The Elder Scrolls Online

The Elder Scrolls Online is an MMORPG developed by Zenimax Online Studios which runs on the same engine as The Old Republic. Taking place in the Second Era 1,000 years before the events of Skyrim, you play as a hero attempting to stop the Daedric Prince Molag Bal from taking over Tamriel and recovering your soul that was taken by him.

Originally launched as a subscription based MMO, the game underwent a substantial overhaul and was changed to a buy to play title just under a year before launch.


 * The Artifact: Most post-launch content is largely irrelevant to and unconcerned with the Three Banners War.
 * While post relaunch content plays much nicer with the lore, the pre-relaunch content retains the much looser lore standards it always has. With the ability to freely travel the continent, you'd forget there's a three way war you are (nominally) a soldier in going on.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: The best player on the faction which takes over the Imperial City becomes the Emperor.
 * Big Bad: The Akaviri Potentate, which the Tharn family (Yes, that Tharn) is attempting to revive, with Mannimarco serving as The Man Behind the Man.
 * Behind him is the Daedric Prince of Domination himself, Molag Bal.
 * Comic Book Time: Over half a decade of content and yearly new years events has occurred in 2E 582. Developers say this is avoid to the problems of characters going back to older content after something definitively set later.
 * Death Is a Slap on The Wrist: Justified Trope in that due to a deal with Molag Bal, all of the PC's get resurrected infinite times.
 * Enemy Mine: The races comprising the Ebonheart Pact are only working together because of the threat posed by their mutual enemies. Whether or not this holds true for the other factions remains unknown.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: The teaser trailer was narrated by Michael Gambon, who you might know as Dumbledore.
 * Mass Teleportation: The initial release was notorious for including several books reused from chronologically later entries in the series that were flat out anachronistic, referring to events that occurred long after the game is set and in at least one case published during the events of a later game as a result of a quest. Rather than correct these, the game eventually added a loading screen tip that blamed a magical library attracting books from across time.
 * Melee a Trois: The three playable warring factions in the game consist of the Aldmeri Dominion (Altmer, Bosmer, and Khajit), the Ebonheart Pact (Dunmer, Nords, and Argonians), and the Daggerfall Covenant (Bretons, Redguards, and Orcs).
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: While werewolves do exist in the game, player characters are unable to contract lycanthropy for balancing purposes.
 * PvP: Players will be able to fight one another in battles for keeps and other such fortifications, with a particularly huge arena being the Imperial City itself, with 100 v 100 battles. This isn't surprising, considering the main creative talent were behind Dark Age of Camelot.
 * Rule of Three: Three factions, which mirrors Dark Age of Camelot and its Realm vs. Realm combat.
 * Wide Open Sandbox: The game world is said to be even larger than that of Skyrim's and consists of most of Tamriel, though not all will be available at the start.
 * The Chosen Many: The game appears to work on that premise, with multiple chosen ones fighting it out for ultimate supremacy over Tamriel as Emperor.
 * Vestigial Empire: The Akaviri Potentate is weakened following various wars, leaving Cyrodiil in a state of chaos.
 * Your Soul Is Mine: A Type 1 example done by Molag Bal on the player. It also serves to justify being able to come back to life repeatedly.