Updated at: 25-05-2022 - By: Leo Hall

The Elder Scrolls series of role-playing games has had a huge impact on the genre. It’s ideal for fantasy-loving gamers and Bethesda devotees alike.

You can be anybody, do anything, and travel anywhere in The Elder Scrolls (TES). It’s a fun concept that’s helped a lot of gamers relax over the years.

The truth is, though, that TES has not always been what it is now. It’s been a long journey, and this timeline shows it.

The Elder Scrolls: Arena

March 25, 1994 was the release date.

OS: Microsoft Windows NT

Arena, the original starting point. The name of the game alludes to Tamriel’s volatile and unpredictable terrain, which is now referred to as “The Arena” instead of “Tamriel.” This is strange, given that Tamriel’s name hasn’t been dropped from following titles, despite the naming convention. Interestingly, the Emperor of Cyrodiil in Arena is Uriel Septim VII, the man who was assassinated in Oblivion’s opening dungeon, which makes sense for someone who started with Oblivion.

The Elder Scrolls Arena Trailer - YouTube

It’s important for Arena to depict the origins of characters, worldbuilding components, and narratives that will grow over time. It’s also a fun game to play in terms of its structure and dungeon-crawling if you can get it to operate.

Resting and navigating a dungeon without mission marks or identified spots of interest are essential to achieving your goals. Eventually, I figured out how to hide in nooks and crannies to avoid being discovered. As I headed out to find shelter for the night, I marked a smithy on my map so that I would be able to locate it in the morning. The old-school D&D approach to adventure is evident in Arena, despite its clunkier design than its sequels. Just be aware that there may be some difficulties with the technology.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Availabke on the 20th of September 1996

OS: Microsoft Windows NT

It was two years after Arena’s release that Daggerfall made a significant contribution to the game’s development. Only High Rock and part of Hammerfell were included in this map, which was around 160.000 square kilometers in size – a far cry from Arena’s universe, but still a far cry from what future games would offer. This time around

As a result, Daggerfall’s world was more detailed, despite its reduced map size. Players could own their own homes, join guilds and invent their own spells, as well as transform into a vampire or a werebeast. As a result of all of this, the game ended up being richer and more engaging than its predecessor had been before.

An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire

On November 30, 1997, the film was released.

OS: Microsoft Windows NT

Computer systems supported by MS-DOS

Battlespire, as the name suggests, is a departure from the previous two games in the series. Oblivion’s Daedric realm is the setting for the entirety of Battlespire, a training facility for Battlemages.

Naturally, there were no open worlds, no merchants, and no currency in the mechanics of the game whatsoever. As the first Elder Scrolls game with a multiplayer component, Battlespire was also notable for being one of the series’ least memorable games.

The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard

When did it come out?

OS: Microsoft Windows NT

As a pirate-themed action game set in the Elder scrolls universe, Redguard is another non-traditional Elder scrolls game. Players assume control of Cyrus, a premade Redguard character with no ability to customize his appearance or abilities, and the story takes place primarily on Stross M’Kai, an island just off Hammerfell’s coast.

With its apparent Prince of Persia inspiration and while Redguard was a strong and well-received Elder scrolls game, it remains one of the more forgettable Elder scrolls games.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

When: May 1st, 2002

Xbox and Windows are examples of platforms.

“Morrowind” is a treasured series classic that returns to its roots and delivers an open-world RPG experience like no other. Only a small fraction of Morrowind’s eponymous region was shown in the game (about 24 square kilometers). Despite this, Morrowind manages to create an entertaining and engaging world despite its lack of procedural creation and unique visual style.

Daggerfall laid the groundwork for this expansion, which streamlined the gaming experience. Some of the previous game’s features were scrapped, though, due to Morrowind’s new mechanics and completely three-dimensional world, which necessitated their removal.

Morrowind’s distinctive and captivating landscape isn’t the only reason it’s one of the best Elder Scrolls games. The single major problem in the game was the continued use of the previous games’ dice-based fighting system, which quickly became tedious and monotonous.

Both Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions were made for Morrowind. The city of Mournhold was introduced as well as new tasks, but the fundamentals of the game remained mostly untouched. Werewolves were included in the most recent expansion, as was the vast new isle of Solstheim, which had its own set of quests.

For the first time ever, Morrowind could be played on a console because of its availability on both Microsoft Windows and the original Xbox.

The Elder Scrolls Travels (Stormhold, Dawnstar, Shadowkey)

On August 1, 2003, on August 26, 2004, on November 11, 2004, there were three releases.

J2ME, BREW, and N-Gage

Stormhold, Dawnstar, and Shadowkey make up The Elder Scrolls Travels, a three-game collection for mobile devices. As a result, Shadowkey was only available on Nokia’s N-Gage handheld console, which used J2ME.

Even though portable devices at the time had fairly restricted hardware capabilities, none of the games released were particularly well-received.

The Elder Scrolls Travels - Alchetron, the free social encyclopedia

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

March 20, 2006 was the release date.

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows are all supported.

It’s safe to say that fans of the Elder Scrolls series can agree on a few things about the fourth main Elder scrolls game: Beautiful visuals were provided by Oblivion, set in Imperial province of Cyrodiil, which did justice to this picturesque heartland province and pushed computer and console hardware to its boundaries in 2006.

As the first Elder Scrolls game to feature voice acting, Oblivion made gameplay more accessible to a broader audience by streamlining its mechanics. In particular, randomness was virtually eliminated from the battle mechanism.

There’s no disputing that Oblivion had some serious flaws, but it had a dynamic environment and plenty of interesting side quests. The dungeons were particularly uninteresting and uninspired, the face expressions were uncanny valley made flesh, there were too many characters and too few voice actors, and all of this accumulated after hours of gameplay.

Oblivion is an excellent game, no doubt about it. Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles, two major expansions, were highly welcomed by fans and critics alike. The first was a great illustration of how DLC works, as it just introduced a few new items, a few new missions, and a few new regions to the game. Instead of a new location, the latter one brought with it a ton of new missions, items, opponents, and so on.

The Xbox 360’s success can be attributed in large part to Microsoft’s second console, Oblivion, which was initially launched on Windows and Xbox 360. A year later, the PlayStation 3 version was released.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

On November 11, 2011, it will be out.

Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch are all supported platforms.

Skyrim is the best-selling Elder Scrolls game and the 12th best-selling game of all time, with over 30 million copies sold. As with Oblivion, Skyrim’s primary gameplay mechanics underwent numerous revisions in order to better suit the game’s expanding mainstream audience. Although some of these modifications were not welcomed by long-term fans.

The standard RPG leveling systems were ditched in favor of a perk-based leveling system in Skyrim, making the game more like an action game with RPG aspects than a traditional RPG. When you consider just how well-designed the environment is, as well as the amount of information, you can easily accept this adjustment.

The following add-ons were released for Skyrim:

  1. It is Dawnguard, which brings vampires to Skyrim as well as new locales and tasks.
  2. A more RP-oriented DLC, Heartfire, focused on owning and developing property, as well as even raising a family.
  3. As previously mentioned in Morrowind’s Bloodmoon, Dragonborn featured the isle of Solstheim and introduced numerous new missions, adversaries, and unique landscapes.

In terms of gameplay, Skyrim was the best Elder Scrolls game to date. A drastic departure from RPG principles, yet the new ones were expertly implemented, resulting in a combat system that was more exciting and dynamic than Oblivion or Morrowind’s.. However, Skyrim’s most glaring weakness is its largely uninteresting quests, from the dreary main storyline to the tedious guild missions.

Finally, because of its numerous re-releases across several platforms, Skyrim has become the subject of an international running joke. Second, the main game was included in a Legendary Edition that included all three DLCs for Windows and the 7th generation PlayStation 3. Finally, Skyrim VR was launched for Windows in 2018 for the 8th generation consoles, the Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation VR in 2017.

The Elder Scrolls Online

Release date: April 4th, 2014

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and OS X are all supported.

When The Elder Scrolls Online was released, there were a lot of important questions to answer. Massively multiplayer games may not be able to preserve the free-form approach of TES. What distinguishes it from other MMOs? What are the chances of a usually single-player series surviving in a multiplayer environment?

ESO’s lackluster reception made it appear as if it had only rudimentary responses to these issues. A continual supply of DLC, expansions and alterations has enhanced the MMO’s critical reaction as well as drawing a significant playerbase. It’s not for everyone, but The Elder Scrolls Online has found a niche in the franchise over time.

What’s more, the Elder Scrolls experience is a natural fit for the MMO genre. It’s still possible for you to make your own decisions, commit heinous crimes, and construct your character to your liking. In addition, there are amusing twists to the questing experience.

As an example, a Redguard player must break into a pirate-infested wharf in the early stages of the game. Pirates with torches will be able to see through your disguise because they aren’t intoxicated like the rest of the pirates, but you can disguise yourself as one of the pirates. This provides a delicious and pulpy alternative to merely chopping your way through the region. With a group of friends, it’s even more exciting to explore new areas of Tamriel that haven’t been seen since Arena.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends

On March 9, 2017, it will be out.

Windows, Mac OS X and iOS are among the platforms supported by the game.

They missed out on the “Golden Age” of MMOs, but collectible card games proved to be another profitable trend for Bethesda. Like Hearthstone and other contemporary collectible card games, Legends was published in 2017 for every platform it could be released on and is based on Magic the Gathering.

The Elder Scrolls®: Legends™ trên Steam

The Elder Scrolls: Blades

Due out on the 27th of March, 2019.

Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems

Blades, a mobile action RPG released in early 2019, is available on iOS and Android devices. As opposed to the predecessors in the series that are famed for their openness, this one takes a different approach, being more linear. It’s understandable that this is the case, given the inherent limits of mobile devices. At the heart of Blades is an upgradeable town centre where players may engage with NPCs and experience roguelike dungeon exploration as well as PvP arena warfare.

Even though Blades is a decent mobile TES experience, it suffers from a lack of creativity, gameplay limits, and excessive microtransactions.

The Elder Scrolls VI

The release date has yet to be determined.

The platforms have still to be determined.

The Elder Scrolls VI, which was announced at E3 2018, is the next significant Elder scrolls installment. Apart from the fact that it will be launched after Bethesda’s new impending IP, Starfield, not much was divulged about the next game. As a result, fans are left to speculate on which province the game will take place in, with the most popular guesses being High Rock or Hammerfell.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006)

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is perhaps my favorite Elder Scrolls game, and many of its features still stand up. RNG in battle has been intelligently put aside in order to maintain Morrowind-like combat mechanics. As soon as your weapon contacts an enemy’s hitbox, you’re guaranteed to hit and your spells are rendered useless.

It is one of Oblivion’s biggest virtues that the game’s questlines (specifically the Dark Brotherhood questline) represent a marked improvement over Morrowind. The theme introduced in Morrowind is amplified in Jeremy Soule’s soundtrack, making it more passionate and victorious. Combined with the beautiful green surroundings, the sky darkens to a Hellish red as Daedra flood out of a nearby Oblivion Gate, creating a genuine feeling of sorrow when the sky darkens and the Daedra appear.

When that happens, there are further reasons to be pessimistic. Unfortunately, the game’s nameake is also one of its main flaws. This is an unnecessarily repetitious experience, featuring outdoor Hellscapes, twisted caves, and spiked towers all in one place. Now that you’ve entered, it’s time to take care of business. Then do it again.

Keep in mind that this will soon become a routine part of your life if you’ve achieved enough progress. Speaking of tedious, “immersion-breaking” and “unsatisfying” are good terms to use to characterize the level scaling. While the goal is to keep battle fresh and interesting, the end result is an universe that seems to revolve only around the player character. Morrowind’s strong sense of growth is lost, and the player never genuinely feels more powerful.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) - PC Gameplay / Win 10 - YouTube

The Oblivion add-on content is a bit of a mixed bag, just like the core game. Smaller add-ons like as the player residences and dungeons with powerful equipment like Mehrunes’ Razor were also included in the Horse Armor DLC, which was widely panned. The expansions Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles were more significant. Umaril, an Ayleid sorcerer-king, was the target of a crusade by followers of the eponymous Nine Divines. A considerably more intriguing and dynamic plane of Oblivion than Mehrunes Dagon was introduced, which helped to redeem the game’s title a little bit.

Invading troops of Jyggalag, the Daedric Prince of Order, wreak havoc on Sheogorath, the plane of the Daedric Prince of Madness. It’s a worthwhile addition to Oblivion, giving a new environment to break up the Cyrodiil scenery. For example, it adds Oblivion as a more magical, strange embodiment of the Prince’s power and qualities. Afflicted by both its own inconsistencies and the metaphysical antithesis, it’s a victim of both.

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What’s Next for The Elder Scrolls?

To keep up with the current developments in The Elder Scrolls, ESO is getting a Skyrim update in 2021. According to the trailer, you should “discover Skyrim’s dark heart.”

Assuming it does, returning to Skyrim, the setting of the final numbered game in this series, would be justified. In this vein, The Elder Scrolls VI will undoubtedly be released in the future. Only the return of Jeremy Soule’s signature tune and images of a harsh, mountainous area by the sea are currently available for speculation. Still, it’s wonderful to know that there will be a new single-player Elder scrolls, and not yet another re-release of Skyrim.

Do you have to play The Elder Scrolls games in order?

In my opinion, the Elder Scrolls series is one of the best ever made…. In a nutshell, no, you don’t have to play Elder Scrolls IV before jumping into Elder Scrolls V headfirst. For the most part, the previous games’ lore carries over to Skyrim, but it takes place in a different region of Tamriel.

Which Elder Scrolls should I play first?

In the end, I’d suggest starting with Oblivion, then moving on to Morrowind if you want a more complex RPG with a richer plot; otherwise, try Skyrim for its more straightforward fighting.

In what order should I play Skyrim?

No “optimal order” to play The Elder Scrolls games is the point of them. You are free to play the game in any way you like. In the game’s content, there is no right or wrong way to proceed. Those that want to get through the game as quickly as possible may choose to follow the main storyline.

Conclusion:

That’s all there is to say about the Elder Scrolls games that have seen the light of day. If you see any omissions or mistakes, please let us know in the comments so we can correct them as quickly as possible.