Elder Scrolls: Blades Review

KEY FEATURES:

QUEST and Experience stunning dungeon adventures.

CREATE and customize your city, restoring it to greatness.

CONQUER your friends and rivals in epic one-on-one Arena battles.*

CREATE any character you want and discover unique weapons, armor, and abilities.

MASTER the never-ending Abyss with a cutting-edge combat system.

Elder Scrolls: Blades Links:

iOS Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-elder-scrolls-blades/id1358476597?mt=8

Android Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bethsoft.blade&hl=en_US

Company: Bethesda

Genre: Role-Playing

Rated: 12+

Offers in-app Purchases

Hey, Casual Gamers!

Birthed from a mighty shout in late 2011, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been an absolute hit with most in the gaming community. Since then, Skyrim has been ported to multiple consoles and remains a celebrated legend.

This installment of the Elder Scrolls picks off from the same storyline Skyrim and the other Elder Scroll games created. Is this worth your casual time, or should they send this casual app back to the drawing board?

Let’s check this review to find out!

Gameplay

*Ah, it feels good to be back in Skyrim!*

For those looking for a Skyrim experience, it’s a sliver of that. The Bloodfall Queen torched and razed your village while you were out doing Skyrim things.

Like any Elder Scrolls game, the introduction is just the tip of the iceberg.

Now the villagers look to you, the gamer, to restore the village to its former glory. At the same time, the player discovers their legacy of being a blade, an order of ancient protectors of the king of Tamriel.

There’s also no going around randomly swinging swords and spells wherever you please. At this point Blades’s story mode seems pretty linear, sticking to finding items to upgrade and rebuild the city via questing in the dungeon.

Aside from story mode, there’s an Abyss mode and a currently locked PVP Arena. The Abyss offers more of a hack-n-slash play style with less talking.

Graphics

*Recovering the townsfolk opens doors for more missions or loot!*

This feels like console-level graphics in my hand. Everything that reminds me of a Skyrim landscape presents itself in Blades.

Most of the dungeons in the game seem like places familiar to the Skyrim landscape and many of the monsters give off that “never left Skyrim” feeling. I’m sure there are hordes of new-looking monsters in the later levels.

I can’t help but wonder if this Elder Scroll will have some of the glitches Skyrim had.

Music

The overall soundtrack to Blades seems pretty laid back. I don’t really recall any bad music or annoying sound loops. I haven’t found a real need to keep the volume on either.

Blades is more or less shaped to be a quest-completing grind of a casual app.

Truthfully going into dungeons and completing missions could use an outside playlist.

Playing with the sound on will instantly take you back into the dark dungeon of tester Skyrim.

Controls

*When it’s not too dark the dungeons are visually stunning.*

I have mixed feelings about the controls. There are a few ways to navigate your player through Blades. if you want to use controls, pressing on the lower right and left corners will create a joystick. This was the most comfortable for me as I could move and look around with ease.

If you aren’t a fan of the joystick, you can just point your way through the game. This feels a bit choppy to me as you can only look one way while pointing to walk. The other hand can be used to look around, but it feels like more of a hassle than using the controllers.

The fighting system is a bit lackluster as well. Enemy encounters force you to square off with each other and the tap war begins.

to attack with an equipped weapon, you have to hold the screen until a circle appears. the closer to a completed circle the more damage.

While mastering attacks, the other hand can be used to block or cast spells when learned.

Health won’t recover outside of battle! Food can be abundant in most dungeons, but scarce in other situations like the Abyss.

In-app Purchases

The store seems completely optional. Anything needed to upgrade has come in the game and from chests. Purchasing gems can give a pretty significant boost in terms of speeding up timers and buying items.

There wasn’t a commercial to be found anywhere, which in this age of mobile gaming is almost unheard of. I wonder if this will be kept in the final edition going forward.

I haven’t been able to get much done building-wise as I’m always missing a few items here and there, so gems are handy.

I’ve noticed that in the Abyss gems are easier to find.

The Verdict

*Leveling up offers items, skill points, and improvements to mp or stamina.*

Personally, I was a bit shocked when my pre-order came through! I was expecting something epic and Bethesda did not disappoint. I’m hoping some of my issues make it to the table and get resolved.

Blades should be in every Skyrim fan’s phone. There’s a deep story to follow and upgrades galore. I also enjoy casting spells in Skyrim. Nothing feels better than an arc of lightning coming from a hand to decimate anything in the way.

Got into early access and what to talk about it? Drop a comment in the section below and let’s rebuild or fair city together!

Happy Gaming, and as always, keep it casual!

The Elder Scrolls: Blades Overall Rating: 4/5