Skyrim - Hearthfire Reviews @ Eurogamer, CVG

Here are a couple of early Hearthfire reviews, both with similar criticisms.
Eurogamer says Hearthfire offers "all the character and personality of an Ikea cupboard" on the way to a score of 5/10:

What sort of Skyrim player are you? Are you there for the story and the Achievements, taking advantage of the game's loose logic to play multiple characters in one playthrough, heading up the Mage's College even as you take charge of the Thieves Guild, and saving the world while playing as an evil assassin? Or do you use Tamriel's vast canvas as a backdrop for your own adventure, setting your own limits and rules and immersing yourself in its rich milieu?
If it's the first then you've probably got no interest in Hearthfire, the new DLC that lets you build houses. There are no quests here, with no story and no definable ending. You may have already posted a witty comment about Skyrim Sims. Congratulations. Hearthfire is not for you.
If, on the other hand, you've already started planning which of your weapons you want to display where, whether to store gems in the same chest as jewellery, and are actually looking forward to spending hours trying to wrangle floating items into display cases so they're positioned just right, then Hearthfire is most definitely for you. It's just not that good.

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CVG doesn't have a score but they call it "more a novelty than an actual game".
More information.

I've been reading quite a lot about people both praising and criticising this DLC.

I myself will not be buying this DLC simply because I am going through the exercise of withholding my dollars in a sort of pseudo-boycott against Bethesda because they need to work on polishing and patching (with particular emphasis on quest fixes).

That aside however, one thing strikes me inparticular about those criticising this DLC is an apparant failure to acknolwedge small content at a small price. While people regularly agree that 'DLC' somehow implicitly means smaller content than an 'Expansion,' such agreement isn't regularly reflected in attitudes and opinions about Hearthfire (in general).

I think the price point of $5 is acceptable for what Hearthfire seems to offer and the only choice gamers need to concern themselves with is if they feel the content will be 'fun' or otherwise add value to their own gaming experience with Skyrim.

I just wish Bethesda would tidy up their vanilla game to a respectable point before adding more content. My curmudgeonly ways tire of sloppyness and I've long since lost interest in having to jump through hoops to get around numerous bugs. I had my fill for 97 lifetimes in such efforts during the DOS era.

TheMadGamer said:

That aside however, one thing strikes me inparticular about those criticising this DLC is an apparant failure to acknolwedge small content at a small price. While people regularly agree that 'DLC' somehow implicitly means smaller content than an 'Expansion,' such agreement isn't regularly reflected in attitudes and opinions about Hearthfire (in general).

I think the price point of $5 is acceptable for what Hearthfire seems to offer and the only choice gamers need to concern themselves with is if they feel the content will be 'fun' or otherwise add value to their own gaming experience with Skyrim.

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Great point, the price should be taken into account. And many console players have been asking for precisely this sort of content

Some of these same publications have praised significantly more expensive, short linear DLC for other games.

i havent paid a penny to any Bethesda DLC, including fallout 3 and new vegas. the content / price ratio is just too high.

cptbarkey said:

i havent paid a penny to any Bethesda DLC, including fallout 3 and new vegas. the content / price ratio is just too high.

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Too high compared to Dragon Age / Mass Effect 2 hour DLC for $10?

They should have taken a look at minecraft before making this DLC. My son and his friends pour countless hours into that game.

That probably would have sold alot more full games as well as the DLC.

I am so happy they made this, not so much for what it is right now but what it will become on pc, as it will greatly help build a house type mods and will become a lot more sophisticated.

Decorating houses and adopting children?
WOW i may buy Skyrim after all....

After the release of Hearthfire, I started browsing through some Skyrim mods from the Steam workshop. I found one that I was rather taken with. It has everything I've been looking for in a home, and as a result, I haven't found a desire to purchase Hearthfire yet.

In fact, I haven't purchased any Skyrim DLC. Not for boycotting or low score reasons (or what have you), simply that they haven't piqued my interest. Perhaps my most anticipated addition to the game is a full fledged expansion, provided Dawnguard wasn't one in itself.

Some day I really hope that people realize that something they personally don't like is not the looming end of the world, nor even just bad. If you don't like it don't get it. That was easy!

As for me this doesn't interest me but I know people who it does interest. More power to them!

@Bill
Well, I'm not sure what the point of RPGWatch forums would be, if not to discuss what we like and dislike about the games that come out. Do you really want off topic and politics and religion to be the only forums here?

As far as Hearthfire goes, I like its potential for modders, but not interested myself.