The Elder Scrolls Anthology (for PC)

By Matt Sarrel

The Elder Scrolls Anthology puts the entire Elder Scrolls series, Elder Scrolls Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, and all of the downloadable content in one convenient and beautiful package. The full series is assembled into an elegant book. Each game gets its own folded page, and unfolding each is like a journey into that particular title. Each side of each folded page is designed to convey the mood and aesthetic of each particular game and still they all fit together into the larger aesthetic of the entire book (and series). Merely unboxing the anthology was a journey through the vast and varied landscapes already familiar to me from playing each game as it came out. Physical maps, alas printed on a page not on cloth as in days of yore, complete the scene and bring to life the lands of Tamriel, Iliac Bay, Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim.

While this is by no means a necessary purchase for those who already purchased each game separately, it is awfully convenient to have all of them together in one box, and even more so to have all of the downloadable content at hand. This includes the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions for Morrowind; Shivering Isles and Knights of Nine are included for Oblivion; and Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn are there for Skyrim. This is a lot of gameplay in one box.

The Elder Scrolls is a bundling and a re-release, not a remastering or an upgrade. All of the games appear in their original format – Arena and Daggerfall run within a DOS emulator. Sure, they don't look great, but this is where it all began. Seeing this almost made me gasp with nostalgia.  Seeing all of the games together showed me a much larger and more cohesive storyline than I had noticed previously. Subtle connection became more apparent, and the amazing depth and scope of the individual stories and worlds are even more spectacular than the first time through.

The Elder Scrolls Anthology contains a mind-bogglingly insane amount of exploration. The whole series must be hundreds of hours of gameplay. If you're an RPG fan, then it would be hard to go wrong purchasing this anthology.

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