We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

The Elder Scrolls Online has already been given the Oculus Rift treatment (unofficially)

The Elder Scrolls Online VR

The Elder Scrolls Online is out now; here’s our Elder Scrolls Online review.

The Elder Scrolls Online is only in beta – which Nick, Jeremy and Jules have been questing their way through – but Developer Chris Gallizzi has already been playing it on his Oculus Rift. Gallizzi has thrown up some footage from his VR adventure in Tamrial on YouTube, but like with all VR videos, you will start to think you’re a fish after a couple of minutes. 

Lamentably, much of the video is taken up by loading screens and character creation, but you do get to see a bit of combat. Well, I say combat, but really Gallizzi just murders a chap who’s minding his own business. Gosh, it really is Elder Scrolls.

Gallizzi developed his own version of the Vireio Perception Driver, which he previously used with his Oculus Skyrim mod. So he’s no stranger to traipsing around the a fantastical countryside with some goggles strapped to his face.

The mod isn’t complete, however, as movement is still tied to the mouse, so moving one’s head does bugger all. And because VR requires 60fps for a comfortable experience, he had to lower the settings in TESO.

I’m not entirely sold on the idea of using the Oculus Rift in MMOs, not just because they haven’t been built from the ground up to incorporate VR, but also because they are notoriously badly optimised and getting a stable framerate of 60fps can be quite a challenge without using the lowest settings.

Gallizzi actually attempted to get access to TESO early so he could work on the Oculus mod, but Bethesda did not get back to him. By posting the video of his mod from the beta, he’s broken the terms and conditions of the game, but he still hopes that Bethesda will allow him to develop Oculus support for the finished game.

Cheers, Polygon.