The second bit of Skyrim DLC has been officially announced after an early leak, and yes it is titled  Hearthfire. But wait a sec, this isn’t a whole new quest line for you to follow. This is something different.

Hearthfire is, for want of a better world, a Sims add on for Skyrim. You can now build your own little house, or towering castle, or stately manor or whatever the hell you want. Personally I’m thinking spooky manor house with werewolf butler for my new Vampire Lord character.

After purchasing a deed for a plot of land you can stick your house on it complete with barn for cattle, fishery, greenhouse for vegetables and alchemy supplies and a trophy room to mount the stuffed remains of your beastly conquests.

There’s also the option to hire a bard and servants to manage your estate, horses to have on hand for use and even a horse drawn carriage for getting around in opulent style. You can move your current spouse into the house immediately and there’s also an adoption option to fill your house with the laughter of little children.

Unfortunately this laughter can occasional turn to blood curdling screams as your new home suffers skeever infestations and giant attacks forcing daddy (or mummy) to take her flaming magic sword back down of the wall and kick some monster ass. A feature severely lacking from the sims.

It’s not a whole new campaign with new monsters, gear and abilities like Dawnguard. But it’s something fresh and interesting that might draw new players into Skyrim. Looks pretty amazing to me. It’ll debut on September 4^th on the Xbox for 400MS with PS3 and PC releases some time after.

Here’s a trailer