Skyrim’s second DLC has been officially announced. It’s called Hearthfire and it allows you to build your own home, eking out a familial existence in the wilderness by adopting children, constructing armories, laboratories and stables while tending to your garden and trying to put your dragon-slaying days behind you. How nice!
Here are ten nice things the press release says you can do.
- Purchase plots of land in forests, marshes and tundras (tundri?)
- Expand your home with a greenhouse, smelter, alchemy tower, armory, garden, kitchen, and more
- Construct a fish hatchery
- Defend your fish hatchery from bandits and wild animals
- Hire a personal bard to serenade you in your fish hatchery
- Hire a follower to guard your fish hatchery
- Employ a personal carriage driver to escort you to and from your fish hatchery
- Adopt children who may look at but never touch the fish hatchery
- Give your adopted children pets (potentially fish, from your fish hatchery)
- Play games with your children for family bonuses
Bethesda’s only mentioned an Xbox version so far,though that like has something to do with some nefarious licensing deals made behind closed doors. That version launches on September 4, andI would be unendingly surprised and alarmed if a PC version didn’t follow in the weeks after. We’ve approached Bethesda for confirmation. In the meantime, check out the Build Your Own Home mod for Skyrim, which carries similar features, sans the slightly incongruous child-adoption bits.