The Elder Scrolls: Castles is a brand new mobile game from Bethesda Game Studios that soft launched in early access last month on Android via the Google Play store. There was no official announcement for the game made, and early access was only opened up for a few thousand players.
We know that Xbox is looking to greatly expand their mobile offering, and this new game is one of the first to come out with Bethesda in the fold. I was one of the lucky few to get access to the game and have been playing on my Galaxy S20 to see what exactly Bethesda made here. The question is then, is The Elder Scrolls: Castles any good? Let’s find out.
Familiarity in a new Skin
The best way to describe The Elder Scrolls: Castles is Fallout Shelter meets Crusader Kings 3-lite. You are tasked with building a fortress and keeping a growing community happy like in Fallout Shelter with the added responsibility of making tough decisions that can define your rule as king or queen like in Crusader Kings.
The game does not offer much that revolutionizes the mobile game formula, but combines many addicting gameplay loops from other successful games to make something that is difficult to put down once you get into a flow.
As ruler you are often tasked with important decisions that will impact how your citizens feel about you, as well as how the world evolves. There is never a clear-cut answer, often being forced to side with one party or the other, or opt to appease all parties involved but lose valuable currency or resources. There are many different combinations of choice and consequence presented here, meaning no one scenario ever feels quite the same.
While my current playthrough has only had one player assigned ruler, there is the chance that your ruler will be killed and/or overthrown if you make the wrong choices. Once that happens, you would have to choose who succeeds the ruler, each candidate offering their own style of leadership.
The community and life-sim portion of the game has you directly control how big or small your community is, how much square footage your castle will have, who can fall in love and have children and more. If you’ve played any game in the genre before, you should know what to expect with this game.
Each citizen has a job to do, whether they are providing food, building materials, other resources, or going on quests for you. It’s important to make sure each citizen is on a task to efficiently make your way through each day.
The majority of the gameplay is automated for you, citizens completing tasks and even the occasional combat scenario is NPC controlled. Where you place each citizen and setting each one up for success is where you directly control the action.
The Elder Scrolls… for kids?
Castles is a game designed for phones, so I wasn’t expecting a game to challenge the best-looking games on the market. However, I was initially a bit disappointed with how it looks. The game doesn’t really look anything like the Elder Scrolls, instead opting for something that looks like it was made in Roblox . Considering Bethesda nailed the art style in Fallout Shelter, making a game that perfectly captured the style of Fallout even on a reduced scale, the way Castles looks is strange to say the least.
The game is set in the The Elder Scrolls universe, and while it doesn’t look the part you have clear ties to the series as citizens consist of the well-known races found in the main games including Argonians, Nords, High-Elfs, Orcs and so on. Characters will make comments about dragons, Morrowind and other lore related subjects, and you can decorate your castle with familiar shrines and other decor that remind you that yes, you are playing an Elder Scrolls game.
Mobile Game Pitfalls
While Castles does provide a lot of value for the price of free, the game is still a mobile game at heart and comes with the usual pitfalls associated with the average mobile game. Some tasks are time-gated, meaning there is only so much you can accomplish in one in real life day. The game encourages you to check back daily to complete “orders” which grants the valuable gold currency needed to continue to build and upgrade your castle.
There is also a store which offers boosts and in-game upgrades. The items in store can only be purchased via “gems,” a rare form of currency that is slowly acquired by playing the game. This is clearly where in-game monetization will come in, enticing engaged players to spend money to make their time through the game quicker and easier. As of this review, I am unable to actually spend money to acquire gems, but the intention to have this be an option down the line is abundantly clear.
Conclusion
The Elder Scrolls: Castles is a fun if not uninventive mobile game from Bethesda Game Studios. A combination of their previous hit mobile game with Fallout Shelter and some elements of grand strategy role playing found in Crusader Kings can make Castles an addicting game once you get into it. The game does have its downsides, the well known mobile formula of time-gated tasks and slowly acquired in-game currency means you’ll never be able to accomplish everything you want to. The art style leaves much to be desired but isn’t a bad looking mobile game by any means.
If you’ve played any games similar to this or want to try something new, this new Elder Scrolls mobile game is an easy recommendation if you’re looking to kill a few hours or are desperate to play something lightly associated with Bethesda’s fantasy RPG.
