On Tuesday Bethesda confirmed Hearthfire, the next official game add-on for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Unfortunately, it will arrive this September 5th on the Xbox 360 first (400 Microsoft Points) -- the PC version will likely arrive around five weeks later if it follows the same exclusivity pattern as Dawnguard.
"Hearthfire allows you to purchase land and build your own home from the ground up - from a simple one-room cottage to a sprawling compound complete with armory, alchemy laboratory, and more. Choose your land, customize your house, guard it from unwanted visitors, and turn your house into a home by adopting children," Bethesda said.
Gamers can build their own love shack by first purchasing the deed to a plot of land. After that, they can use their Minecraft skills, a drafting table and a carpenter's workbench to turn raw materials like stone, clay, and sawn logs into a dream house, room by room. Gamers can also hire stewards to buy materials and equip the house with furnishings. These hired hands can also provide transportation options, and even sing a lovely song.
"Build simple rooms like kitchens and libraries, attach a greenhouse, enchantress tower, or alchemy lab to grow and craft your own items in-house," Bethesda explained. "Use the interior workbench to furnish each room with a large variety of craft-able objects. Showcase your treasures with simple display cases. Impress your friends with elaborate trophies and even mounted mud crabs."
Bethesda said gamers can even fill out the back yard with a garden, fish hatchery, bee hive, stable, grazing field, and other useful additions.
Want to raise a family? Move in your spouse and adopt a few kids. This is where it gets really interesting, as not only are players fending off the house from pesky giants and other annoying neighbors, the spouse and kids need protecting too. When things are quiet, players must turn to their experience with The Sims franchise and raise their children correctly unless they want the Grim Reaper (or similar TES entity) to come knocking at the door.
As previously stated, the release date for the PC version is unknown, but Xbox 360 gamers can grab this cool DLC starting September 5 on Xbox LIVE for 400 Microsoft Points.
