With Markarth, the 4th and final DLC for the Black Heart of Skyrim is now live. But how does the new DLC for Skyrim play in ESO? MeinMMO author Jürgen Horn was on location with the developers in Markarth.
Who was there? On my tour through Markarth, the ESO developers Jeremy Sera (Lead Content Designer) and Rob Garett (Lead Gameplay Designer) accompanied me. The two showed me the highlights of Markarth and other new features that have been added.
How my colleague Larissa Then found the city of Markarth can be discovered here:
Finally Markarth!
The coolest city in Skyrim: The trip to Markarth and the vastness was a great experience for me. Because in Skyrim, the region around the city of Markarth and the city itself were one of my highlights back then. This was mainly due to the wild look the people there had. I wanted to portray my hero as wild and barbaric as possible, and the armor from this region suited me best.
Why are there bones lying around? Thus, I was particularly pleased when I visited Markarth in ESO with my two companions. Because wild, grim men and women are roaming everywhere. They are adorned with bones, horns, and antlers.
“What’s up with all the bones and antlers?” I ask my companions. “It’s sort of a cultural thing,” is the reply. “The Reachmen are a wild, nature-connected people, that’s their way.”
A city full of danger: The city also has this wild style. Bones and other animal trophies are incorporated throughout the architecture. But it is clear that the city is not the original work of the barbarians from the West. The characteristic building style of the Dwemer, the vanished, mysterious race of Steampunk elves, is clearly visible in many places.
The developers are especially proud of the city, which is taller than typical cities in ESO. Therefore, I climbed with Jeremy to the highest viewpoint of the city. “From up here, you have the perfect view, take a look!”
And yes, he was right. Below me stretches the glorious chaos of the crude style of the Reachmen and the old Dwemer. I want to take a particularly beautiful screenshot, but the UI was still in the way. And the perspective isn’t right. I adjust my position and suddenly plunge into the depths!
Jeremy is oblivious and continues raving about the wonderful city. “Were you able to take a good picture?” he asks me. “Where are you, actually?” he continues, noticing that I’m no longer there.
“I fell down! This city is deadly!” I lament my fate wretchedly! He then laughs and says, “Yes, the Reachmen don’t care much for safety precautions like railings. Only the strongest survive here.”
Greymoor was dark, Markarth takes it up a notch
As dark as Markarth gets: The whole scenery in Markarth, from the dark halls of the ruler to the arena, the desolate surroundings, and the new areas of the Black Reach below, feels gloomy, threatening, and hopeless.
In Markarth, you feel even less welcome than in the already quite unfriendly city of Solitude from Greymoor. More than in the large chapter expansion, here you have the feeling of being barely tolerated, right before it is decided to cut the throat of the unwelcome “guest” at night.
It doesn’t get any better as you dive deeper into the matter. “Deeper” is to be taken literally here, as the Black Reach, aptly named “The Black Heart of Skyrim,” plays a major role once again.
This is what the Black Reach under Markarth looks like: The Black Reach is the developers’ pride, and Jeremy explains enthusiastically what they have come up with: “We have several biomes, the “glowing crystal biome,” the “crazy mushroom biome,” and now the “mad cave biome” that you can see here.”
The “Mad Cave Biome” is dark yet adorned with colorful effects. Colossal, funnel-shaped mushrooms sprout from the ground everywhere, and the animals there look strange. “Why do the wolves glow in neon colors?” I ask naively. “That happens when you eat too many mushrooms,” my companions say. I make a note to avoid gathering mushrooms for buff food crafting down here.
Every day greets the Chaurus: The glowing mushroom wolves are not the only danger in the Black Reach. While I am once again searching for the perfect screenshot, Jeremy suddenly yells: “Watch out, don’t go any further!” I just manage to stop in time and wonder what the good man wants from me.
I look around closely and suddenly I notice a strange black shape on a rock. And indeed, shortly thereafter the black mass moves, and I see a disgusting insect creature made only of black chitin, sharp mandibles, and malignant voracity.
A Chaurus! Exactly such a filthy creature had caught me off-guard during my developer tour for Greymoor a few months ago! These beasts are simply too well camouflaged. When such a creature catches you unexpectedly in the dark, you are just left stunned.
The crazy Dwemer ruins of death: The highlight of the underworld is, however, an ancient library of the Dwemer. On the way there, we encounter strange anomalies. It looks as if there is a rift in space and time. We can use these strange phenomena to teleport ourselves instantly to another location.
“Is that really safe?” I ask Jeremy. He just says nonchalantly, “Better not think too much about it, you know, a copy of a copy and so on…”.
In fact, I seem to be not entirely wrong with my fears, as something is indeed wrong in the old library and its surroundings, and according to the developers, something is amiss down here.
So Markarth lies literally beneath a sort of ticking bomb from the Dwemer era, which further intensifies the atmosphere of threat and underlying danger. And I haven’t even had to deal with the creepy vampires that are also supposed to be here.
A worthy conclusion to the Greymoor campaign
For me, Markarth is the crowning conclusion of the atmospherically dense 2020 campaign of ESO. The title “The Black Heart of Skyrim” is once again appropriate, as the connecting element remains the eerie beautiful Black Reach. The inhospitable surface becomes even more extreme in the underworld, and countless horrors seem to always be lurking just a few steps away in the shadows of the bizarre mushroom growths there.
All this was already strong in Greymoor and is even better in Markarth. As much as I liked the overall impression of Elsweyr, the price for the densest atmosphere clearly goes to the Greymoor campaign. And that is also due to Markarth.
Jürgen Horn
Editor MeinMMO
