Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles
- March 06, 2007 12:01 PM PST
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The best game of 2006 takes a decidedly existential turn.
Bethesda recently granted GamePro exclusive access to play the first four hours of its about-to-be released expansion pack for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and sweet mother of Freud, is it a doozy.
Highlights
- Multiple solutions for quests
- Magic matrices allow for magical customization of weapons and armor
- When you get arrested, instead of being placed in a castle's stockade, you get locked into a dangerous dungeon.
An Interesting Transition
Gamers accustomed to the grandeur, gallantry, and gooey RPG cheesiness of Oblivion are in store for a jolting good surprise. About 48 hours after the expansion is downloaded and installed-it is only being offered via Xbox Live-rumors begin to circulate that a new portal has opened.
Close investigation reveals that this portal has the mysterious and disturbing effect of making anyone who enters it stark, raving mad. After an interesting, Matrix-style red/blue pill moment and a quest that requires you to bypass or defeat a gigantic guardian made of bone, you enter the Shivering Isles.
Straight to the Loony Bin
At this point, the gameplay takes a crazy metaphysical twist that will catch many players off guard. It turns out the Shivering Isles are crazy-in the purest psychological sense of the word. One half of the island is known as the "manic" side and is full of vibrant colors and chatty, talkative people. The other half is known as "dementia", and is dark, gloomy, and distinctively grumpy.
In the center of this disaster zone resides a man known as Sheograth in the town of Crucible. Just like the rest of the world, Sheograth is koo-koo, and he challenges you with a series of tasks. Based on what we played and witnessed, these missions will entail some creatively devious play mechanics. In one mission you're supposed to devise a method to trap and kill parties of heroes adventuring through a dungeon. In another, you get to build your own Bone Guardian by finding and assembling enchanted arms, legs, and other body parts. Much like the original game, as you venture into towns and villages to complete these missions, you'll encounter numerous people who will offer you secondary quests.
Level Up!
Bethesda divulged that the sweet spot for this add-on is Level 19-22 heroes. Based on my experiences with a 19th-level Battlemage, I can attest to the fact that the gameplay will be extremely challenging, but highly entertaining in the same way that the original game was. Jumping into this expansion triggered the same eye-widening sense of wonderment, joy, and gameplay addiction that resulted in my playing the original Oblivion for 120-plus hours. Bethesda also said that Shivering Isles is more than three times larger than the Knights of the Nine Expansion released in late 2006.
Given the almost bipolar nature of the game-did I really just say that?-I'm betting the ultimate goal of this expansion is to unify the Shivering Isle's manic and demented halves. Time will tell.
