When we think of The Elder Scrolls series, we immediately think of global successes such as the fifth installment, Skyrim, which sold over 60 million copies worldwide, or the fourth, Oblivion, which was also a huge hit in its day. So far, the recent remaster produced by Virtuos has attracted over 9 million players.
But it all started much earlier. With The Elder Scrolls: Arena, released in 1994, the saga was initially aimed at a niche audience of role-playing enthusiasts. The second installment, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, released in 1996, followed the same direction. These first two games are now the most difficult to go back to. Their gameplay quickly feels very crude and their demanding nature is quite off-putting.
It was really with the third installment, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, that the universe took off. Thanks to more sophisticated 3D graphics and a much more accessible gameplay, the IP entered a new era. However, between Daggerfall and Morrowind, we got two other games that are now forgotten by many: An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire (1997) and The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (1998). Exclusive to PC, they had a rocky road, placing them among the great forgotten titles of the franchise.
Battlespire: an expansion that became a game in its own right
Originally, An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire was supposed to be a simple expansion for Daggerfall. Ultimately sold as a complete game, it uses the same graphics engine, but abandons the open world in favor of a journey through seven distinct levels, located in various kingdoms of Oblivion.
The content is drastically reduced: fewer playable races, no merchants or shops. The difficulty is increased to the point of discouraging many players. Upon its release, Battlespire was a commercial failure. Its outdated engine, numerous bugs, and abandonment of the series’ usual freedom confused many.
However, the game did offer one ambitious feature: a multiplayer mode. But it wasn’t an MMO, just arena duels using weapons and spells from the campaign. This mode sorely lacked depth and interest. Add to that the need for a stable 56k connection and disastrous matchmaking… and you end up with an unstable, laborious multiplayer mode with no real appeal.
Redguard: an ambitious spin-off but also doomed to failure
A year later, The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard was released, also on PC. Equally unknown, it failed to turn things around or get the series off the ground. It must be said that Bethesda was in a critical situation at the time, having invested heavily in Daggerfall… and lost big with the failure of Battlespire.
Lacking the necessary resources, the developers once again reused the XnGine engine, which had already been used in the two previous installments. This aging technology weighed Redguard down with stiff animations and ubiquitous bugs. The studio’s financial difficulties also led to the departure of many artists and programmers.
Development therefore took place under very difficult conditions, with a reduced team and no budget. Marketing was virtually non-existent, preventing the game from reaching its audience. And yet, Redguard had its qualities.
This spin-off also abandoned the open world in favor of a more linear adventure, without character creation or a progression system, but offered a new hero: Cyrus, a charismatic Redguard pirate with a rich and well-written backstory. He is voiced, named, and endowed with a real personality—a rarity in the series, where heroes are generally shaped by the players.
Unfortunately, neither Battlespire nor Redguard managed to win over gamers. It wasn’t until 2002 that Morrowind revived the saga and allowed Bethesda to return to success. It was a journey fraught with pitfalls, but one that allowed the studio to forge its identity and learn from its mistakes.
The case of The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion
Bethesda’s saga has not only seen episodes of varying degrees of success. As with many studios, some projects are sometimes simply canceled for various internal reasons.
This was the case, for example, with the adaptation of the fourth game in the main series for PSP, which was to be titled The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion. Announced in 2006, this port quickly disappeared from the radar, before rumors of a cancellation confirmed the doubts.
These rumors proved to be true, with the project being officially abandoned for budgetary reasons—a decision that is ultimately understandable when you consider the context mentioned at the beginning of this article. Over the years, however, images and videos of the game have resurfaced on the internet, particularly on YouTube.
It’s a pretty good title for the PSP, despite significant technical limitations compared to the Xbox 360 or PC. Some concessions had obviously been made, notably abandoning the open-world aspect in favor of a “hub” system allowing travel between different, more restricted and less populated areas, while retaining the original game’s storyline.
The game was nevertheless set to offer a total of 180 quests, providing solid longevity in keeping with the studio’s expertise. The most regrettable aspect of this story is that the project seemed very advanced, almost complete at the time of its cancellation.
But sometimes, the life of a studio is full of turbulence. Bethesda has overcome these challenges with flying colors, as its subsequent evolution will prove. Today, The Elder Scrolls is one of the most popular franchises in the history of video games. And it has undoubtedly not yet had its final say… The Elder Scrolls VI, eagerly awaited for so many years, will eventually arrive.
