Elder Scrolls: Castles is the latest spin-off of the Elder Scrolls series by Bethesda. MeinMMO editor Sophia has grabbed the crown for you and checked it out. Spoiler: Your king was murdered after one day, and his one-year-old daughter is now ruling.
We now also have the launch trailer for you.
With Elder Scrolls: Castles, Bethesda has already released the second mobile spin-off for the Elder Scrolls series. The game is based on the principle of Fallout Shelter garnished with a pinch of Elder Scrolls: Blades.
I have been playing for over a week now and have checked out the game. First off: You will have fun if you like Elder Scrolls.
Murdered Kings, Underage Successors, and Bad Decisions
Castles starts for me with the murder of the king. No, not the one from the headline, but his father Odar. He seems to have gotten a bit carried away, and his wife was fed up with his infidelity. A lightning-fast Argonian eliminates him, and from now on I get to play his son Jofarr.
Who I promptly let marry his father’s mistress. This naturally annoys Queen Mother, but oh well. The ex-mistress and the king have a sweet little daughter – the line of succession is secure.
And this is important because this king doesn’t last long either: Underestimating the mildew in the fields once and having one too many confrontations with the wizard? Whoosh, the satisfaction of the people drops to the basement. For one (un)faithful subject, it was one bad decision too many, and the second king is soon murdered.
Good thing there’s still the one-year-old daughter. Hopefully, she will make the right decisions. Ultimately, this is also the focus of Castles: making decisions and gathering resources.
The Plump Argonian Maid.
Basically, it’s an evolution of Fallout Shelter and Elder Scrolls Blades. The former was released by Bethesda in 2015, a few months before the release of Fallout 4. Blades, on the other hand, went live in 2019.
I have played both games and must say: Castles skillfully advances the known features of Fallout Shelter and mixes it with the best from Blades with both well-known and unknown lore from the Elder Scrolls series.
By Talos – You Can Only Get It Wrong!
The main task in Castles is to satisfy your subjects. To do this, you build resource farms and workshops where your subjects toil daily. A little later in the game, you can also send up to three castle residents on quests and earn rewards.
Collecting, Crafting, and Having Children
The most important mechanics are, alongside resource gathering, the decisions you make for your ruler. This could mean burning fields with the aforementioned mildew or harvesting quickly before it gets worse. A little tip: This can lead to murdered kings.
You are also mediators and couple therapists: High Elves come by and complain about Talos worship. If you have sent two characters to bed together who actually already have partners, you must settle the marital quarrel.
Pairing your subjects is also a matter that requires the attention of your highness:
The children of your couples take on the characteristics of their parents. So, if you let castle residents with efficiency-boosting traits have children, you’ll soon have an army of highly specialized workers. Or you can do it like me and live in drama.
Into Battle
The quests, on the other hand, remind me personally of a better version of Blades: Instead of running through 3D dungeons that don’t look good on smartphones, your three fighters automatically walk onto a 2D battlefield.
There you can let them decide whom to attack, or you can send them against specific enemies. Also, each character has a special ability depending on the equipped weapon that you can unleash on the enemies.
Upon successful completion, you receive resources and experience points as rewards. If you manage up to three dungeon-dependent challenges, there’s a bonus.
On Microtransactions and Elder Scrolls Lore
All in all, Castles is a solid mobile game. It temporarily satisfies the hunger for more Elder Scrolls games. A new expansion for Elder Scrolls Online is already in sight. The Elder Scrolls 6, on the other hand, is still a while away.
As with most online and mobile titles, you also have to expect microtransactions here. For example, almost every level-up advertises the emperor’s package. This is very annoying at the beginning because you reach higher levels very quickly. Since about level 30, however, everything has slowed down a bit.
The buttons for more potions scattered here and there don’t really bother me personally. But: I generally try to avoid microtransactions and have actively made that decision in Castles as well. So far, I haven’t had any problems because of it.
However, Bethesda does not reinvent the wheel with the game. You play it because you either enjoy relaxed building games or want to know what happens when an Argonian and a Khajiit have a baby.
I’m having fun with the game, even though I usually avoid mobile games – only Pokémon GO has a permanent place on my phone. In fact, Castles is full of references to the main games and their lore, which makes me incredibly happy: There are High Elves with Talos phobia, The Plump Argonian Maid
, and Tamriel during the peak of the Empire.
So, Castles will stay on my phone for a while and keep me company. At least until I install Skyrim for the umpteenth time. Or until I try Elder Scrolls Online again. By the way, we also have an exciting article on that: MMORPG ESO was a flop in 2014, now it’s huge – Developer says: It’s due to one man
