‘Skyrim: Dawnguard’ DLC Releases
Bethesda

After Bethesda Studios finished "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim," the team took a week to create whatever they pleased using the game's development tools. This is the same video eager fans looked to for clues on the current "Dawnguard" DLC before it was unveiled, and now revisiting it could provide insight for the future.

The ending result of the developer's spree was a mash up of mods and new gameplay features, all of which were shown ad the 2012 D.I.C.E Summit. Some predictions that clues displayed in the "Game Jam" video would surface in the DLC proved true, including some perks that should be familiar to "Dawnguard" players. For example, the werewolf perk tree, vampire feeding animations and Vampire Lord form were all incorporated into the game's first add-on.

So what does this mean for what will come after "Dawnguard?" Although Bethesda is far from unveiling another DLC anytime soon, it may be safe to say that other features found in the video could make their way to gameplay in the future.

According to the staff over at CVG, one of the features most likely to pop up in another DLC is the flying dragon mounts.

"Imagine being able to fly around the world on the back of a mighty dragon," writes Andy Kelly of CVG UK. "We may be able to capture and tame, rather than kill, dragons, or engage in mid-air combat."

This certainly is an exciting concept for "Skyrim" players. If "Dawnguard" embracing the vampire race is an indication that DLCs will emphasize creatures as major roles throughout the gameplay, perhaps Bethesda will place dragons in the spotlight next.

The "Game Jam" video also showed some enhancements in the stealth department, with a new feature that seemed to be an "assassin vision." This allowed the character to track enemies through walls, and another new addition was the ability to create a shadow of a player's character by extinguishing torches with water arrows. However, guards can relight these torches, but perhaps Bethesda will implement a stealth-based questline in its next "Skyrim" DLC.

There are also a plethora of experimental mods in the footage, such as spear weapons, new follower commands, the ability to adopt children, purchasing a house and combining spells to create new effects. Other mods included goblin enemies, fat giants, giant mudcrabs, ice and fire arrows and imp minions for vampires.

"You can pretty much guarantee that some of this stuff will make an appearance in the next wave of DLC," Kelly writes.

The full list of mods found in the "Game Jam" video are as follows: (items with ** have appeared in the "Dawnguard" DLC)

  • Seasonal foliage
  • Flow-based water shader
  • Spears
  • Kill cams for magic**
  • Kill cams for ranged attacks**
  • Stealth enhancements
  • Paralysis runes
  • Dungeon enhancements
  • Water currents in dungeons
  • Dark dungeons
  • New follower commands
  • Set favourites for followers
  • Adoption
  • Build your own home
  • Spell combinations (fear + healing = drain health)
  • Goblins
  • High level draugr
  • Waygate fast travel
  • Epic new mounts**
  • Mounted combat**
  • Dragon mounts
  • Soulbug familiar
  • Kinect shouts**
  • Screen space ambient occlusion
  • Enhanced underwater visuals
  • Snow footprints
  • Verlet surfaces for non-rigid objects
  • Fat giants
  • Ice and fire arrows
  • Werebear
  • Lycanthropy perk tree**
  • Vampire feeding**
  • Vampire Lord**
  • Vampire imp minions
  • Mudcrab animation tweaks
  • Giant mudcrab

ZeniMax Media, the parent company to Bethesda Softworks, recently filed a patent for the term "Hearthfire," which sparked some speculation among the "Elder Scrolls" community. The company patented "Dawnguard" before it was officially announced as a DLC, but the ownership claim could just be a move to protect its trademark. ZeniMax also filed patents for "Skyrim" terms such as dragon shout "Fus Ro Dah" and "Dragonborn."

Similar to "Fus Ro Dah," "Hearthfire" is an item in "Skyrim" lore, and is a month equivalent to September in the game's universe. Perhaps there will be another DLC announcement in September? However, as previously stated, claiming ownership over a term does not guarantee that it will be incorporated into a DLC. It's just another bit of information for "Skyrim" fans to keep the rumor mill churning about what Bethesda has planned next.

Check out the video from D.I.C.E below to see the mods and features for yourself.