Elder Scrolls Timeline

Greetings, traveler. Have you heard of the High Elves? If not, then feel free to mosey over right next to this campfire, and prepare for a story unlike any you’ve heard so far!

Few RPG series have the privilege of being as revered and famed as The Elder Scrolls. Ever since entering the scene in 1994, its influence has remained virtually unchallenged by its rivals. Not only in terms of gameplay, story, and atmosphere but also by engaging lore, riveting game soundtracks (courtesy of Jeremy Soule), and staggeringly huge open worlds to explore to your liking.

The tremendous success didn’t come easy, though, nor was it undeserved by any means. The series had its fair share of stumbles and falls, but it always managed to stay on the right track, with every mainline game possessing a certain hard-to-describe lure that makes gamers dust off their old CDs and dive back into the world of Tamriel time and time again.

With all that said, newcomers to the series and those looking to get aboard might find themselves lost and overwhelmed, which is to be expected given the series lifespan and its legendary status.

Well then, lads and lassies, I guess it’s time for a quick history lesson! Up next is a complete overview of the entire series from top to bottom, as well as a nifty timeline table with important events listed for those of you too lazy to go over 3200+ in-game books. I wish I was kidding.

#1 The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)

Here is where it all began. The year is 1992, and the gaming world is busy foaming over Ultima Underworld, a new first-person 3D RPG developed by the industrious bunch of nerds later to be known as Looking Glass Studios.

Ultima blew classic RPG fans’ minds back in the day by implementing non-linear, first-person action into a 3D environment, setting the standards for future RPGs to come. Synthetic Dimensions soon followed suit with Legends of Valour, pushing the envelope even further in an attempt to steal Ultima Underworld’s spotlight.

The huge success of the aforementioned CRPG pioneers further inspired the then-small developer Bethesda Softworks to create a first-person role-playing experience of their own, focusing on gladiatorial combat with some side-quests added into the mix. The tournaments and arenas were eventually scrapped entirely in favor of a full-blown fantasy open world to explore.

The problem was that the promotional material containing the word Arena had already been printed out in advance in an effort to make the Christmas 1993 release. Thus, it was too late to change the name at that point.

Unfortunately, they still missed the Christmas release, which combined with the confusing title resulted in poor initial sales. Thankfully, word of mouth spread like wildfire, and eventually, Arena picked up its stride and ultimately made a huge profit. A happy ending after all!

The year is 389 of the Third Era, and the Empire of Tamriel is in grave peril! Emperor Uriel Septim VII fears betrayal at the hands of his subordinates and summons the Imperial Battle Mage, Jagar Tharn.

It turns out that his gut feeling was on point, as Jagar betrays the Emperor by transporting him into another dimension, kills his apprentice, Ria Silmane, disguises himself as The Emperor and the demon minions into the Emperor’s Guard, unbeknownst to the Elder Council.

Through some magic and a sprinkle of plot armor, Ria turns into a spirit in an attempt to reach the player, who is sent into the dungeons, and informs him of Jagar’s true deeds, as well as help him escape. The only way to stop Jagar is to obtain the Staff of Chaos, a holder of his life force.

But alas, it has been shattered into eight pieces spread all across Tamriel. No need for extra explanation, you know what to do. Choose your name, gender, race, class, starting province, favorite boy band, yadda yadda yadda…

Gameplay-wise, Arena is as early 90’s as it gets, in all its infamy. Let’s start off with the positives first. The continent of Tamriel featuring a 6 million square mile play-space makes Arena’s world one of the biggest game worlds of its time. It’s not just long and empty stretches either, as the whole continent is brimming with wilderness while also boasting an impressive number of dungeons, towns, cities, and villages to explore.

Civilization is brimming with taverns, shops, and people eager to share their troubles and maybe offer you a job or joining a guild here and there, should you seek a break from the main quest. The randomized loot gives Arena a healthy dose of unpredictability that provides some replay value. Leveling up gives you more points to spend on upgrading your stats and making your life that much easier.

Alongside weapons, you’ll come across various magic items that you can combine in order to create unique and powerful spells. The Elder Scrolls: Arena is one of the most ambitious games of its generation, thereby making it an even bigger shame that its potential is severely held back by an overabundance of issues, which is reinforced by the fact that the game has aged like spoiled milk.

First off, the stats are basically an exercise in trial-and-error, and you’re best off consulting the internet for the best build. Everything regarding gameplay can be summed up in one word: clunky.

The interface is impractical even by 1994 standards, and the same goes for the control scheme. The presentation may charm the nostalgic souls, but it absolutely won’t do you any favors: low resolutions and wonky sound effects will make navigating the game world that much harder, and don’t get me started on the combat.

You swing your weapon by holding the right mouse button and swinging it in the desired direction, and it’s all based on luck. The game decides whether you’ve landed the hit or not, needlessly making the whole ordeal difficult in the process. To add insult to injury, the game is frustratingly prone to crashing, so you’ll face losing your progress more often than making any progress at all.

The Elder Scrolls: Arena is not a bad game for its time, and the experience of playing it 25 years later is comparable to a museum visit. It’s always interesting seeing remnants of the past and realizing how far we’ve actually come, but stick around the exhibit for too long, and you’ll soon grow tired of the pungent smell of mold and wax engulfing the building. Yuck!

#2 The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996)

Though Arena didn’t exactly start flying off the shelves straight off the bat, word-of-mouth ensured its slow but steady sales increase, eventually turning this groundbreaking yet flawed game into a late-blooming cult hit, picking up awards and accolades left and right.

The slow-burning success pretty much warranted a sequel, and it was only a matter of time. The development team with Ted Peterson in charge as the lead game designer wasted no time and started working on a sequel immediately upon Arena’s release, and The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall hit store shelves in late September 1996.

Taking place six years after the events of Arena, the plot of Daggerfall follows the player being sent by the Emperor into Iliac Bay set between the provinces of High Rock and Hammerfell. Your mission is to free the ghost of the late King Lysandus, who roams the streets of Daggerfall, his fate unavenged.

On top of that, you’re burdened with finding a very important letter to the former queen of Daggerfall, which reveals that Nulfaga, Lysandus’s mother, knows the location of the Mantella. What’s a Mantella? Well, that’s the name of a key that can be used to resurrect the first Numidium, a brass golem of admirable power and size.

The unique aspect of The Elder Scrolls II lies in its multitude of different endings, which reflects the freedom of choosing different play styles in which you can tackle the game.

Want to be a powerful hero fighting for truth, justice, and the Tamrielic way? Knock yourself out! Feel more like being a colossal douchebag? Rape and pillage away! The possibilities are all but endless in this vast open world consisting of over 15 000 different towns, cities and dungeons to freely roam through, more than a quarter of a million NPCs to interact with and a map size of 160.000 square kilometers. Take that, Rockstar!

Daggerfall makes an effort to strengthen its predecessor’s core aspects while simultaneously stripping away everything deemed substandard. This time around, you’re given an option to creating your very own class, although the 18 preset classes will have you covered if you don’t consider yourself the experimental type.

Reflex adjustment is also a refreshing addition, giving you the option of making the monsters move and attack faster or slower, depending on your preferred game experience. Afterward, you’re thrust into an all-new polygonal 3D engine, complete with fully rendered three-dimensional objects, the ability to look around freely using your mouse and an impressive 360 3D map to boot

Combat remains relatively unchanged, as the chances of hitting your enemies are still based on a virtual dice roll. The annoyance will eventually subside once you level up your character, so a little patience goes a long way in this case.

On the plus side, the leveling system received a huge overhaul and now revolves around gaining proficiency through using skills rather than simply piling up your skill points, which is a mechanic that has stuck with the Elder Scrolls series ever since. The randomly-generated dungeons (roguelikes in the house?) may give you troubles from time to time by generating doors at unreachable heights, and the loot value can be a mixed bag, but I myself find these problems quite minor and adding a slight dose of unpredictability to your playing experience.

Once you make it out of your first dungeon with most of your limbs attached, you’ll soon encounter an aspect of Daggerfall which stands out even two decades later, and that is the astounding amount of leisurely activities you can engage in while roaming the provinces of Hammerfell and High Rock.

Once you stack up on gold, you’ll be able to buy your own horse, house, or even a boat! The option of joining guilds is further reinforced by adding a slew of organizations to the mix – religions and orders will welcome you with open arms, but won’t take your betrayal too kindly! Getting involved in these organizations can directly influence the political relationships between kingdoms and shape your relationships with other NPCs.

The customization options are no slouch either, allowing you to equip your character with a wide array of clothing and equipment, which altogether was enough to blow you away back in 1996.

Daggerfall’s faults remain the same as with Arena, though significantly diminished to the point of being much more tolerable. Albeit the obsolete control scheme and monotonous building textures stand out like a sore thumb at first, over time you’ll slowly adapt and dare I say be charmed by its rudimentary aesthetic and mechanics. If you’re looking for a trip down nostalgia lane, this is your ticket.

#3 An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire (1997)

Following the release of Daggerfall, Bethesda started working on three separate projects at once. The first of the bunch to be released in late 1997 was a spin-off title called Battlespire, which began life as a potential expansion pack for Daggerfall, only to be repackaged as a stand-alone game down the line.

Up to this point, Bethesda’s track record was impeccable, resulting in sky-high expectations from fans. Will the tech magicians manage to pull an RPG trifecta? Stay tuned to find out!

Battlespire puts you in the shoes of The Apprentice, who is training to become a fully blown battlemage in a training facility called the Battlespire. On the day of his final test, he discovers that an invasion of Daedra led by one of the Daedric Princes, Mehrunes Dagon.

Not only did the invasion leave the realm ravaged and deprived of life, but his partner has been captured by the prince Maroon 5 Dragon himself! Enraged by injustice and lusting for revenge, he sets out on a quest to kill the prince himself, rescue his partner and return the realm to its rightful state. No literary award candidates here, move along.

There’s plenty wrong with this Elder Scrolls imposter lookalike, so I will try not to dwell on it for too long. Gone are the open non-linear worlds to explore, gold and loot to collect, guilds to join, side-quest to take up… instead, you’re left with a straightforward action-oriented RPG that has no right to bear the name of such a great franchise.

In Battlespire everything revolves around battling monsters through seven different levels, and that means relying on the same old tedious combat system that remains unchanged since Arena. On a positive note, the extensive dialogue system lets you interact and have meaningful conversations with practically every single living thing that you meet, giving you a chance of even potentially avoiding fights through persuasion.

Overall, a nice little feature that will translate over to some later installments. Oh, and don’t be too thrilled about the option to create your own class – there are only a handful of builds that work in Battlespire, which means firing up your browser and consulting the elder councils of the internet before making any brash decisions.

On top of all that, what makes this game truly broken is it’s unbelievably buggy engine implementation. More often than not, you’ll find yourself (and your enemies) getting stuck in walls and objects and falling through glitchy floor textures, thereby dying and being prompted to your desktop. Oh, did I mention that the game kicks you out every time you die? What a neat little touch said no one in the history of humanity.

The multiplayer mode implemented is the very first of its kind in the Elder Scrolls series, and may as well be your saving grace should you decide to share your pain with an unlucky friend of yours. Expect nothing fancy, though, as you’re given the option of either playing the campaign in co-op mode or starting a classic deathmatch. I’m positive that you can think of at least ten better ways to spend your afternoon…

If the message wasn’t clear enough, let me rephrase it: stay away from this game! At all costs! You’re not missing out on any crucial nor exciting lore, so story-wise you’re free to skip it entirely. Good riddance.

#4 The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (1998)

Redguard is yet another spin-off released in 1998 that tried to do its own thing in an attempt by Bethesda to stave off hungry fans eagerly awaiting the release of then-fabled Morrowind. You have to snack on something before the main course is ready, right?

Straying off the beaten RPG path, Redguard takes a swing at the action-adventure genre that doesn’t exactly knock it out of the park, with the endeavor being more comparable to hitting a child sitting in the audience and uselessly infuriating the whole stand in the process.

Aside from being set in the Elder Scrolls universe, nothing else indicates that this is connected to the series in any way. Taking place in Tamriel, 400 years before the events of Arena, the plot centers around Cyrus, a young Redguard whose search of his missing sister takes him to the island of Stros M’Kai, where our brave hero finds himself entangled in a political bout that threatens to engulf the entire continent in war and chaos.

When talking about the indescribable appeal of the mid-to-late 90’s graphics, games like Redguard first spring to mind. Despite the fact that the game shares the same XnGine game engine used in Daggerfall and Battlespire, it also features a 3D accelerated mode for computers with Voodoo2 graphics cards, kicking the visual experience into a whole new gear and melting hardware every which way.

The 3DFX era graphics shared but a glimpse of what the hardware of tomorrow will be able to accomplish, and it certainly makes the games from the late ’90s much more approachable in comparison to games such as Arena or Daggerfall.

The then-groundbreaking graphics are coupled with a nice soundtrack and some over-the-top voice acting that is about as the ‘90s as it gets – and I adore it to bits! The atmosphere and world-building were engaging enough for me to overlook even the game’s biggest flaws for a single magical moment, and once everything clicks, you’ll easily find yourself completely immersed in the game world.

Once the initial magic wears off, Redguard reveals its true covers and reminds you of why Bethesda pretends like it never existed in the first place. The Tomb Raider-styled sluggish tank controls really don’t do you any favors and make Stros M’Kai a huge chore to roam, which is such a shame considering how much time and effort was put into making it seem as appealing as possible.

Bundle that with choppy character animations and platforming-oriented gameplay, and you’ll quickly grow frustrated of leaping over the same gaps for the millionth time. The NPCs are the crux of the Redguard’s progression system, making you talk to every single character you meet and engage in tedious dialogues hoping to find out anything about where you’re actually supposed to be going.

The list of faults deserves an article of its own, as I haven’t even scratched the surface of what plagues this ambitious and charming, yet cumbersome game. Since remakes and remasters are all the rage these days, perhaps Todd Howard might finally cease making new Skyrim ports and divert his attention to giving this repressed experiment the refurbishment it deserves. Fingers crossed!

#5 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)

After two rather unsatisfying spinoffs, fans were longing for a return to old-school RPG roots and eager to see what the generational leap in technology will bring to the table. Originally planned to be released in 1998, Morrowind underwent a slew of changes during its development cycle, most notable of which is the ditching of the dated XnGine in favor of a far superior Direct3D powered engine called NetImmerse.

Sharper 32-bit textures, transform & lighting capacity, and skeletal animation were but a few of the features that guaranteed both immersive and astounding visual spectacle. Finally, in May 2002, Morrowind hit the store shelves, completely blowing its competitors out of the water and causing ripples in the videogame industry whose effects are still felt to this day.

The game starts you off as an anonymous prisoner who wakes up on a prison boat about to dock into a town called Seyda Neen. After filling up some paperwork, which serves as a segue into the character creation section, after which you are set free by orders of our old friend, Emperor Uriel Septim VII.

As was the case with the earlier mainline installments, your starting build can make or break your campaign, so researching the best combinations of race, sex, class, birth signs and special skills is practically a must. Before you know it you’re given your very first task of delivering a special package to some dude in the town of Balmora. Once that mission is completed, you’re free as a bird to act as you please!

Upon starting your game, you quickly learn that Vvaredenfell, an island within the region of Morrowind is in grave danger of being overrun by the Sixth House – a notorious cult led by the deity Dagoth Ur. Mister Ur here has taken it upon himself to steal the Heart of Lorkhan, gain immortality and purge Morrowind of the Imperial Legion occupiers. Can you guess who is tasked with solving this teeny tiny problem?

There’s no denying that the main story definitely lives up to the standards of Arena and Daggerfall.

For many, however, the real focal point of Morrowind lies in its open play-style, allowing you to be whoever you want and do as you please. Join various guilds and cults, complete side quests, become a werewolf or a vampire, explore and burgle settlements like an adventurous kleptomaniac – there’s virtually nothing preventing you from playing Morrowind like a high fantasy GTA.

During the early hours of the game, you may find the combat system to be a bit of a drag since it remains practically identical to the button-mashing mess present in earlier titles. Basically, whether you land your hits or not depends on a virtual dice roll and gives little to no feedback, leaving you to swing your sword and throwing magic around until you or your enemies drop dead.

The good thing is that over time, your stats will increase. Thus your enemies won’t take as many hits before dying. The proficiency leveling system sees a return in Morrowind, granting you even more freedom to mold your playstyle accordingly. That means that running and jumping as much as possible will quickly increase your athletics skills, so you better start hopping ASAP if you don’t plan on slugging your way through the game world.

If furiously tapping the space button isn’t quite your cup of tea, then thankfully you can invest you well-earned gold into training your skills, so getting rich kind of devalues the whole leveling process.

The main gripe that I have with this game is it’s the absolutely unmanageable user interface. The lack of detailed information mixed in with an overcrowded and lackluster inventory really gave me a hard time, and I often found myself accidentally selling some items and getting easily lost in a sea of useless information.

The speech and conversation system also deserves some harsh words for making the whole ordeal unnecessarily tedious and boring. Taking the voice acting out of the game almost entirely is understandable due to the sheer number of NPCs roaming the world, but there were better solutions than monotonously going through walls of text and hyperlinks.

Many of the aforementioned issues were resolved in the later games, hence diminishing Morrowind’s graceful aging and making it obsolete in almost every sense of the word. But all that pales in comparison to how charming and addictive this game can get. I’ve already mentioned that certain X factor that keeps pulling the players back into their worlds, and in case of Morrowind – it’s stronger than ever!

If you’re willing to forgive its hilarious glitches and outdated game design, and give it a try, go for the Game of the Year Edition that comes bundled with two expansion packs – Tribunal and Bloodmoon, giving you a complete experience that’s sure to immerse you and steal hours upon hours from your daily schedule. May lord Akatosh lend you his might!

#6 The Elder Scrolls Travels (Stormhold, Dawnstar, Shadowkey) (2003, 2004)

The Elder Scrolls Travels was the first attempt at sailing the classic RPG boat into portable waters, consisting of three games released separately over the course of one year. The first two games, Stormhold (2003) and Dawnstar (2004) were released for J2ME and BREW devices, while Shadowkey (2004), was released exclusively for the Nokia N-Gage.

The less is said about these games – the better. The Bluetooth multiplayer co-op feature was nowhere nearly enough to compensate for lackluster controls, unengaging storylines, and sluggish performance. As was the case with the N-Gage platform, the ambitions behind it far outgrew the technical limitations, which ultimately led to its demise. Perhaps focusing on the Nintendo DS would’ve resulted in far better games. Alas, we will never know.

#7 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006)

‘’Hey, it’s that meme game!’’, I hear you say. Fellow meme connoisseurs rejoice, for the time has finally come to talk about one of the most legendary games in modern history, in every sense of that word.

Following in the footsteps of Morrowind, Oblivion aimed to expand upon the solid groundwork set by its predecessor and give but a glimpse of what the next generation of games is capable of. Your adventure starts six years after the events of Morrowind, with you, an anonymous prisoner (sound familiar?) waking up in a dank dungeon amidst the great escape.

Namely, Emperor Uriel Septim VII is trying to flee the Imperial City upon learning that his sons have been assassinated. Unfortunately, he meets the same fate as his offspring, but not before handing you the Amulet of Kings and tasking you with closing the gates of Oblivion. Surprise surprise, it’s up to you to save the realm from the evil Daedra led by Mehrunes Dagon, the likes of which we had the honor of meeting in Battlespire.

The first notable change is the introduction of an improved character creator tool, which now allows you to customize your character’s visual appearance in the most ridiculous and cartoonish ways imaginable. The second major improvement is the massively improved combat system. Finally, the days of aimless and luck-based sword-swinging are over, and this time around it’s all up to your precision and reflexes, just the way we like it!

Additionally, the enemies now adjust to your current ability, significantly lowering the difficulty curve. Still, occasionally you’ll run into creatures far beyond your level that will pummel you should you stupidly try to face them. To be fair, the disproportionately stronger enemies are a rare and minor late-game problem that doesn’t significantly diminish the experience overall.

The level of freedom is much more amplified in Oblivion, giving you even more options and choices of things to do around the province of Cyrodiil. The wide array of classes, races, skills, and birth signs is further expanded and much less strict, not limiting you to a single play style and allowing you to shift between a myriad of different approaches, so it’s more than rookie-friendly.

Whether you’ll stick to the main quest or decide to stray off is completely up to you as the game doesn’t make an effort to nudge you towards any particular direction. Join a guild, become a mage, warrior, or an assassin, slay creatures, steal and pickpocket – the list of possibilities is truly mind-numbing even after all those years.

While exploring the vast open-world of Tamriel, eventually you’ll come across Oblivion gates, which serve as portals to a dark and unforgiving realm and pop up all over the place. You may choose to ignore them completely, or bravely enter in hopes of finding some precious loot and gaining valuable proficiency points, only to close them upon returning to your original realm and repeating the process time and time again.

The lengthy campaign should keep you busy for around 60 hours of pure gameplay, excluding hundreds upon hundreds of dungeons, side quests, and other optional activities.

Presentation-wise, the game still holds up quite well, in my opinion. Lush vegetation, intricate design, and a vibrant color palette are very appealing to the eye if you exclude the excessive bloom effects. A much more compact UI is a welcome addition and is obviously made with console ports in mind.

The voice acting features the talents of some of the more prominent Hollywoods stars, with the likes of Lynda Carter and Patrick Stewart lending their voices to some characters in-game. Unfortunately, with 50.000 lines and around a dozen voice actors, you’ll often encounter the same voices time and time again, occasionally running into two NPCs whose conversations sound like a single person talking to himself while roleplaying.

Not counting the shoddy voice acting, what brings the game down – or some would say raises it above the rest – is the number of incredibly stupid bugs and glitches that occur on the regular. Bethesda bit off more than it can chew with the Gamebryo engine which definitely wasn’t the right choice to design a game of such magnitude.

The ridiculously dumb AI at times will provide you with tons of laughter if you open up to the game’s unintentional comedic side. Hours upon hours of Oblivion memes and fail videos are being uploaded to the Internet as we speak, somewhat taking a chunk of the intended epic fantasy atmosphere with it. Luckily, you can improve on all of these by installing some awesome Oblivion mods.

The game saw two expansions being released: Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine, both of which are – you guessed it – bundled with the Game of the Year edition. They are both worth a playthrough and add some variety to the core game in terms of design and the visual aesthetic while extending the game’s life span by around 10 hours.

Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, you owe it to yourself to experience Oblivion first hand. It’s quite fascinating to witness what Bethesda managed to achieve in 2006, creating an immersive fantasy adventure that captivates gamers to this day. Can the next installment top this masterpiece?

#8 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)

To say that the hype following the release of this game was unreal would’ve been equivalent to saying that Michael Jordan was an okay b-baller. The year 2011 is considered by many to be one of the best years in modern gaming history, with a slew of iconic games seeing the light of day and completely turning the gaming world on its head.

The date 11.11.11 will forever remain engrained in gamers’ memory as the day many lives were changed forever. Finally, the long-awaited fifth installment in the fabled Elder Scrolls series is here, in all its glory!

The plot of Skyrim is set 201 years after the events of Oblivion, remaining true to its predecessors, and starts you off as an anonymous prisoner who wakes up while being escorted by the Imperial Guards to his place of execution. Before you meet your end, however, the legendary dragon Alduin swoops down from the mountains and starts annihilating the city, giving you the chance to escape amidst the chaos.

While running towards the city of Whiterun in search of help, you encounter and slay your first dragon, absorbing its shouting ability leaving the city’s guards speechless. Now everyone is convinced that you are indeed Dragonborn, a mortal born with the soul and power of a dragon, a.k.a. The Chosen One prophesied to save the region of Skyrim from impending doom.

Not only are the citizens of Skyrim terrorized by reoccurring dragon attacks, but on top of that, the factions of Stormcloaks and the Imperial Legion have unilaterally decided that this was the perfect moment for the two of them to engage in a civil war. It looks like someone didn’t level up their diplomacy skills on time, ya know what I mean?

While the story is pretty much what you’ve come to expect from the series, the lore you’ll unveil during your adventures remains the most appealing aspect. Speaking of adventures, once again you’re given complete freedom to do as you wish and craft your character to your liking, and the number of options you’re given dwarfs everything preceding the game altogether.

Herein lies one of the game’s strengths – or some might say weaknesses. While your starting build will affect your early game, later on, you’ll find yourself able to branch out in all directions, quickly making the game much easier than intended and turning you into a Dovakhiin demigod.

That means that over time you’ll practically be able to complete every single guild in-game, max out every skill and branch your class in a slew of ways. On the plus side, it makes Skyrim much more approachable to newcomers, so yay?

The way leveling up works was modified by removing major or minor skills and replacing them with occasional standing stones, which are divided into warrior stones, thief stones, and mage stones. Picking one of the stones will quicken leveling up the skill tree relevant to each class, while still letting you gain experience in non-related skills should you decide to dabble in some alchemy or smithing along the way.

Which reminds me: smithing combined with enchanting is game-breakingly OP and makes any single piece of armor you encounter pale in comparison, so keep that in mind.

The gates of Oblivion are replaced by random dragon encounters whom you won’t be able to avoid so easily, as you’ll be forced to face them sooner or later, being that you’re the Chosen One and all that jazz. Slaying dragons gives you dragon scales which you can use to create astonishingly powerful armor and fortify your gear to the point of overpowering pretty much every single living thing in the universe, apart from the final dragon boss.

The enemy creatures are well designed much more varied compared to Oblivion, though most of your dungeon encounters will come down to fighting undead warriors and creepy giant spiders. Added to somewhat repeating enemies is the fact that every dungeon, cave or fort looks pretty much the same, adding to the monotony.

My main gripe with this game is its depressingly bleak color palette consisting of the same obscure shades of white, grey, orange and occasionally green, which fits the game’s setting, but isn’t very appealing to look at, even in the remaster. Oblivion’s colorful environments with murky textures aren’t exactly eye candy 13 years later, but they certainly help in not making you feel hopeless and depressed all the time. A matter of personal taste, I suppose.

Even with all its faults in mind, it’s easy to see why many see Skyrim as the ultimate Elder Scrolls game. The sheer size of the game world, an overwhelming number of things to do (you can even adopt a child, I mean c’mon!), and the intriguing lore make players pour hundreds upon hundreds of hours into it even eight years later. However, this is mostly due to outstanding Skyrim mods.

The subsequently released add-ons, 2016 remaster, and the fact that the game was ported to pretty much your mom’s microwave attests to its longevity and the status it enjoys among RPG lovers. Fus Ro Dah!

Related: Vanilla Skyrim vs. Skyrim Special Edition

#9 The Elder Scrolls: Online (2014)

Released for PC, Xbox One and PS4, The Elder Scrolls Online is a relatively successful attempt at taking the franchise into MMORPG waters. Upon launching in April 2014, the game was met with relatively mixed reviews, receiving backlash for using a subscription model that lowered the game’s value for money and negatively impacted the initial sales.

Bethesda listened and through a slew of updates, The Elder Scrolls: Online saw much improvement (bye-bye, monthly subscription), so much so that for this review, we’ll be completely ignoring the originally released version while focusing on the Gold Edition which comes complete with 4 major DLCs: Imperial City, Orsinium, Thieves Guild, and Dark Brotherhood.

Taking place in Tamriel around 800 years before the events of Morrowind, and a whole millennium before Skyrim, the game boasts a structure broadly similar to the 2011 predecessor, which is to be expected since their release dates are barely four years apart. You’re given a choice of two separate conflicts to partake.

The first conflict tasks you with repelling the forces of the Daedric Prince Molag Bal, who intends on expanding his realm of Coldharbour by lumping it with the plane of Mundus. This epic quest shifted the region’s focus from the imperial throne, leaving it vacant to be contested for by three separate alliances, wherein lies the second struggle. Unfortunately, fate dealt you a tricky hand by having your soul sacrificed by Molag Bal, so your main task is to recover it ASAP.

Everything you’ve grown to love (or hate) from Skyrim is reused and slightly retouched, from skill trees, races and classes, to the combat mechanics, alchemy and smithing. Completing daily quests, engaging in PvP battles, arenas, guilds, quests, and dungeons are just some of the numerous activities to partake in, with many more underway.

There is so much to grind for and thousands of hours to play through alongside 2.5 million active players. All in all: there’s stuff to do!

Bethesda is eager to keep ESO around for as long as possible and is eager to listen to its players in order to patch out any bugs and add more content, so things are looking up! While you wait for TES: VI, it might be a good idea to give The Elder Scrolls: Online a shot. The shaky launch is but a distant memory, and what we’re looking at here is a vastly different experience that’s sure to keep improving over time.

#10 The Elder Scrolls: Legends (2017)

Inspired by the likes of Magic the Gathering, Legends is an attempt to translate TES into the collectible card game market and bring in some of that sweet, sweet mobile multiplayer cash.

The rules take some time to get used to, but eventually everything clicks and delivers much more fun than I’d hoped for. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking, though, as the game plays it safe in every way possible, which is not something to be commended for in an overcrowded world of seemingly identical TCGs.

On the upside, as is the case with ESO, the game is constantly growing, and the developers are eager to hear from the players, so there’s still potential for the game to evolve beyond being considered a Hearthstone ripoff. It’s free to play and download on PC, iOS, and Android, so feel free to check it out and form your own opinion at any time.

#11 The Elder Scrolls: Blades (2020)

A portable first-person Elder Scrolls game sounds very appealing, but then again, so did The Elder Scrolls Travels, and look what happened to that dumpster fire. It’s been years since a mobile game managed to catch and hold my attention for more than a couple of minutes, and Blades didn’t come close to breaking that streak.

The watered-down version of Tamriel is very restrictive in terms of exploration, and instead, you’ll spend most of your time completing repetitive quests or exploring the Abyss, a never-ending dungeon filled with monsters and loot.

Afterward, you can spend your spoils on rebuilding your ruined town or upgrading your stats. This wouldn’t be such a bad experience if the game wasn’t as pushy about microtransactions as it is, and that’s where I draw the line.

Just as you’re about to get into the flow of the game, you’ll be interrupted by offers to spend your real-life cash on every single trivial thing imaginable, thereby making me promptly exit and uninstall the game, never to return to it again. On principle, I urge you to stay away from this exploitative and shameless TES lookalike. Speak with your wallet!

Major Events in The Elder Scrolls Timeline

The lore in TES can be devilishly overwhelming at times, and we sympathize with those new to the series who find themselves feeling like stuck in a weird history lesson of sorts. In order to ease your experience, here’s a timetable of all the important events that changed the history of Tamriel.

The First Era

The Second Era

The Third Era

The Fourth Era