Last year, The Elder Scrolls Online took players into the homeland of the Khajiit – Elsweyr – and absolutely wowed us all. The year-long Season of the Dragon event was monumental and gave players an exciting new adventure that got better with each DLC release.

This year, The Elder Scrolls Online will whisk players back to a more familiar locale. Players will be exploring what is arguably the most popular province of Tamriel. Skyrim will be making a grand return in this year’s Dark Heart of Skyrim adventure. And we couldn’t be more excited!

The first leg of this journey is in the Harrowstorm DLC. Players must enter the Icereach and Unhallowed Grave dungeons to battle through monsters, witches, necromancers, and all their evil conjurations in Harrowstorm to kick off the adventure. If this is up your alley, check out the trailer:

Icereach

A coven of witches has been banished to an island in the Sea of Ghosts and they are wreaking havoc on passing ships. The Nords of Skyrim need a band of heroes to put an end to it! The players must trek through the island and put an end to the destruction. It is not an easy feat, for many enemies lie in wait.

Along the way, the players will come across evidence of evil ritualistic activities that are causing the storm. Witches, atronachs, giants, and other evil entities will do their best to try to stop the players, but they are not alone. Within the island is a familiar face. Lyris Titanborn, who players first meet in the tutorial of the base game. The players, with some help from Lyris, must uncover the secrets the witches hold and take them down.

As evil as is all is, you can’t help but take a little extra time to explore the intricacies. The development team has done as they always do and poured such care and detail into every bit of the dungeon design. There is evidence that this is their home, as well as where they practice ancient, evil rituals.

The dungeon is as fun as it is tough. There are quite a few bosses as well as some other tough-as-nails enemies. As all of the four-player dungeons in The Elder Scrolls Online require, the players must act in unison or suffer the consequences.

Unhallowed Grave

Graverobbers have made their way into an ancient tomb beneath Bangkorai and Shelaria, a member of the Pyre Watch (a group sworn to make sure nothing comes in or out of the tomb), needs help. The graverobbers are a nasty crowd of necromancers known as Draugrkin. The players must slay the intruders and find out why they are here in the first place.

Just like Icereach, Unhallowed Grave consists of quite a few bosses and their no-nonsense lackeys. Unlike Icereach, this dungeon employs a fan-favorite mechanic that was first introduced last year in the Dragonhold DLC, the grappling bow. This bow lets the player zip across chasms and to places where one may not normally be able to access. It is quite fun and makes this dungeon quite unique.

This dungeon is just as beautiful (in that ancient, run-down, everything wants to murder you kind of way) as Icereach. It culminates in a boss battle that is quite grand. However, finishing the dungeon leaves more questions than answers. Questions to be answered in the next DLC release: Greymoor.

The development team has done a fantastic job and at this point, you would think that I wouldn’t be surprised. However, they never cease to amaze. I am always in awe of everything. The gameplay is fantastic as always. The implementation of new mechanics makes for unique experiences. And the design of everything is always wonderful. I can’t wait to see what comes next in Greymoor and I believe we are going to see a whole new side of Skyrim.

If you are interested in checking out Harrowstorm check out the official page here. And if you are like me, and like new mounts and pets, I would highly recommend the collector’s bundle. It comes with a jackal pet and a Pyre Watch Jackal mount (pictured below).