The Elder Scrolls Online – Harrowstorm DLC

With the end of the last season, fans of The Elder Scrolls Online were wondering what new chapter would be introduced in 2020. Previous to March, the development team had unveiled their plans for 2020, titled “The Dark Heart of Skyrim.” This season kicked off with the Harrowstorm dungeon DLC offered up in March for 1500 Crowns, followed by other DLC in June and later in the year.

Harrowstorm packages two new dungeons for players to explore, on at the top of a snowy mountain, and one buried in the desert dunes. When compared to other dungeons released as DLC for The Elder Scrolls Online, I cannot help but mention that these fall just a bit short. Are they still fun to explore, and a great addition to the game? For sure. Are they of the quality of past ESO dungeons? Sadly, no.

Both Icereach and Unhallowed Grave – the two dungeon names for this adventure – are fun to explore, but they lack that flare we’ve seen in past releases, and while past DLC really made me say, “Wow, I’ve never been hear before!” these seemed slightly familiar. This applies more so to the 30 minute Icereach dungeon, and a bit less to the Unhallowed Grave – about an hour and a half long – which does have some unique canyon like backdrops that were fun to explore.

But a good dungeon lives and dies with the bosses that live there, and while there are plenty of tough enemies to defeat in each, they aren’t using a ton of new or innovated move sets, and with a half-decent party at your side, taking them down isn’t too difficult. To be fair, I’ve been playing on Normal mode, and so there could be more challenge for those playing on a higher difficulty level that might enhance the overall experience during these trips into Skyrim.

Using the grapple hook in Unhallowed Grave did make that dungeon much more enjoyable than Icereach. It’s a unique experience and one of the redeeming qualities in this DLC pack. Alone, Unhallowed Grave is likely a solid 7.5 or 8/10, but bundling it with a less impressive dungeon like Icereach is a bit of a letdown.

Ultimately, there are better experiences to spend your Crown’s on in The Elder Scrolls Online. If you are chomping at the bit for new content, this will definitely fill that void, but if you’ve missed some of the past DLC offerings, this currently is sitting near the bottom of our list of must play ESO DLC.