The Elder Scrolls is, and probably always will be, Bethesda’s crown jewel.

Although the games in the franchise are far from perfect, what they offer in through RPG mechanics, deep lore and massively expansive worlds is pretty much unparalleled.

Although Bethesda are infamous for their games being extremely glitchy, this is an unfortunate side-effect of their games being so ambitiously huge. Even with this problem, The Elder Scrolls always comes out on top.

Practically every single game in the franchise has been received well by increasing numbers of fans, expanding and refining various aspects of the series over time to a point where there hasn't been a particularly "bad" title to its name. This makes it extremely hard to rank these titles overall, as there simply isn't a game that stands out as being the abject worst or best.

Still, here's hoping Bethesda can somehow manage to top my number one pick and make a future sequel that truly makes the most out of what the series is capable of.

THE ELDERS SCROLL: ARENA

Even if it ended up creating one of gaming's greatest franchises, Arena just hasn't aged well at all.

It almost seems unfair to put The Elder Scrolls: Arena up against the rest of the series, considering it originally debuted in 1994. Comparing it to the pedigree of the rest of series is like comparing a calculator to a supercomputer.

There are areas where Arena excels, specifically the combat and RPG mechanics. Although it doesn't compare to any games nowadays, the world of Arena is actually pretty large and in-depth, which is especially impressive when you consider how old the game actually is.

All of the positives in the world wouldn't change the fact that Arena feels extremely outdated and sluggish, as well as being the least user-friendly Elder Scrolls game. The fact that Bethesda's infamous lack of development care applies even to one of their oldest games is actually pretty funny when you think about it.


No matter where it appeared on this list, Arena will always be special for beginning the great series we have now.

THE ELDERS SCROLL II: DAGGERFALL

Another example of an Elder Scrolls game aging poorly, Daggerfall's main problem mostly comes from age, and its way-too-big world.

Daggerfall made a ton of improvements to the original Elder Scrolls and really felt like a true sequel, even if it looks extremely similar to the casual player. The plot is much more in-depth, the combat deeper, and the RPG components noticeably developed. It's certainly a step up in every respect.

The size of Daggerfall's map is one of the things that holds it back. Although it is admittedly huge, it doesn't feel like the world has enough things going on. As is the case with pretty much every game on this list, Daggerfall was also criticised for being too buggy, something that Bethesda - even back then - just couldn't get down.

Considering how remarkable the changes were in the other Elder Scrolls games, Daggerfall is unfortunately overlooked quite a lot, which is a shame because of how great it is as a true RPG experience.

THE ELDERS SCROLL: LEGENDS

Although Legends is pretty great on its own merits, compared to the other Elder Scrolls games, it doesn't come close.

That's not to say Legends doesn't have things to offer for Elder Scrolls fans. It's full of lore, references and interesting information about the franchise, but it can't really hope to replicate the same effect as the mainline titles. That's okay, but it does mean it's something of an outlier on this list.

This is a shame too, because Legends is actually pretty fun for a card game. The Hearthstone comparisons are practically unavoidable now, but the introduction of several unique mechanics mean it's a much different experience.

Really, the only thing holding Legends back is it's competition. Frankly, Legends will never manage to compete with Hearthstone, and that makes it harder to recommend. It's like trying to suggest Battleborn instead of Overwatch.

Even then, Legends can be pretty good fun for fans of The Elder Scrolls. It may not have changed the world of gaming like other games in the series, but it's great fun nonetheless.

THE ELDERS SCROLL ONLINE

Considering the fairly rocky start that the Elder Scrolls online suffered from, it's been pretty amazing to see it rise from the ashes.

The Elder Scrolls Online may not be the deepest game in the series, but it can definitely be regarded as one of the most fun. This is in most part because of the ability to play it with your friends, but it's also because The Elder Scrolls Online improves the combat from Skyrim in several different ways.

Online has managed to get even better with the improvements that Bethesda have been making to it through expansions and updates. It's one of the first examples where it feels like the developer is willing to go back and fix what doesn't work.

If it wasn't for some pretty bad problems with grinding and a general feeling of repetition, The Elder Scrolls Online would certainly be much easier to recommend. It's a shame that Bethesda launched Online like they did, otherwise it'd probably be doing a lot better nowadays.

THE ELDERS SCROLL IV: OBLIVION

It often feels like Oblivion is one of the most overlooked games in Bethesda's library. Because of how great the next game in the series was, Oblivion simply doesn't get the respect it deserves.

Even several years later, one of Oblivion's biggest strengths has to be its sense of charm. Whether it be intentional or not, the bright colours, goofy character models and almost-slapstick combat mechanics make it feel almost like a parody of previous titles.

There simply isn't a game in the series like Oblivion, and that's what makes it so special.

Unfortunately for Oblivion, it doesn't quite compare to it's successor or its predecessor, mostly because of its fairly uninteresting world and a story that doesn't quite engage like it seems to want to. Combine that with a pretty grindy combat system and you have an Elder Scrolls game that many people seem to want to overlook.

This would be a big mistake. Oblivion can be one of the most fun experiences in the series especially with some of it's outstanding questlines. Just ignore the character models.

THE ELDERS SCROLL III: MORROWIND

Before Skyrim came out, this was the RPG that all developers looked to compete with. Even with numerous other games released since Morrowind, it's still one of the best RPG's off all time.

One of the best things about Morrowind is its world. Unlike other games in The Elder Scrolls, Morrowind's map is pretty extraordinary, and untypical of a fantasy game thanks to such a huge variety in scenery. This makes exploring it legitimately surprising, especially when comparing it to the worlds of other games in the series.

Morrowind also represents a big change in The Elder Scrolls, refining third-person combat and general animation to set it on a path towards where the franchise is today. If it wasn't for Morrowind, you wouldn't have Skyrim.

Although the world may have been massively reduced from Daggerfall, it allowed Bethesda to focus on the areas that needed the most attention: crafting a mighty RPG experience like no other. If Morrowind was remade in HD with some slight improvements, it could easily be the number one pick.

For now though...

THE ELDERS SCROLL V: SKYRIM

Easily one of the most popular games of all time, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is as close to a masterpiece as Bethesda have ever been.

Yes, we've had what feels like an endless amount of re-releases, but that continued interest proves Skyrim's unending quality. The perfect blend of having a massive open-world and tons of things to do makes even just exploring Tamriel a joy to behold.

Everything from previous games has been enhanced to be their absolute best, from combat and characters to exploration and RPG mechanics. Even putting aside all that, Skyrim has the most amount of love and care that the franchise has ever seen - though Bethesda couldn't eradicate ALL of the bugs.

It helps that Skyrim also has a fantastic selection of DLC, with the Dragonborn pack in particular feeling like an essential expansion of the main game.

Whatever happens to the Elder Scrolls in the future, one thing is pretty clear: Skyrim is going to be hard to beat.

CC: Lalasticlala Cao

Skyrim is awesome...


The special edition for consoles comes with 3 dlcs

Vasaratti16:
The Elder Scrolls is, and probably always will be, Bethesda’s crown jewel.

Although the games in the franchise are far from perfect, what they offer in through RPG mechanics, deep lore and massively expansive worlds is pretty much unparalleled.

Although Bethesda are infamous for their games being extremely glitchy, this is an unfortunate side-effect of their games being so ambitiously huge. Even with this problem, The Elder Scrolls always comes out on top.

Practically every single game in the franchise has been received well by increasing numbers of fans, expanding and refining various aspects of the series over time to a point where there hasn't been a particularly "bad" title to its name. This makes it extremely hard to rank these titles overall, as there simply isn't a game that stands out as being the abject worst or best.

Still, here's hoping Bethesda can somehow manage to top my number one pick and make a future sequel that truly makes the most out of what the series is capable of.

Top list this
played oblivion and skyrim and ur analysis is so on point

Morrowind is my personal favorite, the world is just so complete and rich.

I agree. Skyrim is phenomenal.

The world of Oblivion is more interesting than skyrim though.