The newest chapter, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, created by ZeniMax Online Studio, and published by Bethesda, continues the story of the last instalment, Necrom, and is available now for PC, and it will be coming to console players on the 18th of June 2024.

Players will be able to revisit locations from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and you will be taken to West Weald, a region situated on the borders of Cyrodiil, the Gold Coast, and Valenwood to investigate the return of a Daedric Prince Ithelia, never seen in The Elder Scrolls Series. With an amazing storyline and interesting characters, this well-written chapter will get you hooked as you explore the lore of the world of Tamriel.

As players explore The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, they’ll travel through West Weald, home to Imperial-controlled Skingrad, returning to the series after first being introduced in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. West Weald is host to a variety of different biomes, such as the jungles of Dawnwood, now home to the Wood Elves of Vashabar, the Colovian Highlands, a long-forgotten land that once belonged to Ayleid, filled with ancient and curious ruins.

You’ll find the Heartland High Elves scattered about this area, as well as an Imperial settlement. Finally, you’ll get to explore the deadly lands of Wildburn, warped and changed by magic, where even the twisted nature of the land has spread to the wildlife and made them even more threatening than before.

New locations bring their own challenges and rewards, and The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road introduces a new 12-player trial, The Lucent Citadel. Your party’s skills will be tested as you try to find a forgotten Daedric vault, discover new fight mechanics, and complete a unique boss encounter that is sure to challenge you. Explore new dungeons and delves, either solo or with friends, and take part in the new world event, Mirrormoor Incursions, which will have you face waves of invading Daedra forces.

A new feature is Scribing, created by the Archmage Ulfsild the Evergreen. Scribing allows the player to upgrade their roleplaying story and fine-tune their combat skills. You will be able to create and customize skills, adding a personal touch, either by adding buffs or traits to an attack or changing the cosmic look of a spell being cast. This newly added system can be overwhelming at first glance, as well as when you’re learning it, but pays off through unique quests and rewards tied to the system.

Unlike past chapters of The Elder Scrolls Online, where skills aren’t level-locked, Scribing requires the player to be level 30 before you can start using the new feature. Players meeting the requirements will be able to earn and purchase Grimoires and expand their knowledge, giving them more Scribing abilities. My only complaint with Scribing is that learned Grimoires and scripts are locked to the character – they’re not shared to the account, so you will need to do the quest chain across other characters if you play more than one.

Along with the new Scribing system, zones to explore and threats to face, players will also be able to earn new in-game loot and titles, further demonstrating their skills to other players. Collectors can complete one of the ten new armour sets added to the loot pool, and for the treasure hunters amongst us, find and earn the new and unique antiquities, originally added in the 2020 Greymoor DLC.

I have had a blast during my time in The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road and I always find the community to be welcoming and eager to help new players. The amount of content and lore you can uncover keeps me hooked and wanting to sink more hours into the experience. A massive plus is that no matter the player’s level and experience, all of the story chapters can be played at any level, so it is always an exciting experience for new and returning players to the series.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is an amazing chapter that expands on the ever-growing world of Tamriel. Iconic locations return with an amazing story and plenty of lore that will please new players as well as die-hard Elder Scroll fans.

The latest chapter offers hours of playtime, particularly the new scribing system, and while it may look daunting at first, it offers great rewards. The only thing that would improve on this would be if the Scribing skills were shared account-wide.

Written by: Shane Walsh