Skyrim may be the most popular and successful game in The Elder Scrolls franchise, but the series’ roots stretch back to 1994. While the older Bethesda games may feel dated to modern audiences, they offer a glimpse into the evolution of The Elder Scrolls franchise.
Bethesda is now making things easier on video game archeologists by bringing four early Elder Scrolls games plus 2003’s multiplayer FPS Wolfenstein: EnemyTerritory to Steam. These include some of Bethesda’s more obscure titles, and fans can even pick up three of these games for free.
The classic Bethesda games now available on Steam are The Elder Scrolls: Arena, The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire, and The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard. The oldest Elder Scrolls games, Arena and Daggerfall, are free, as is Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Meanwhile, Battlespire and Redguard are $5 each. However, it’s not clear whether the free games will stay that way forever, so players may want to act quickly just in case.
Released for MS-DOS in 1994, Arena is both the first Elder Scrolls game and the first original IP developed by Bethesda Softworks. A first-person game with early 3D graphics reminiscent of Doom, it features hundreds of dungeons scattered across an infinite procedurally generated world. Players must traverse Tamriel to free the Emperor and depose the evil sorcerer who took his throne. New players should be careful, though, as Arena is infamous for its brutal early-game experience, with many players struggling to even escape the first dungeon.
Meanwhile, 1996’s The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall introduced several concepts that would become enduring parts of The Elder Scrolls series. This includes introducing TES’s leveling system, where players level up their skills by using them instead of the more common experience-point system. It also introduced joinable factions and the option for players to become a vampire, werewolf, or wereboar. These all influence how Daggerfall’s NPCs view the player, a feature present in TES 3: Morrowind but substantially toned down in the later Elder Scrolls games.
An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire and The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard are unusual installments in The Elder Scrolls series. The first game is essentially one giant dungeon crawl through the titular Battlespire. Players must traverse the spire to rescue their friend from Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction. Redguard, on the other hand, is unique in the series for being a third-person action game reminiscent of Prince of Persia. It’s also the only Elder Scrolls title with a predefined protagonist
Arena and Daggerfall are both important stages in the elevation of modern Bethesda games. Meanwhile, Battlespire and Redguard offer interesting glimpses into what the franchise could have become. If nothing else, these retro games now on Steam give Elder Scrolls fans something to do as the wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 drags on.
Source: Steam