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Elder Scrolls Online has officially revealed its next destination. After teasing for weeks, Zenimax Online Studios announced that players will be heading towards the mysterious High Isles through their global reveal stream.
Set on a previously unexplored chain of islands in the Abacean sea, High Isle and the Systres Islands will serve as a destination that will host a year-long adventure titled "Legacy of the Bretons." Throughout this adventure, players will travel to a land of revelry, knights, medieval fantasy, and plots in the shadows.
Elder Scrolls Online's new adventures will begin in March
As the name suggests, "Legacy of the Bretons" will focus solely on the Breton people and their culture, which has been overlooked in all formats of the Elder Scrolls franchise. This doesn't seem easy to imagine, considering the Bretons have incredible martial and magical prowess and proficiency in politics and trade.
Bretons are a race of people who can trace their ancestry back to both the men and elves of Tamriel. As such, they have an incredibly storied history even in the second era, when Elder Scrolls Online's story takes place. Despite this, information about the High Isle is scarce at best. Until this reveal, the only time this location was revealed was back in Redguard.
Zenimax Online Studios had to create a new area from scratch without any references from books or games for this expansion and other stuff. To this end, the studio took the Mediterranean as a reference point to base their inspiration. On the High Isle, players will encounter lush forests, mountains, waterfalls, sandy beaches, and large castles and arenas reminiscent of medieval European architecture.
This isn't a mistake as the culture of the High Isle and the Systres islands are based around medieval European culture. According to Rich Lambert, creative director of Elder Scrolls Online, the High Isle is a place where knights, knightly dares, feudal lords, and nobles and their schemes, are common sights and happenings. It's a vacation site for the wealthy of Tamriel and the Bretons has made it a place of celebration and festivities.
On the other side of the proverbial coin lies the prison colony of Amenos, which contrasts the idyllic nature of the Systres islands. Beyond the walls that serve as protection, there are no guards and no order. It will be very interesting to see how a space like this will be translated into the game.
Not everything that glitters is gold
Underneath all of that pomp and glitz, the Systres islands host the usual cavalcade of diabolical plots, political conspiracies, and knives in the long shadows.
Throughout the campaign, players will be introduced to the underbelly of Breton culture, where political marriages and assassinations are commonplace. Plots of subterfuge and sabotage will be rife in this world and players will be thrust into the biggest one they've known.
On their Adventures of Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle, players won't have to fight the Daedric God of Destruction or a Dragon hellbent on consuming a moon. Instead, the story this time revolves around a secretive order and its leader, who is keen to stop any peace talks between the three armies.
The issue is that this Ascendant Order claims to end the war but they are also on a murderous rampage across the Systres Archipelago, which makes their claims somewhat weak. Given that 'end' can have multiple meanings, it'll be interesting to see how the storyline unfolds, politically and narratively.
The Legacy of the Bretons will bring more than politics to Elder Scrolls Online. Expanding on the companion feature introduced in Blackwood, High Isle will introduce two new companions.
Ember, a khajit with an appropriate name and affinity for magic, and Isobel, a Breton with honor and knightly aspirations, are the two companions who will join players in their adventures. High Isle will also bring a new trial to Elder Scrolls Online called Dreadsail Reef where 12 players will venture into the lair of the Dreadsail Pirates for bounties and challenges.
The one feature no one expected was a card game and that is exactly what Zenimax Online Studios is delivering. Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle will come with a card game called Tales of Tribute. It's a resource-building game where players will choose their decks, battle through a dedicated storyline, and even take part in rated matches.
What already sets this apart from other card games is that players will be drawing cards from a common pool, which will be created by merging the decks selected by the two players.
As mentioned before, Legacy of the Bretons will begin in march with the launch of the dungeon DLC, the Ascending Tide. The Coral Aerie and Shipwright's Regret are the two dungeons that will arrive on March 14, to set the stage.
Finally on June 6, Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle will be released, with one more dungeon DLC pack and a new zone to follow. To narrow it all down, the madness across the sea will begin right after Whitestrake's Mayhem ends.
2022 will be an interesting time for Elder Scrolls Online. For years, players have been treated to world-ending scenarios, supernatural conspiracies, or celestial conundrums.
Thus, it will be very unsettling for players to wind down, take inventory, and embark on petty politics. But if the history of Elder Scrolls is anything to go by, a mere knife is enough to ignite the flames of war anew.
