Bethesda Thursdays

Well, that was quick! Back near the end of July, the official line from Bethesda was that Dawnguard, the first DLC for Skyrim, was “not announced” for PC. Fast forward to early August, and well, would you look at that! Naturally, Rock, Paper, Shotgun! has given the DLC the full “Wot I Think” treatment, and the scoreless review…er…still isn’t terribly positive. But it is nice that Dawnguard is available for PC; the Xbox-only exclusivity was getting annoying.

Update 1.7 for Skyrim should be hitting consoles this week, by the way. And Nvidia has published a tweak guide that also offers a comparison of Skyrim’s low-detail and ultra-high-detail graphics…so we can all see just what we’re missing playing the game on our middling rigs.

Also, don’t miss Tom Francis’ multi-part series on playing the Illusionist class in Skyrim. He’s only just started it, but some hilarity has already ensued.

Of course, the far bigger Bethesda-related news over the last week or two has been Arkane Studios’ upcoming Victorian/steampunk assassination game, Dishonored. From new screenshots on the Bethesda blog to previews at Kotaku, IGN, The Verge, Penny Arcade, and Joystiq, coverage of the game has reached what could reasonably be described as a fever pitch. (Joystiq actually has some coverage concerning the game’s morality system, as well.)

Additionally the voice cast for Dishonored was announced this week. The game will include some pretty high-powered Hollywood talent, including Susan Sarandon and Carrie Fisher.

And just today, Arkane and Bethesda lifted the curtain on a the possibility that Bethesda might take over development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Bethesda, for their part, have refused to comment on the rumour.