A sloppy DLC that should have been a lot better than it is.
Being a vampire is hilariously bad. It takes like 10 seconds at least to actually transform into one so in the heat of the battle, turning into a vamp will just see you pathetically cut down before you can even transform. Maybe once the transformation has ended I can enjoy being a vamp. Well not unless it's outside in the open. If I change into one during an indoor section the hulking vampire takes up all the screen giving camera headaches galore. Nope, being a vampire is utter s**t. I spent most of the time on the vampire side in my human form. Much more powerful that way.
The werewolf form has been upgraded with this DLC though it's not part of the Dawnguard story. Like the vamp you get a perks tree but like the vamp there's problems. If you change into a wolf in a dungeon be prepared for invisible walls preventing you from exploring a dungeon fully. Very very sloppy indeed. Sometimes the wolf refuses to feed after freshly killing victims. If the victim isn't laying perfectly flat on the ground the wolf can't munch it seems.
Then there's Serana the sidekick. What a mess. If she's not getting rooted to the spot, she'll lag way behind you. In a tough battle where the hell is she? Stuck on some scenery a few miles back no doubt. If she does stay close then she just repeats the same line over & over & over & over. Same in combat. " I knew I heard something" every single f*****g time. She loves to block my way & set of traps too. Plus it don't matter which path you take either. Searana is your sidekick Vampire path or Dawnguard, doing the same missions.
Plenty of bugs & technical shortcomings too. It all screams rush job. Recycled environments & voice actors. I swear one section I was in two characters had the same voice as Serana. For all the billions Bethesda made from the Elder Scrolls games surely they could have hired some fresh actors.
For all my complaining though Dawnguard is still a decent DLC in places. The crossbow is a most welcome weapon, much more powerful than any bow & if you play Dawnguard path you get to upgrade it by doing mini missions to recover schematics(not sure if you can vampire path). Unfortunately these missions are in recycled cave & tombs you've already visited. No new areas to explore I'm afraid outside of the main DLC quest line. I got to visit Oblivion too though it's not like Oblivion from ES4. It was cool though & there are a few fetch side quests that can be done here & a new shout that can be obtained. This shout is damn useful against tough enemies in your face.
For 1600 points it feels about right. Maybe a touch pricey. Yes there's lots of recycled areas & actors but as with Skyrim in general it's ridiculously atmospheric & Serana is a very powerful sidekick you can use after the completion of the DLC despite her buggy state. I'm happy I bought it just wish they'd play test stuff a bit more before releasing. Maybe they ironed these bugs out for the PC version which given an option, I would much rather be playing. Not sure if they did though. Unofficial patch will likely get released like always while Bethesda give up on the console version.
Oh yeah one final thing. Dawnguard is about 6 or 7 hours long I found. Probably add a few hours if you do the tedious fetch quests & Dawnguard assignments.