The Elder Scrolls® Online
The Elder Scrolls® Online screenshot 1The Elder Scrolls® Online screenshot 2
ActionAdventureMassively MultiplayerRPGMMORPGOpen WorldFantasyMultiplayerExploration

5,483 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 10,485

Peak in the last 7 days: 12,366

The Elder Scrolls® Online Steam store

Game description

Every legend starts somewhere and in The Elder Scrolls Online, it starts with you. Join millions of players in an online, fantasy RPG set in a vast living Elder Scrolls world.

Basic info

DeveloperZeniMax Online Studios
PublisherBethesda Softworks
PlatformsWindows · macOS
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateMay 22, 2017
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10 64-bit
ProcessorIntel® Core™ i5 2300 or AMD FX4350
Memory4 GB
GraphicsDirect X 11.0 compliant video card with 1GB RAM (NVIDIA® GeForce® 560 or AMD Radeon™ 6870)
Storage180 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 393 reviews from the past 1 year

69.4/ 100
Bottom 20%

Steam rating: Very Positive (81%)

Metacritic: 80 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

A huge online world with layers of paywalls, The Elder Scrolls® Online scores 69.4 from 393 analyzed reviews.

👍 Strengths

56 reviews say they enjoy it and keep playing for years, and some call leveling and combat fun and friendly to new players. 49 praise the world, saying the continent, quests and lore stay immersive and reward slow exploration. 38 point to the sheer amount of content, describing a huge map and hundreds of hours of quests even from the base game. Content Volume ranks 133rd of 1351, Story & World ranks 496th of 1096, and Multiplayer ranks 258th of 642.

👎 Where it falls short

Pricing & Fairness appears in 42% of analyzed reviews and ranks 1245th of 1399. 92 reviews object to the monetization, describing a subscription that feels close to required for inventory space, paid expansions, season passes and costly convenience items. 27 dislike the combat feel, saying it relies on button mashing and animation canceling and lacks impact. 23 say it is hard for newcomers to learn, with a confusing quest order after years of expansions, a cluttered interface and a steep learning curve. Gameplay ranks 788th of 1396, and Tech & Support ranks 923rd of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“addictive game, highly recommended, 19400 hours played” · 56 reviews
“Tamriel world is immersive and never gets old to explore” · 49 reviews
“sheer amount of high-quality real content to explore” · 38 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 61% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Freedom +3.24 · Room to explore, build, and play your own way
Positive “open world exploration, crafting, and freedom to play your own way without meta pressure” · 14 reviews
Negative “lost freedom and chaos of single-player Bethesda games, just an MMO” · 1 review

Progression 26% · Difficulty 9% · Onboarding 16% · Strategy 20% · Controls & feel 19%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 47% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.35 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “Tamriel world is immersive and never gets old to explore” · 49 reviews
Negative “only likes Skyrim, not the broader Elder Scrolls world” · 4 reviews

Story 30% · Characters 6%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 43% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +3.89 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “sheer amount of high-quality real content to explore” · 38 reviews
Negative “150GB install plus 100GB update is excessive” · 2 reviews

Variety 21% · Replayability 2%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 24% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +1.90 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “art design and graphics are amazing, world design excellent” · 6 reviews
Negative “gráficos precisam ser atualizados, combate desatualizado” · 2 reviews

Audio 9%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 36% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +2.28 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Positive “Skyrim with friends, big map to explore and lots of activities” · 14 reviews
Negative “difficulty finding Spanish/Hispanic roleplay community, guild finder system clunky” · 1 review

Community 16% · Servers & Connection 6%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 42% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing -0.86 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “expensive subscription plus expansions plus 30 dollar season pass for old free rewards” · 92 reviews
Positive “monthly subscription grants access to all DLCs with community gold exchange option” · 5 reviews

Anti-cheat 1% · Balance 13% · Matchmaking 3%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 29% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support -0.22 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Negative “support team ignored explanation and issued template ban for private criticism” · 17 reviews
Positive “continuous updates and content, fairly friendly community” · 4 reviews

Stability 6% · Performance 7%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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