Bethesda Game Studios isn’t normally a company to tease out games early. They enjoy waiting until a game is out that year before they even announce it, as evidenced recently…
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Bethesda E3 2018: Elder Scrolls: Blades is a Free Mobile Game
Posted by Eric Watson | Mobile, News | One CommentThe next game in The Elder Scrolls series is probably not the one you were hoping for, but it does look nice. During the Bethesda E3 2018 press conference they announced The Elder Scrolls: Blades, a free-to-play RPG designed for mobile devices. It’s out this fall.
Unlike fellow mobile spin-off Fallout Shelter, Elder Scrolls: Blades appears to be an actual Elder Scrolls game, with first-person dungeon crawling, touch-screen controls, real-time battles, and beautiful graphics. Blades will be playable in both landscape mode and portrait mode on mobile phones and tablets.
You play as a member of the Blades, the ancient order of the Emperor’s elite agents. You’ve been forced into exile, returning home to find your town destroyed. The main game tasks you with rebuilding your town.
Aside from the main campaign, Blades will feature two more modes. The Arena lets you battle other players in a real-time PvP setting. The Abyss is a replayable roguelike mode that challenges you to get as far as possible in a neverending dungeon that gets progressively more difficult.
The Elder Scrolls: Blades will arrive this fall. It will also come out for VR, PC, and consoles, and feature cross-play. You can sign up at the main website for a chance to play early and receive exclusive equipment.
The highlight of Bethesda’s E3 2018 press conference was Fallout 76. Thanks to a big leak leading up to E3, the game had already been announced. But now we know…
Skyrim’s New Survival Mode Will Be Free for One Week
Posted by Eric Watson | News, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | No CommentsBethesda Game Studios announced a new Survival Mode for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. If you own the Special Edition on Steam you can opt in to the beta right now. Survival Mode will be added to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One “early next month.”
Here’s how to access the Survival Mode beta on Steam:
- Log into Steam.
- Right Click on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition in your Library.
- Select Properties.
- Select Betas.
- A drop down menu will appear. Select the available beta option
- Select OK.
- Wait for the game to update.
Survival Mode will be free for one week when it launches. Then it will be added to Bethesda’s controversial paid mod program, Creation Club, which was announced earlier this year at E3.
Survival Mode adds lots of challenging new features and gameplay quirks aimed to make Skyrim play more like an open-world Survival-Crafting game, which have become popular in the last few years.
Here are a few of the major changes Survival Mode includes:
- Hunger – You’ll need to eat food to live, or risk some nasty penalties. You’ll also need to cook food to avoid food poisoning.
- Disease – Speaking of food poisoning, diseases are much more harsh. You’ll have to donate money at a shrine to cure them.
- Fatigue – You need to regularly sleep in a bed or suffer numerous penalties to magicka and stamina.
- Temperature – Skryim is generally a cold place, and that will be reflected in this new mode. You can die from exposure. Campfires become your lifeline.
- Fast Travel – Disabled. Pay for carriages and boats, or get a horse. Long journeys will leave you fatigued.
- Health Regen – Disabled. Need food, potions, and spells to gain health.
- Leveling – You’ll need to sleep in a bed to level up, as in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
- Carry Weight – This one hurts. Carry weight has been significantly reduced, and encumbrance will cause fatigue.
The one bright spot in this harsh new mode – vampires and werewolves can feed on victims to restore hunger, and are more resistant to the cold weather. Embrace your dark side!
The Creation Club has been met with some harsh criticisms from the large Skyrim and Fallout fanbase. It’s a way for Bethesda to host mods on their website rather than the Steam Workshop, and make sure all mods are compatible, localized, and (mostly) bug-free. But mods have traditionally been purely community driven and curated, with the best modders often receiveing donations or even setting up Patreon accounts.
Much of what this Survival Mode adds can be found in an old mod called Frostfall, for example.
Skyrim Survival Mode is set to launch in Early October. Grab it while it’s free in the first week.
