If you’ve been playingOblivion Remastered, either as a new or returning (adoring) fan, and you wish you could keep playing more even once the credits roll, then I have some good news:The Elder Scrolls Onlineis basically the same thing.
Bethesda’s fantasy MMO launched over a decade ago and has evolved into a colossal experience taking place across the majority of Tamriel, from familiar settings to provinces we’ve yet to see in any mainline Elder Scrolls title.As we return to Cyrodiil amidst the Oblivion Crisis, the subtle tweaks Virtuos made to the game actually make it feel remarkably similar to ESO.
The Best MMO For Non-MMO Fans
I always struggled to get into MMOs. Sure, I’ve played a bit ofGuild Wars 2,Final Fantasy 14, andTera, but as someone who didn’t grow up as a PC gamer, the genre often felt overwhelming with an abundance of UI elements and complex live-service systems to get accustomed to.
When The Elder Scrolls Online came along in 2014, I was pleasantly surprised - not only to have a solid Elder Scrolls experience in a multiplayer format, but because it didn’t feel like an MMO in many ways that most other MMOs do. Sure, the settlements and interiors were scaled up to make space for a larger number of players gathering in one spot, but it avoided the clutter that comes with the HUD and UI in massively multiplayer online games.
When I booted up Oblivion Remastered for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised once more. Of course, the beautiful recreation of the world in Unreal Engine 5 is the major focus, but it was the changes in UI - especially the HUD during gameplay - that felt particularly reminiscent of ESO.
A familiar third-person perspective, the style of the enemy health bars below the compass, and the borrowed health, magicka, and stamina from Skyrim’s HUD; everything felt so similar in a way that perfectly bridges the experience for new players of Oblivion to also become new players of The Elder Scrolls Online.
The Elder Scrolls Online Is Still Going Strong
As a long-time Elder Scrolls fan, I am soaking up every bit of Oblivion Remastered as I can, as it feels like the first real return of the series in the past 14 years, despite being a remaster of an earlier entry. I won’t be naive and say that ESO is going to give you a true single-player Elder Scrolls experience - it’s very much still a standalone game that has its own identity. However, it’s brilliant in its own right, and is very much ‘The Elder Scrolls’, with significant stories grounded in Tamriel’s history, cultures, and lore.
Chances are, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ve probably already tried ESO at some point. But if you never did, you never stuck it out, or if you’re opening yourself up to this series via Oblivion Remastered, then I cannot recommend The Elder Scrolls Online enough. Oblivion Remastered is the perfect stepping stone into the experience, and while there’s still going to be a learning curve as with any MMO, it has plenty of amazing stories and locations to keep you invested until the eventual arrival of The Elder Scrolls 6. That is, if we’re not all skeletons by then.
