The Elder Scrolls Online is not an Elder Scrolls game

One, glaringly absent element disqualifies The Elder Scrolls Online from being considered a proper entry in the Elder Scrolls franchise. “Live another life, in another world,” is the guiding mantra for the Elder Scrolls series, and I felt none of that in The Elder Scrolls Online, the upcoming massively multiplayer role-playing game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

I frequently wish there was someone else with me when I play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The worlds are so expansive that it feels like there ought to be plenty of room for another player’s character to join mine. Instead of The Elder Scrolls Online being an Elder Scrolls game that just happens to have other player characters, it is a traditional massively multiplayer online game wrapped in the trappings of Tamriel, the world in which the Elder Scrolls franchise takes place.