The Elder Scrolls series dates back nearly 30 years, with Arena being launched in 1994. While many players are still getting immersed in Skyrim's vision of Tamriel and maybe even Oblivion as well, there will perhaps be some older fans who would love to play the original games that kick-started the franchise. With Bethesda abandoning its game launcher to migrate to Steam, it will soon be possible to use Valve's PC storefront to play the entire roster of the epic open-world RPGs, including the first two entries.
As spotted by NME, a post on Bethesda's website includes an FAQ about what exactly will be available once the studio's games become move to Steam. One of the titles mentioned is the maiden Elder Scrolls game, as well as the 1996 follow-up Daggerfall. According to the site, both of these classic releases will be available once the migration is complete. Alongside these, it will also be possible to download the Creation Kit for Fallout 4, Skyrim Special Edition, and 2003's Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.
Although The Elder Scrolls: Arena has become dated over the decades, many may still be interested in seeing where it all started, especially as it set the precedent for the series. This 1994 release plays a bit more like a dungeon crawler, but it laid the groundwork for what would come. It used procedural generation to construct the realm of Tamriel and, much like other TES entries, it doesn't require the player to explore every area in order to finish the game.
The follow-up game two years later pushed things even further. In fact, Daggerfall is easily the largest game in the Elder Scrolls franchise, based on map size alone. Covering roughly 161,600 km, the size of Daggerfall's world is comparable to that of Great Britain, containing 15,000 towns and a total NPC population of about 750,000. For comparison, Morrowind, Skyrim and Oblivion are 16 km, 37 km, and 41 km, respectively, which means that Daggerfall easily eclipses all these games by many magnitudes.
Bethesda has begun the migration of its games over to Steam, which should conclude either this month or next. Fans of The Elder Scrolls will no doubt be excited about being able to play the games that started it all. While Skyrim is considered the best in the series, with both Daggerfall and Arena being very dated by today's standards, it's good to know that these 90s classics are not being left behind.
