The house design, despite lacking customization options for decor, is great--massive, lots of room, choice of room additions. I just couldn't break the role-playing barrier or having to construct everything through a the game's clumsy interface--no friend to the house design scenario--and the wild requirements for building the houses.

This may be a worthwhile and good expansion for players who can take the role-playing of house construction--every little detail and requirement--seriously. I just couldn't.

I was done by the end of my first house, and made headway into my second before seeing a series of bugs leftover from the vanilla game (played 2011) would eventually prevent me from acquiring the third plot of land. Boo.

After a few hours, I hit that wall and realized I had my fill of Hearthfire. The point of it is only there for a small niche of devoted players who are still enraptured with the world--not players like me revisiting the expansions years later. ( )