HORSE MAJEURE

At the same time it was dabbling in procedural terrain, Bethesda was also cutting its teeth on new-fangled DLC. The result – sets of horse armour – was ridiculed to the degree that it spawned its own meme. But Oblivion also produced some of the best DLC to date. The Shivering Isles was a counterpoint to the gentle vistas of Cyrodiil, a mad world of spiked fungi and a lunatic prince. Just as finding an oddity in Cyrodiil’s wilderness was a joy, players who had spent hundreds of hours wandering the country were astounded to find themselves presented with an acid trip of an expansion pack. This was a response to the criticism that Cyrodiil was not alien enough, while vindicating the game’s power to create a sense of wonder via contrast.