THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE: MORROWIND
Matthew Pellett visits the home of The Elder Scrolls Online to witness Morrowind’s long-awaited appearance on PlayStation
One word has been looming large over The Elder Scrolls ever since the franchise arrived on PlayStation. More powerful than the strongest of Dragon Shouts bellowed out in Skyrim is the name of the game that many veterans consider to be the pinnacle of the series: Morrowind. Not heard of it? Now approaching its 15th anniversary, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind skipped PlayStation when it first launched back in 2002, but that didn’t stop it from establishing the framework for all subsequent openworld role-playing games. Morrowind was a landmark event in the history of gaming, one that continues to outshine both Oblivion and Skyrim, and thanks to The Elder Scrolls Online its legacy will finally arrive on PS4 – not as a remake or a reimagination of the PC and Xbox original, but as an all-new game set 700 years before the events of TES III.
It’s due on 6 June 2017, three days before TESO’s two-year anniversary on PS4. Sold not through the in-game Crown Store as per every other slice of DLC, but either as a standalone boxed game for newcomers (one that will also include the base TESO: Tamriel Unlimited adventure), or as a premium expansion via PS4’s Store for existing Tamriel travellers, The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind is the next major story chapter for The Elder Scrolls.
“It’s an homage,” says creative director Rich Lambert. Yet as we begin to unpick everything that’s coming as part of Morrowind’s offering during a day-long visit to developer Zenimax Online Studios, the h-word feels like it’s underselling it somewhat. An homage would suggest a fairly straight cut-and-paste job of the world, populated with a few score missions and some new loot. Yet 30+ hours of questing, radical new competitive multiplayer gametypes, the first additional character class and much more besides, all taking place in a ground-up redesign of the island of Vvardenfell, by far and away the largest single TESO province yet seen? At the very least this is a Destiny: The Taken King-sized overhaul, and even that estimate seems woefully small.
A LIFE LESS WARDENARY
Push aside the headline attraction that is the entirety of the island of Vvardenfell for a moment and Morrowind’s fresh features are pretty revelatory for the popular MMO. Take Battlegrounds, a player-versus-player gametype that pits three teams of four against one another.
It’s a stark change of pace from TESO’s current competitive multiplayer offering: whereas
Cyrodiil’s large-scale battles are giant wars capable of swallowing evenings, Battlegrounds are quickfire hits topping out at 15 minutes per game. And rather than taking place in a sprawling world where players can scarper from danger, intimately small arenas with few places to hide guarantee fast, in-your-face action from the off. As for those three teams? Alliances mean nothing here – you may team with whomever you want, as it’s all for fun. Well, fun and loot and leaderboard glory, that is. Three modes are due at launch (currently pegged as Team Deathmatch, King Of The Hill and Capture The Flag, though things could still change), with more expected later on in future updates and as part of quarterly content packs.
While not everybody plays TESO for its multiplayer (“I know people who just sit down and play through the main story and bigger quests for, maybe, 60 or 70 hours and then they’re done,” says game director Matt Firor), one addition that should be on all radars is the surprise emergence of another character class – something many thought they’d never see.
The new creation is the Warden, and it’s a nature-loving blend of Druid, Hunter and Ranger tropes that wields water and plant magic and calls upon spirit animals for aid. Like the rest of TESO’s character classes the Warden’s skillsets are split into three key roles: the tank-like Winter’s Embrace line, the healing-focused Green Balance abilities and the damage-centric Animal Companion moves.
Expect castable blizzards, runes that teleport enemies, conjured healing forests and even friendly cliff racers and stamina- or magika-sapping bull netches. Oh, and get ready for what’s surely the finest Ultimate in the game so far: the Wild Guardian grizzly bear, which stays by your side once cast, eats enemies for breakfast and only disappears if it’s killed. Nice one, Yogi.
CLOCKING OFF
Both Battlegrounds and the Warden are game-changers, however it’s our hands-off tour of Vvardenfell itself that has us most excited. As big fans of TES III (sorry Lord Sony, we did
“I KNOW PEOPLE WHO JUST PLAY THROUGH THE MAIN STORY AND THEN ARE DONE.”
cheat on you in a former generation), the chance to revisit old favourite locations that have been rebuilt and renovated thanks to two generations’ worth of improved console hardware triggers waves of nostalgic euphoria.
Better still, this isn’t Morrowind exactly as we remember it, but tweaked and reimagined to account for the different time period. As we pick through the world we see that Vivec City is only partly founded, with trenches dredged in the seabed indicating where future cantons will be erected, and the oppressive Ghostfence that sliced across Vvardenfell’s surface like angry scars is nowhere to be seen. Rediscovering routes ingrained deep in memory banks is made all the more enjoyable by the added bonus of picking out subtle differences and stumbling over Easter eggs.
The infamous Clockwork City returns too. The dizzying labyrinth of cogs, spools and blade traps plays host to TESO’s new 12-player Trial (think ‘Raid’ in typical MMO vernacular), but Zenimax Online Studios is also hand-crafting entirely new areas: forgotten, multi-floored Dwemer ruins with sloping walkways that all feed into towering central structures and are home to bosses on each floor, for instance. “We call it the Quake level,” laughs Rich Lambert, sprinting through the monolithic, enemy-packed cavern.
GONE WITH THE ‘WIND
The return of Vvardenfell should make fans both excited and apprehensive – the revival of The Elder Scrolls’ most revered instalment isn’t a task that should be undertaken lightly. But it’s clear that complacency hasn’t set in, and in spite of eye-wateringly large PS4 player numbers Zenimax is more focused than ever to do right by the fanbase. “We want to do it justice,” says Lambert. Even with our most critical eye trained on Vvardenfell, Morrowind’s return is giving us a buzz akin to a hard night on the Skooma.
“THE CHANCE TO REVISIT OLD LOCATIONS TRIGGERS WAVES OF NOSTALGIC EUPHORIA.”