| The Elder Scrolls: Blades | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Bethesda Game Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Bethesda Softworks |
| Producer(s) | Veronique Bruneau |
| Designer(s) | Jonathan Cournoyer |
| Composer(s) | Inon Zur |
| Series | The Elder Scrolls |
| Platform(s) | Android,iOS,Nintendo Switch |
| Release | Android,iOS May 12, 2020 Nintendo Switch May 14, 2020 |
| Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player,multiplayer |
The Elder Scrolls: Blades is afree-to-playaction role-playing game developed byBethesda Game Studios and published byBethesda Softworks. It is aspin-off ofThe Elder Scrolls series, set followingThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and precedingThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Following over a year ofearly access onAndroid andiOS devices, the full version ofBlades was released for Android, iOS andNintendo Switch in May 2020. The game received generally negative reviews from critics.
The Elder Scrolls: Blades is anaction role-playing game played from afirst-person perspective.[1] The game was designed specifically for mobile devices and features nearly-unavoidable one-on-one combat, which is engaged by tapping, swiping, or using virtual dual-stick controls viatouch screen.[1][2][3] Unlike the majority of the installments in the series, which are primarily built onopen world andworld map features, the game's overall design islinear, due to the challenges and limitations of mobile devices.[4] Another distinction is that the abilities of sneaking aroundnon-playable characters, moving corpses, and hiding/storing/stealing items were not included in the game. Combat includes using melee weapons, magic spells, and ranged attacks.[1] Regarding the use of magic, the player can equip up to three different magic spells to use during combat. The game features dungeons that are both hand-crafted by designers andprocedurally generated.[1] Players can customize and level up their characters to enhance their abilities.[1][2]
Blades features three main game modes: Abyss, Arena, and Town. Abyss offers aroguelike experience in which the player must attempt to get as far as possible in an endless dungeon. Despite not being connected to the game's story, the endless dungeon is ideal to gain experience and strength for the player. Arena is aplayer versus playermultiplayer mode in which two players battle against each other.[3] Town is the game's main mode, which is a hub area where the player can receive quests and meetnon-player characters (NPCs) to progress the story.[2][3] The player's hub town initially starts destroyed and they are tasked with rebuilding and upgrading it, which consequently unlocks more quests and NPCs.[3] Players can visit their friends' hub towns.[2][5]
On mobile devices, the game can be played in either landscape or portrait mode.[2]
The story takes place within the fantasy universe ofThe Elder Scrolls, during the Fourth Era, and sometime after the Great War. The player's character is a surviving former member of the Blades, an elite legendary group of spies and bodyguards wholong-served and protected the Empire of Tamriel for many generations. Despite their heroic and legendary feats, the Blades have been outlawed, disbanded, slaughtered, and forced intoexile as result of the Great War. Being hunted down by the ThalmorAltmer, the player seeks refuge in their hometown, only to find it indirectly destroyed by a group ofmercenaries who were hired by the Bloodfall Queen, Urzoga gra-Batul theOrsimer. Being sent by the Queen to collect taxes, one of the mercenaries destroyed a legendary Ayleid statue, which concealed a tunnel leading to acrypt under the town. Buried in the crypt was an AyleidSorcerer-King by the name of Celemaril Light-Bringer, anecromancer who once ruled the lands of Tamriel in the First Era. Being unleashed from the tomb, the now undead Sorcerer-King wreaked destruction on the town and caused the land to become ravaged by undead skeletons, spiders, skeevers (large, ratlike rodents),goblins,trolls, andwights. The player must brave through perilous dungeons, castles, ruins, caves, forts, and forests to rescue missing villagers, assist in rebuilding the town, seek out the mercenaries, and acquire more knowledge about the Sorcerer-King. The player must also seek out the Bloodfall Queen, reunite with their former mentor, Henrik Seven-Swords theNord human, and be wary of the Thalmor agents.[1]
Tracking down the Bloodfall Queen, the player learns that she is at odds with the Greencap Bandits.
The Elder Scrolls: Blades was developed byBethesda Game Studios and published byBethesda Softworks. The game was announced byTodd Howard during Bethesda's showcase atE3 2018[1] and was playable on the showfloor at the expo.[2]Blades was released forAndroid andiOS devices as afree-to-play game on March 27 2019.[1][2] Howard anticipated thatBlades would be released onconsoles andPC in the future, along with supportingvirtual reality.[2]
On March 1, 2019, Bethesda announced that they would be running an iOS-onlyclosed beta for the game (with testers during that period kept under anon-disclosure agreement), prior to anearly access release for both iOS and Android.[6] On March 27, 2019, that early access process began, when the release date for theiOS App Store version was brought forward to the following day (March 28, 2019), to coincide with celebrations for the 25th anniversary ofThe Elder Scrolls series.[7][8] The Android version of the app was also made available fromGoogle Play on that same release date.[8] The store entries for the game state that it "will launch as early access", and players "must receive an invite to play the game" during that time.[9] Bethesda confirmed that they were emailing invites to players in "waves".[8]
Following this invite-only period, on April 5, 2019, the early access version was made available to all players who are registered with Bethesda. The company stated on Twitter that "The gates toThe Elder Scrolls: Blades are opening further. Excited to say that anyone with a Bethesda net account can now play."[10] This message also included an acknowledgement of the feedback received from players to-date, and announcing forthcoming balance changes for the 'silver chest' in-game reward. This item had received negative responses from some players upon discovery that they required three real-time hours to open (without options available to open other chests in parallel or discard previous chests for a better one), thereby stalling gameplay.[10][11] In response to players' complaints, Bethesda reduced the time to open Silver chests to an hour and reduced the cost of opening it instantly from 36 to 12 gems.[12]
On May 2, 2019, the early access release was broadened further to include all iOS and Android players, when Bethesda updated the game to no longer require a Bethesda net account.[13]
On May 17, 2019, further planned changes to the game were announced, including adjustments to equipment repair costs, and difficulty balance changes. During the same announcement, Bethesda also confirmed a forthcoming "big" update, which would include other player-requested features, such as jewelry and new story content. This version 1.1 update was released on June 9, 2019, also adding dialog forNPCs and support for player levels beyond 50.[14]
On May 12, 2020, over a year since early access began, the game left early access as part of the version 1.7 update. This update also included a set of in-game rewards for players who had been part of the early access period.[15] The Nintendo Switch version of the game was then released on May 14, 2020.[16]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | (Switch) 42/100[17] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| IGN | 5.4/10 (early access)[18] |
| Nintendo Life | 3/10[19] |
| Nintendo World Report | 4/10[20] |
During its early access period,Blades received generally mixed reviews from critics. David Jagneaux fromIGN heavily criticized the game for its long loading screens, grinding, lack of innovation, and its use ofmicrotransactions; however, he did praise the game for its visuals, character development, story, and combat.[18]
The final release received negative reception, with the Nintendo Switch version receiving "generally unfavorable reviews" on review aggregatorMetacritic. The Switch version of the game received the 10th worst aggregate score on the site out of all games released in 2020.[21][22] PJ O'Reilly ofNintendo Life called the game "a bland and repetitive grind," criticizing the game's design, gameplay, and technical performance.[23] Matt Sainsbury ofDigitally Downloaded panned the game, calling it "a creatively broken, anti-intellectual insult" and negatively comparing it to otherThe Elder Scrolls games.[24] John Rairdin ofNintendo World Report wrote that the game was "a downright joke" and heavily criticized the combat and gameplay.[25]
Blades was a commercial success. Within one week of the game's early access launch, it had exceeded 1 million downloads on the iOS platform, with the associated revenue reaching close to $500,000. 42% of these downloads were from users in the United States, with US players also accounting for 76% of the total spending during this time.[26][27] Within the first month of early access release, the game had generated revenue exceeding $1.5 million on the iOS platform with player spending reaching close to $50,000 per day.[28]
The game was nominated for "Mobile Game of the Year" at theGolden Joystick Awards,[29] and won the award for "Song/Score - Mobile Video Game" at theHollywood Music in Media Awards.[30][31] It was also nominated for the A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game at the New York Game Awards,[32] and for "Game of the Year" and "Best Audio/Visual Accomplishment" at thePocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards.[33]
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