The Elder Scrolls: Blades

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The Elder Scrolls: Blades
multiplayer

The Elder Scrolls: Blades is a free-to-play action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is a spin-off of The Elder Scrolls series, set following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and preceding The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Following over a year of early access on Android and iOS devices, the full version of Blades was released for Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch in May 2020. The game received generally negative reviews from critics.

Gameplay

The Elder Scrolls: Blades is an

non-playable characters, moving corpses, and hiding/storing/stealing items were not included in the game. Combat includes using melee weapons, magic spells, and ranged attacks.[1] Regarding the use of magic, the player can equip up to three different magic spells to use during combat. The game features dungeons that are both hand-crafted by designers and procedurally generated.[1] Players can customize and level up their characters to enhance their abilities.[1][2]

Blades features three main game modes: Abyss, Arena, and Town. Abyss offers a

multiplayer mode in which two players battle against each other.[3] Town is the game's main mode, which is a hub area where the player can receive quests and meet non-player characters (NPCs) to progress the story.[2][3] The player's hub town initially starts destroyed and they are tasked with rebuilding and upgrading it, which consequently unlocks more quests and NPCs.[3] Players can visit their friends' hub towns.[2][5]

On mobile devices, the game can be played in either landscape or portrait mode.[2]

Synopsis

The story takes place within the fantasy universe of

Nord human, and be wary of the Thalmor agents.[1]

Tracking down the Bloodfall Queen, the player learns that she is at odds with the Greencap Bandits.

Development and release

The Elder Scrolls: Blades was developed by

PC in the future, along with supporting virtual reality.[2]

On March 1, 2019, Bethesda announced that they would be running an iOS-only

iOS App Store version was brought forward to the following day (March 28, 2019), to coincide with celebrations for the 25th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls series.[7][8] The Android version of the app was also made available from Google Play on that same release date.[8] The store entries for the game state that it "will launch as early access", and players "must receive an invite to play the game" during that time.[9] Bethesda confirmed that they were emailing invites to players in "waves".[8]

Following this invite-only period, on April 5, 2019, the early access version was made available to all players who are registered with Bethesda. The company stated on Twitter that "The gates to The Elder Scrolls: Blades are opening further. Excited to say that anyone with a Bethesda net account can now play."[10] This message also included an acknowledgement of the feedback received from players to-date, and announcing forthcoming balance changes for the 'silver chest' in-game reward. This item had received negative responses from some players upon discovery that they required three real-time hours to open (without options available to open other chests in parallel or discard previous chests for a better one), thereby stalling gameplay.[10][11] In response to players' complaints, Bethesda reduced the time to open Silver chests to an hour and reduced the cost of opening it instantly from 36 to 12 gems.[12]

On May 2, 2019, the early access release was broadened further to include all iOS and Android players, when Bethesda updated the game to no longer require a Bethesda net account.[13]

On May 17, 2019, further planned changes to the game were announced, including adjustments to equipment repair costs, and difficulty balance changes. During the same announcement, Bethesda also confirmed a forthcoming "big" update, which would include other player-requested features, such as jewelry and new story content. This version 1.1 update was released on June 9, 2019, also adding dialog for NPCs and support for player levels beyond 50.[14]

On May 12, 2020, over a year since early access began, the game left early access as part of the version 1.7 update. This update also included a set of in-game rewards for players who had been part of the early access period.[15] The Nintendo Switch version of the game was then released on May 14, 2020.[16]

Reception

During its early access period, Blades received generally mixed reviews from critics. David Jagneaux from IGN heavily criticized the game for its long loading screens, grinding, lack of innovation, and its use of microtransactions; however, he did praise the game for its visuals, character development, story, and combat.[18]

The final release received negative reception, with the Nintendo Switch version receiving "generally unfavorable reviews" on review aggregator

Nintendo Life called the game "a bland and repetitive grind," criticizing the game's design, gameplay, and technical performance.[23] Matt Sainsbury of Digitally Downloaded panned the game, calling it "a creatively broken, anti-intellectual insult" and negatively comparing it to other The Elder Scrolls games.[24] John Rairdin of Nintendo World Report wrote that the game was "a downright joke" and heavily criticized the combat and gameplay.[25]

Sales and revenue

Blades was a commercial success. Within one week of the game's early access launch, it had exceeded 1 million downloads on the iOS platform, with the associated revenue reaching close to $500,000. 42% of these downloads were from users in the United States, with US players also accounting for 76% of the total spending during this time.[26][27] Within the first month of early access release, the game had generated revenue exceeding $1.5 million on the iOS platform with player spending reaching close to $50,000 per day.[28]

Awards

The game was nominated for "Mobile Game of the Year" at the Golden Joystick Awards,[29] and won the award for "Song/Score - Mobile Video Game" at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.[30][31] It was also nominated for the A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game at the New York Game Awards,[32] and for "Game of the Year" and "Best Audio/Visual Accomplishment" at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Newton, Casey (June 10, 2018). "The next Elder Scrolls game is a beautiful mobile RPG named Blades". The Verge. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Campbell, Colin (June 10, 2018). "The Elder Scrolls Blades is a first-person, free, mobile RPG". Polygon. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d Purchese, Robert (June 11, 2018). "Bethesda's new Elder Scrolls RPG for mobile looks really rather good". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  4. ^ Frushtick, Russ (March 6, 2019). "Blades may be pared down but still looks like Elder Scrolls". Polygon.
  5. ^ "Elder Scrolls: Blades is coming to Nintendo Switch with dragon quest line". iMore. June 9, 2019.
  6. ^ Nelson, Jared (March 1, 2019). "Bethesda Announces a "Closed Beta" for 'Elder Scrolls: Blades' and an "Early Access" Launch for Spring". TouchArcade. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  7. ^ Funnell, Rob (March 27, 2019). "'The Elder Scrolls: Blades' Is Launching Early, and Is Available to Download on the New Zealand App Store". TouchArcade. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  8. ^ a b c Shah, Saqib (March 28, 2019). "'The Elder Scrolls: Blades' hits iOS and Android in early access". Engadget. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  9. ^ "The Elder Scrolls: Blades". Google Play. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  10. ^ a b Lawler, Richard (April 5, 2019). "'Elder Scrolls: Blades' mobile game opens its doors to more players". Engadget. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  11. ^ Murnane, Kevin (April 6, 2019). "'Elder Scrolls Blades' Has A Treasure Chest Problem". Forbes. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  12. ^ Tassi, Paul. "'Elder Scrolls Blades' Nerfs Silver Chests, But The Entire System Needs To Go". Forbes. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  13. ^ Sheridan, Connor (May 2, 2019). "The Elder Scrolls: Blades is now playable for everybody on iOS and Android". GamesRadar. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  14. ^ Pacheco, Shrey (June 14, 2019). "Elder Scrolls: Blades v1.1 update: Here's what's new". Digit. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  15. ^ Nelson, Jared (May 12, 2020). "'The Elder Scrolls: Blades' is Officially Out of Early Access with Big Version 1.7 Update". TouchArcade. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  16. ^ Maher, Cian (May 14, 2020). "The Elder Scrolls: Blades is now available on Nintendo Switch". VG247. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  17. CBS Interactive
    . Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  18. ^ a b Jagneaux, David (April 23, 2019). "The Elder Scrolls: Blades Early Access Review - IGN". IGN. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  19. ^ O'Reilly, P.J. (May 18, 2020). "The Elder Scrolls: Blades Review". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  20. ^ Rairdin, John. "The Elder Scrolls: Blades (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  21. CBS Interactive
    . Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  22. ^ O'Reilly, P.J. (May 18, 2020). "The Elder Scrolls: Blades Review". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  23. ^ O'Reilly, P.J. (May 18, 2020). "The Elder Scrolls: Blades Review". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  24. ^ Sainsbury, Matt. "Review: The Elder Scrolls: Blades (Nintendo Switch)". Digitally Downloaded. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  25. ^ Rairdin, John. "The Elder Scrolls: Blades (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  26. ^ Arif, Shabana (April 7, 2019). "The Elder Scrolls: Blades has been downloaded over 1 million times". VG247. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  27. ^ Fogel, Stefanie (April 4, 2019). "'The Elder Scrolls: Blades' Reaches 1 Million Downloads in First Week". Variety. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  28. ^ Giancarlo, Valdes (April 26, 2019). "Sensor Tower — The Elder Scrolls: Blades pulls in over $1.5 million on iOS". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  29. ^ "Golden Joystick Awards 2019". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on September 28, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  30. ^ "Hollywood Music In Media Awards Announces Nominees". Shoot. November 4, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  31. ^ "HMMA Winners 2019". Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  32. ^ Sheehan, Gavin (January 2, 2020). "The New York Game Awards Announces 2020 Nominees". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  33. ^ "The winners of 2020". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved January 30, 2020.

External links

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