Although it took what felt like AGES for Sony to get its butt in gear and approve Skyrim's three DLCs to be released on the Playstation Network, it was well worth the wait. At first I was skeptical that Hearthfire would be anything but a Skyrim version of building The Sims houses. However, the houses you can build, though they don't really vary that much between each other, they make up for in seclusion with some of the best views in the game. You have limited, but pretty worthy options on what you can build in your house, and it makes the perfect place to add a bard and steward...and a couple barking dogs and maybe a skeever, spider, fox, or rabbit...normal right? :) You can have barking dogs because you can have pets in this dlc, including the option to adopt a maximum of 2 children. I hope in the future the cap will be at 4 children, because I have two spare twin beds upstairs!
Ok, that dlc is alright, but nothing to wait about a year for if you're a PC or PS3 user. That's where we get to the next to be released (yes they were released in a skewed order from their original announcement dates) dlc, Dragonborn. I have yet to delve into it much because of the fact I love the third dlc, Dawnguard, to death, but Dragonborn has a LOT of additions to it. First of all, the only flea any gamer likes is the Silk Striders...from Morrowind. Now, don't get too excited. There's only one, that I know of, in the game, and you can't ride it. However, there are Netchs, also from Morrowind. Why all the Morrowind references? Well, Dragonborn takes places on an island called Solstheim, off the north coast of Morrowind. Not only does Dragonborn provide nostalgia for the veteran TES fans, but you can ride dragons, finally. Although you can't really control them as if they were an attachment of yourself, you can direct their destination, among other things like being able to air attack enemies. Also, from the beginning of where I left off in Whiterun, I noticed that I was immediately attacked by cultists who had a note on them accusing me of not being the true dragonborn and therefore a threat. I just know it's going to be a great storyline later on after I finish Dawnguard. Now, onto the last dlc. Dawnguard adds a fantastic vampire story to the game without being cliche. I might spoil a few things here, so don't read on if you don't want that to interfere with the experience of the story. My favorite follower now is the undying vampire Lady Serana. She basically got caught in the middle of a parent feud over whether to make themselves be able to walk in the daylight unharmed by the sun in front of mortals or not. It's a lot more involved than that, but basically Serana was locked away for 100s of years to prevent her family from getting his hands on the information the Elder Scroll she carried provided. On the other side of that is the vampire killer organization known as the Dawnguard. You can choose later on who to side with, and I chose the Dawnguard. I'm not all that into the vampire mechanics and I've killed so many vampires in Skyrim already, so why stop now. ;) Anyways, Dawngaurd adds a lot of neat features just like Dragonborn, including: Dragonbone weapons, new fighting camera angles when perform a killing blow, the ability to be a werewolf again, two unique areas (my favorite Soul Cairn and Forgotten Vale), Legendary Dragons, Crossbows, other new items-weapons-armor, etc. and oh yeah...an undead horse which constantly burns with a blue fire that you can ride named Arvak.
The next dlc to come out is rumored to be called Redguard. All veteran TES gamers will know what that is a reference to immediately.
* Durnehviir, keeper of the Soul Cairn