The Elder Scrolls Online

The Elder Scrolls Online immerses you in its intricate quests and fantasy landscapes, only to undercut its strengths at every turn.

It's tempting to write off subscription MMOs completely, but there are some signs of life in the sector: Final Fantasy 14 is doing quite well, and the forthcoming WildStar is in the final stages of a persuasive charm offensive with the MMO community. But there are only fleeting signs of life in The Elder Scrolls Online itself - and few of them have anything to do with The Elder Scrolls. Maybe this grand project sounded like a good idea in 2007, but now it feels like a leftover obligation: a game no-one really asked for, and a flawed premise from the start.

A few well-designed systems struggle to overcome lifeless presentation. Capable, but ultimately hard to recommend.

ESO is missing the spark that got us lost in Skyrim and Morrowind

Personally as an MMO player, I think I'm mostly going to be putting my time in the near future into Final Fantasy XIV and WildStar until that happens.

Bethesda's big budget, massively multiplayer trip to Tamriel has some great ideas, but struggles with execution in places.

From story to scale, The Elder Scrolls Online does its single player predecessors justice while at some parts struggling to find its own identity.

The Elder Scrolls Online combines the best of Elder Scrolls with the worst of the MMO genre.

Elder Scrolls Online is a good, fun game overall, but it's a better MMO than it is an Elder Scrolls game.

Whether or not The Elder Scrolls Online is for you will depend entirely on what you're looking for out of it. If you want a true Elder Scrolls experience, with all the freedom, exploration, and immersion that comes with it, you're likely to be disappointed.