WTF of the Week: The Elder Scrolls goes massively multiplayer

The Elder Scrolls series is perceived by some to be one of the last defenders of the Single Player game – a beast all but driven to extinction by the onslaught of the Online Pass and a developer’s need to justify including one with their game. Defiantly solo-oriented, the last two Elder Scrolls titles, Oblivion and Skyrim, took console RPGs to new levels and many agreed that such detailed, in-depth worlds were only possible because of how much care and attention was lavished upon the campaign.

Well, the inevitable has happened, and the next game in the series will be The Elder Scrolls Online, a massively-multiplayer RPG set in the various kingdoms of Tamriel. Despite the handful of pretty screens below, we’re not entirely sold on the concept. Yes, the world of The Elder Scrolls at first seems an ideal setting for an MMO game, but a lot of what made Skyrim so awe-inspiring was down to the breathtaking visuals and, if we’re honest, these early screenshots look a little bit “Amalur” to us. Not that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning wasn’t great, of course, but it wasn’t Skyrim, either, was it?

 

In an interview with Game Informer, the Creative Director of Zenimax Online Studios, Paul Sage, said: "We have to make our own game. We want to make a good game first. Not a good MMO, not a good Elder Scrolls game, we want to make a good game first, a great experience for the player."

Which is tricky, considering that The Elder Scrolls games are legendarily based on the concept of a lone hero deciding the fate of the world. Having seen single protagonists face off against dragons, Daedric Princes and actual gods in the past, it’s hard to imagine anything badass enough to require several heroes working in conjunction to bring it down. And besides which, could you really imagine the Dragonborn standing around bickering about “threat” and “rolling for lootz”?

Let’s be honest: if what we’re ultimately left with is a 3rd Person action adventure game aping World of Warcraft, we’ll all be wondering why they bothered. Zenimax and Beth need to pull something incredible out of the bag – or jack it all in and do Fallout Online instead…

It might be early doors for The Elder Scrolls Online yet, but we’d be very interested to know your opinions on Bethesda’s new MMORPG.

Words by M2G (Twitter: @made_2_game)

Please register or login to post comments