Game review: The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road (PC)
The online iteration of Bethesda's popular Elder Scrolls series has received this year's annual premium expansion, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road.
The expansion gives players a new zone to explore, West Weald, and over thirty hours of additional gameplay as yet another Daedric prince threatens Tamriel. Whilst veteran players with be frothing at the bit for this new content, new players joining ESO for the first time can jump straight into one of the grandest online worlds ever created.
I look forward to every new ESO expansion. I've been playing the game since its inception over ten years ago. It's a premium massively multiplayer online game that doesn't need a huge investment of time or money.
Whilst an ESO Plus subscription allows keen players access to all the content with an annual fee, after the initial purchase casual players can enjoy the rich fantasy world without any further investment- no subscription required. Additional dungeons and quests can be purchased, fleshing out the main storyline, but these are not essential.
If you are busy, like me, you may not be able to justify a monthly fee, making ESO the perfect MMO for the odd dabble. If you've not yet tried ESO, then the Gold Road expansion is the perfect jumping-in point. As well as a separate expansion for existing players, The Elder Scrolls Collection: Gold Road includes the base game, the new Gold Road expansion and all the previous seven expansions for a price not much more than the expansion alone. This makes ESO one of the best-value online games available, and an absolute must if you are a fan of fantasy RPGs.
Ideally, you will have wanted to play last year's Necrom expansion before starting this new main quest line. Gold Road is a direct continuation of last year's Shadow over Morrowind story arc. You can, of course, just head straight to the new West Weald wayshrine where Leramil the Wise will be waiting for you with a new starting quest for the Gold Road storyline.
The new area of West Weald is dominated by the city of Skingrad, which may be familiar to players of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The medieval design looks straight out of The Witcher. It is a massive area full of creatures and members of the hostile Recollection faction who follow the mysterious new Daedric Prince.
As usual, I did my best to not get myself side-tracked by the dozens of NPCs all vying for my help. But Gold Road is packed with tasks for players to undertake. There are new world events with the Mirrormore Incursions and the Lucent Citadel, which is a new 12-player trial for players to explore, as well as new items, loot and treasure.
The expansion also adds a new skill system, Scribing. This is unlocked via one of the expansion questlines. Scribing allows players to create unique skills based on existing skills for a truly customised character.
As well as experiencing the new content, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road was the first time that I played the game on a portable device. The ROG Ally is a portable handheld gaming PC. The 7-inch 1080p screen is the perfect size for playing ESO on the go. However, if you do find the size of the interface too small, you can also way adjust it in the settings.
The controls are effectively the same as using an Xbox One/Series X|S controller. The game performs well on the device and is a great way to take ESO with you.
The Elder Scrolls Online continues to go from strength to strength. With the Gold Road expansion, Veteran players will find another huge region and a lore-packed, well-told tale to add to their adventures. Newcomers may be a bit overwhelmed by the scale and the ever-increasing amount of content in the game, which is more of a good thing than bad. Either way,
ESO still presents itself as one of the most polished and value-for-money online role-playing games ever made.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is available now for PC, Mac, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
Verdict: 9/10
