a moment or two.
Could we learn more about their conflict with the Thalmor in Skyrim's next downloadable adventure? Given that the Thalmor's headquarters in Solitude is currently conspicuously empty, this seems plausible - there's a gap waiting to be filled. Maybe we'll even find out what caused Winterhold's Great Collapse, or visit the disappearing isle of Artaeum.
The Tales and Tallows holiday also takes place during Hearth Fire, a celebration of Necromancy that doesn't exactly sound like a barrel of laughs. Widening the gulf between the earthly and the unearthly, the festival would provide the perfect opportunity for another split storyline, with the player either supporting or obstructing the forces of evil. Let's hope for variety's sake that Bethesda steer their ship away from these dark waters.
Hearth Fire is also the name of a book that can be found in both Skyrim and Oblivion, though it's hard to glean much from its weathered pages. It's a long, rather wordy volume that forms the ninth part of the "2920" series, chronicling several interlinked chains of events. Nothing really jumps out at me as something that could be sculpted into DLC. However, and this is flagrant speculation, this book could reveal something of the structure of upcoming DLC - the pack might be a bundle of loosely associated smaller quests, rather than another grand narrative arch.
Words by Sam Horti. What do you hope for from the next Skyrim DLC pack? In April, Ed theorised that the Order of the Mythic Dawn might return in Dawnguard. He still holds out hope. While we're talking Skyrim, here are 17 mods we want on Xbox 360.
7 comments so far...
Grummy on 16 Aug '12 said:
Some nice deductions made their, particularly regarding the psijic order, Have to say though, "Hearthfire" turning up next month, not happening, I'd stake money on it. If it were, we'd have heard something about it by now. It was 8 weeks from announcement to release of Dawnguard. That timeframe already takes us into October, and it hasn't been announced yet. A September release just wouldn't be enough time for them to publicize it before release. Also worth noting is that it was 7 1/2 months from Skyrim release to Dawnguard release. So far it's been just shy of 2 months since DG was released. Now, I'm not expecting it to be another 7 months, however the Fallout 3 DLC was released on average about 7 weeks apart, and that was for DLC that is significantly smaller in size than the Skyrim ones are. All things considered, I expect another 2-3 months before the next one turns up, which would make sense really, being released in time for the Christmas sales window, which in turn would allow the Third one to be released in the first quarter of next year. Now, with Bethesda announcing they have only planned for 3 DLC for Skyrim, this sort of time frame allows for a couple of things, a 4th DLC to be released, time to market and sell a GOTY edition and, at a long shot, announce and start to publicize Fallout 4, all options happening in good time before the assumed release window for the next gen consoles.
Even though I count it a long shot, I think FO4 announcement is a good possibility. Oblivion was announced as being an early next gen game before release, and I wouldn't be too shocked to find that Bethesda have been working with dev kits for the new consoles since the release of Skyrim, if not before. I happen to know for definite that the dev kits for the next Playstation are floating around, so I don't see any reason why the same isn't true for the next Xbox. FO4 announcement is all speculation of course, it's not a guarantee, but I'd say it's a real possibility.
Jabraham on 16 Aug '12 said:
I hope they do a couple more the size of Dawnguard and then make a really big one takes takes you somewhere new or somewhere old i guess well that what i would want anyway
DaedricMince on 16 Aug '12 said:
It seems unlikely we will be getting a shivering isles sized expansion dlc.
I'm personally hoping for dragon mounts.
EdDeRs1 on 16 Aug '12 said:
just let us take the fight to the Dominion, and mabey have the Falmer rise up and try to take the world back, it was nice to meet the last snow elf in Dawnguard though...
Grummy on 16 Aug '12 said:
Has this suddenly become a Deep Space 9 game?
CunningSmile on 17 Aug '12 said:
Sinces Tales and Tallows is an old name for Hallowe'en does that mean I get to dress up as a ghost and beg for sweet rolls?
Spannerman on 17 Aug '12 said:
Am I missing something? I thought that the month in the Elder Scrolls calendar was Heartfire, not Hearth-Fire!