Elder Scrolls Online is walking a treacherous tightrope between the trappings of a standard MMO and the recognisable single player experience of The Elder Scrolls franchise. Stray too far to the former and Zenimax will disenfranchise the fans of the series they hope to hook into subscribing; too far to the latter and it’ll beg the question of why make an MMO at all?
The latest video from the studio shows just how many familiar elements of the series appear in the MMO - lockpicking, cooking, gathering herbs - but also how they’re now social skills.
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After losing in the second World War, Wolfenstein, and The Return to Castle Wolfenstein, you’d think the Nazis would have to bring something new to the table if they want to beat those plucky Yanks. Well, robot dinosaurs should do the trick. And if they don’t then elderly Nazi agents should act as a pretty strong reserve.
I hear their darning skills are to die for.
See that and much more in these newly released screenshots.
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While preordering a game may be a slightly strange concept in this digital age where there is almost no worry of games stock ever running out and thus requiring copies to be put aside, companies have taken to rewarding the practice with added gubbins. An exclusive weapon here, a VIP map there, a statue of a dismembered woman’s corpse, what have you.
Though, if you weren’t into the whole preordering schtick you may have missed out on Dishonored’s miscellany. Have no fear Bethesda are releasing the extras as a DLC pack called the Void Walker Arsenal.
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Developers formed around a nucleus of veterans from Starbreeze’s Chronicles of Riddick team have built a new Wolfenstein reboot in id Tech 5 for Bethesda. It’ll be out at some point between October and December this year, and be set in an alternate world ‘60s where the Nazis won World War II.
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Daedric God of Schemes Molag Bal is the chief bad in The Elder Scrolls Online: the latest video from the Bethesda Blog reveals his own little realm of Oblivion: Coldharbour. Take the tour in the video below.
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Last Friday, the Polish spotted a Skyrim: Legendary edition. We’ve spent the best part of the week since practicing expressions of surprise and delight so that when Bethesda come through the door with - Oh, Bethesda! What’s that you’ve got there? For me?
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Bethesda have released the debut trailer for The Evil Within, the project formerly known as Zwei, just in time to ruin your lunch. It’s a by-turns dank, disturbing and downright disgusting jump-cut trip around an abandoned school / asylum / mansion / hospital / abomination’s playground.
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Barbed wire and sunflowers, illuminated windows and men who just sort of stand there but somehow that’s the worst thing they can do. That’s Bethesda’s week-long Vine campaign in a haunted nutshell, but what does it all mean? Oh no, don’t bother to answer that. IGN have already told us.
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Now that Bethesda have officially drawn a developmental line under their 2011 opus, their publishing wing is ready to swoop in and play the ‘Legendary’ card, knowing that they won’t have to trump it later for a more comprehensive box-set (Super-Mythic?). The Skyrim: Legendary Edition will reportedly tie together all released DLC to date alongside its parent game.
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Bethesda have been playing hard to get recently, releasing small short clips with cryptic contents. The first featured barbed wire and sheet music, which we found out was not related to a new Fallout game. The second was released yesterday, and featured brutal sunflower murder and a strange man. Now we’re faced with a third and final clip, which displays some eerie silhouettes against a window.
What does it all mean!?
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I don’t know if the guys over at Bethesda are knowledgeable in the arts of teasing, but barbed wire usually deters the curious. A short Vine clip embedded below is their latest attempt to woo the rumour mill, featuring sheet music and barbed wire. There’s plenty of things this could represent, Fallout, Wolfenstein or something entirely different.
Well with some help we’ve ruled out one of them, you can find out which after the break.
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Skyrim has been in ongoing development for seven years. For comparison's sake, that's seven FIFAs, or precisely the time it takes to forget about the horse armour thing. Today, Bethesda have finally chosen to draw a line under their opus and create anew.
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Dishonored was all about revenge, or justice, I think. It’s been a while since I’ve thought about it. It was a game about a man, Corvo, who was so angry that he literally couldn’t speak, so instead he expressed his feelings by stabbing men and throwing them off ledges, which is probably healthier than bottling them up. The feelings I mean, not the men.
In The Knife of Dunwall however you play as Daud, tangential antagonist of the original game, who is tormented by remorse having prostituted himself to the Lord Regent by assassinating the Empress of Dunwall, thereby triggering the events of Dishonored. Daud talks a lot. Daud has a flapping tongue and a ticking brain, which makes this DLC feel altogether different in contrast to the unsettling silence of the original. It feels chattier, Daud feels more like Garrett, so the game feels more like Thief.
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Is that a 16-inch Dovahkiin in your pocket, or are you still $299.99 in the black?
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A screenshot yesterday let us know that our DLC journey in the jet-black shoes of blink-prone assassin Daud would begin with the killing of the very Empress we were tasked to protect in the game proper. A press release today reveals what’ll happen next - a personal tale of redemption, to be told in single-player across April’s DLC, The Knife of Dunwall, and its planned follow-up, The Brigmore Witches.
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Since the first MMOs sloped out of their primordial ooze the tank has existed, present in every fight, and, for all intents and purposes, standing there like a muscly-looking damage sponge. Zenimax Online are claiming they’ve managed to do away with the class, not entirely but certainly making him far from a necessary component of every team.
The news comes from a recent developer Q&A and it goes into more than just the make up of fighting teams.
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Dishonored’s second DLC pack will see the player don the exquisite cracked leather gloves of Empress-killer Daud in a new story-driven campaign. This much we knew. What we didn’t know is that we’d actually be doing the Empress-killing ourselves.
Update: A tweet from the official Dishonored account promises more news tomorrow.
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In an unprecedented and MMO-like move for Bethesda, the Elder Scrolls developers have removed the 100-point limit for skill development in Skyrim and introduced a new Legendary difficulty setting to match.
Elsewhere, Skyrim’s 1.9 patch sees a slew of bugs fixed, including a “rare instance" in which couriers “would appear only dressed in a hat".
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Zenimax Online will be sending out invites this month for The Elder Scrolls Online's soon-to-launch closed beta. So there's only a short time left to apply if you're wanting to be considered for this first round of selectees.
Further details and an appropriate video below.Read and Comment
Lock your doors. Do not go outside. Do not search for loved ones. The infection has spread. As of 4am last night the Dota 2 beta reached critical mass and overtook Skyrim as the game with the most concurrent players on Steam, making it the most played game on Steam ever. If you've thus far managed to avoid contracting the Dota 2 beta then you are one of the last few. Make peace with your god(s)/relatives/Winnie the Pooh shrine while there is still time.
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