Bethesda has opened the early access phase of the mobile game The Elder Scrolls Blades to everyone who has a compatible smartphone. Despite many downloads, the ratings show how divided players’ opinions are.
What is The Elder Scrolls Blades? Bethesda aims to bring a The Elder Scrolls RPG experience to mobile devices.
- You complete quests.
- You improve your hero through skills and talents.
- You explore wilderness areas and dungeons.
- With found materials, you rebuild your city.
- Over time, you will uncover the story behind who attacked your city and why.
Everyone can join if the smartphone fits
Since when is the title playable for everyone? On the night of Friday, April 5th to Saturday, April 6th, the early access phase of the mobile game was opened to everyone. There is no longer a need to wait for an invitation.
However, not everyone can play, as not every smartphone model is supported. You can search for The Elder Scrolls Blades directly in the app store to see if your device is compatible.
How is the game received? On iOS, the game has already been downloaded more than a million times. There are no figures available for the Android version yet.
However, despite this success, the ratings are quite mixed. Almost only five-star or one-star ratings are given. It seems that players either love or hate The Elder Scrolls Blades.
When looking at the ratings, it also becomes clear why this is the case.
The Elder Scrolls Blades is a mobile game and therefore relies on mechanics that are now commonplace in mobile games. This includes microtransactions, which are a major point of contention. However, those who enjoy mobile games and are used to them seem to have less of a problem with this.
Moreover, some players seem to have expected a kind of Skyrim for mobile, and Blades is not that. Many fans of the The Elder Scrolls series might have downloaded Blades right away and are now disappointed because it is indeed a rather typical mobile game with many microtransactions.
Criticism of Microtransactions
What is the problem with microtransactions? Bethesda’s mobile game is a Free2Play title. Accordingly, the revenue comes from purchases of in-game currency. In The Elder Scrolls Blades, this currency is gems. While you can find them in the game, it is easier to obtain them by purchasing them with real money.
The gems are important for progressing faster. You use them for the following:
- You shorten the time it takes to open treasure chests. Wooden chests take only 5 seconds, silver chests 3 hours, and gold chests 6 hours. The higher the value of the chests, the better the items inside.
- It is possible to use gems to shorten the crafting time.
- You purchase special items in the shop with gems, including rare Daedric artifacts, chests with items, or decorations for your city.
- You expand the number of chests you can own simultaneously with gems. This is actually important, as you can only open one chest at a time.
The microtransactions are also related to how you progress in the story. Story missions depend on the development level of your city. Some quests can only be started when your city has been developed accordingly.
For development, you need materials that you find in chests or dungeons. If you buy chests, you get the required resources faster.
You can farm them in the dungeons, but that takes a lot of time and quickly becomes repetitive. The layout of the dungeons often repeats itself, and you always fight against enemies there.
What do those who like the game think? Players who give it 5 stars see potential in The Elder Scrolls Blades. It looks very good for a mobile game and is fun in short bursts. However, the time to open chests should be adjusted.
The Elder Scrolls Blades divides the players. Those expecting a “real” The Elder Scrolls will likely be disappointed. There is no open world, the dialogues are not deep, and the quests all follow a similar pattern. Additionally, one has to deal with microtransactions.
Those who lower their expectations or generally enjoy mobile games – despite microtransactions – may still have fun based on the ratings.
