Bethesda has surprisingly released the free The Elder Scrolls Blades for Nintendo Switch. Does it represent a sort of free alternative to TES 5: Skyrim?
When did TES Blades launch for Switch? You can download the RPG for free from the Nintendo eShop since May 14. The release came as a bit of a surprise, as it had not been announced with a date beforehand.
What can you expect with TES Blades?
What is The Elder Scrolls Blades? It is an RPG set in the world of the popular RPG series The Elder Scrolls, which also includes the MMORPG ESO and the successful TES 5: Skyrim. In our preview report, you can learn more.
- Your task is to rebuild and expand a city.
- Additionally, you experience a story through quests.
- You explore numerous dungeons and wilderness areas where you fight monsters.
- During missions, you gather resources and money to expand your city, and you find new weapons to equip your hero better. You also improve the character through skills.
- Moreover, you battle other players in a PvP arena and climb the leaderboard.
- Additionally, an endless dungeon is available to you, where you can collect many rewards.
The Elder Scrolls Blades has already been playable on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets for a while. The official release came only recently after a longer early access phase. The launch on Nintendo Switch was postponed last year and took place on May 14.
Can Blades be seen as a free alternative to Skyrim? While there is already an RPG from the series for the Nintendo Switch with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, it costs around 60 euros – and that’s despite being almost 9 years old.
The Elder Scrolls Blades, on the other hand, is free. Blades offers you quests, battles, character development, and even city management. All of that, however, in a somewhat stripped-down form and with free-to-play elements.
This means you often explore the same game areas, and many missions are very similar. It is also possible to purchase items in the shop that accelerate progress, especially regarding city expansion.
The Elder Scrolls Blades is a pretty good RPG for a quick session and is suitable for anyone who wants to play an RPG on the Switch now and then. However, those expecting something more complex and profound would be better off with TES 5: Skyrim, even if it still costs 60 euros.
A small but fine RPG with technical problems
How is the RPG received on the Nintendo Switch? Players find it a nice RPG, but it is currently plagued by a few technical issues on the Switch.
- Kadji100 writes on reddit: “I played for over an hour now, and said to my buddy, ‘the game is nice,’ and then it crashed. Now the game crashes when I start it. Already deleted game data and re-downloading does nothing – it still crashes.”
- LordAndrew15 is disappointed with the port so far: “It’s a bad port because it doesn’t run well and clearly wasn’t optimized for the Switch. Very disappointing.”
- Melolonthinae explains: “I like it a lot so far. My only problem is that I can’t do quests from the bulletin board. It freezes when I try to start a mission. There are also some issues with collecting challenge rewards. I expect we will likely get a patch in the next week or two. At least I hope so.”
If you want to play more The Elder Scrolls and are maybe excited for the release of the add-on Greymoor for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online? Then check out the MeinMMO article The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor – All information about the new Skyrim expansion.
