The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

The Elder Scrolls series has established itself as one of the most beloved RPG franchises in the history of video games, thanks to the massive universe and long list of accomplishments that were brought to the genre through titles like Morrowind, Oblivion and, most of all, the subject of this review, Daggerfall.

One of the most impressive things accomplished with this second installment was the truly astonishing size of the playable game world, which spanned across thousands of square kilometers and encompassed a variety of different cities and environments. Hence, although the later episodes took place in lands like Skyrim or Morrowins, Daggerfall contained all of them at once, as well as many others.

Thus, as the game starts, you are offered the possibility to customize your character, and, depending on what zone you choose to spawn into, the race most common in the selected land is recommended for you. Another important aspect is the character creation wizard, which allows you define a huge number of skills, abilities and various other traits that affect the way you are able to fight, barter, communicate with other NPCs and use magic spells.

As far as the actual story line is concerned, it should be noted that there are literally hundreds of hours of gameplay that can be achieved by just following the main plot. The extensive amount of side quests and possibilities increase the time you can spend exploring the world even more, since you are also able to join guilds, become a renowned thief, or just clear dungeon after dungeon in the search for gold and powerful artifacts.

The gameplay mechanics are also quite different from a normal RPG, since it features a first-person view, rather than the traditional top-down isometric camera that was the standard in that period. Thanks to this, you are able to immerse into the universe even more, especially since the 3D graphics allow you to get a closer glimpse at the miles after miles of magical lands and the mystical creatures that populate it.

In the end, there are not many things that can be said against The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall. The game excels in every way, although it could've maybe used a bit more user friendliness when it comes to the character creation wizard, since the amount of options can cause serious headaches to a newcomer.

Note: To commemorate the 15th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda Softworks has released The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall as a free-to-download product on their website.