Elder Scrolls Blades - New Previews, with Open Access in "Spring"

[Darkstorne]

Did a quick search on the forum and couldn't see this posted anywhere. Bethesda attended some kind of iOS event recently and had Blades playable. A few publications have posted some more thoughts on the game (links and quotes below). Bethesda have also confirmed a closed beta with NDA starting soon for iOS, shortly followed by open access for both iOS and Android with no NDA starting in "Spring".

Polygon

The Elder Scrolls: Blades is not an open-world Elder Scrolls game. Not even remotely. If you go in expecting that, you'll leave disappointed. Instead Blades feels closer to retro dungeon-crawling RPGs like Ultima Underworld. Blades is always played from first-person perspective, sending you through linear dungeons and a series of one-on-one battles. You'll collect gear and gold along the way, which you can then use to take on more challenging quests.

The visuals can only take Blades so far. Can its simple controls and scaled back combat really appeal to the diehard Elder Scrolls community? It's too early for me to say. The missions I played were basic but that's expected for a tutorial. Later quests may offer a bit more depth.

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Geek

The more action-packed gameplay happens in the quests. By either using fake buttons in widescreen mode or surprisingly intuitive thumb-tapping controls in portrait mode, players explore first-person dungeons fighting enemies, completing tasks, and gathering loot. There's no sprawling open world here and the dungeons I played were all pretty cramped and linear. But you can technically go off in any direction sometimes finding rewards for your curiosity.

Elder Scrolls: Blades wants to be endlessly replayable in small chunks. So in addition to quests you can also enter The Abyss to crawl through infinite levels of procedurally generated dungeons. Any loot earned before dying is yours for the keeping to help on your main journey. The team compared this little roguelike side mode to the endless content in fellow dark fantasy game Diablo III. There's also an upcoming competitive multiplayer arena mode called Arena but I didn't get to play it and the mode won't be available when the game launches in beta early access this spring.

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Mashable

Combat consists of pressing and holding in one spot while a meter fills up, and then either releasing or swiping to slash. You can continue holding your finger down after a slash to immediately start filling the meter again if you want to keep the combo going.

Once a fight begins, you're effectively locked into a 1-versus-1 perspective until it's over (think Infinity Blade). So there's no need to worry about movement or the surrounding environment; you can just focus on the fighting.

The hold-and-swipe approach is surprisingly satisfying, especially as you start to get the timing down and string combos together. People with smaller hands or larger smartphones might struggle to cover the full breadth of the screen in one-handed play, but I feel like most people will be able to get down with it.

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[Wollan]

I tweeted my impressions from Quakecon last year which were:

"Lovely graphics. The sword swing depends on where you touch the screen. When in combat the camera auto-tracks the enemy. The path-finding when clicking in the distance, past various obstacles, is pretty good. Portrait mode works."

"What remains to be seen: Is there much depth here? It wasn't possible to examine things or swing weapons outside of combat. It seems like there might only be one attacking critter at a time? Stats seem simplified."

"Another aspect I noticed: Some enemies are out of reach when in combat. With the rats for example you have to time your weapon swings as they come in for their attack (or alternatively use spells and/or bows I assume)."

 

[Darkstorne]

I tweeted my impressions from Quakecon last year which were:

"Lovely graphics. The sword swing depends on where you touch the screen. When in combat the camera auto-tracks the enemy. The path-finding when clicking in the distance, past various obstacles, is pretty good. Portrait mode works."

"What remains to be seen: Is there much depth here? It wasn't possible to examine things or swing weapons outside of combat. It seems like there might only be one attacking critter at a time? Stats seem simplified."

"Another aspect I noticed: Some enemies are out of reach when in combat. With the rats for example you have to time your weapon swings as they come in for their attack (or alternatively use spells and/or bows I assume)."

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Yep, seems the new preview event didn't shed any extra light on whether concerns for depth and challenge will be addressed later on in the game. I think there's big potential for a well designed dungeon delver, with mobile being a great fit for it, but I'm concerned Bethesda are approaching this the way so many mobile games do: with the assumption that mobile gamers have an IQ below 70, and just want to tap their way through something simple and linear, collecting shiny gems and clinky coins as they go. Fingers crossed it massively opens up in depth of gameplay and dungeon layout later on, and we get a really awesome dungeon delver here.

 

[Brunire]

Received an email about joining a closed beta today. They emphasized it was different from early access and was under NDA. Signing up to join does not guarantee entry so it will probably be random selection.