Currently in early access, The Elder Scrolls: Castles is Bethesda Game Studio’s newest entry into the mobile gaming space. Known for its massive marketing campaigns, Bethesda surprisingly opted for a stealthy launch exclusively for Android devices.
But don’t get too excited! The bad news for Aussies is it’s locked to the US Region (for now).
READ MORE: Review | Starfield Chronomark LPV6 Smartwatch
Following in the footsteps of their first mobile game Fallout: Shelter released in 2015, TES: Castles will involve the management of a castle including the customisation of the castle’s layout and of individual chambers with the same cross-section design.
Players will also be tending to the concerns of their subjects, training guards, managing resources like food and oil, completing epic quests like slaying dragon bosses and defending the keep from siege.
The visual experience is far from what we’d usually expect from an Elder Scrolls game, with a more cartoonish 3D aesthetic. The soundtrack itself also seems to fall in and out of theme at times but is supported by a range (though small) of in-theme sound effects. There’s not a whole lot that makes it feel like an obvious Elder Scrolls experience outside of adventuring, but the game features 10 playable races from the previous games and makes references to general lore from time to time in dialogue and in decorative furnishings.
READ MORE: Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is coming to Netflix
The game also looks at building in a different way than Bethesda’s last management sim. Where Fallout Shelter involved buying whole rooms and slotting them in where they fit, Castles takes a more hands-on approach and allows the player to extend rooms and build walls block by block using available resources. The theme of the rooms is decided by choosing specific furnishings and workstations that subjects can be assigned to gather resources. These workstations can be upgraded for more efficient versions as the player levels up, and the production rate can be temporarily adjusted by using ‘potions of speed’.
READ MORE: Preview | Assassins Creed Mirage (PC)
Of course, it wouldn’t be a true mobile game without the addition of microtransactions. Whilst there isn’t much information on those yet, players will be granted rewards as they level up. These items range from ‘packs’ which work similarly to the lootbox mechanic of Fallout Shelter’s lunchboxes. They can hold various loot such as outfits, subjects, speed potions, and decorative items.
Though The Elder Scrolls: Castles does seem like a very obvious reskin, Fallout Shelter is still a very high-ranking mobile game with over 50 million downloads.
It’s clearly a recipe that has called for success thus far, so it could be quite likely Castles hits those same notes in the mobile game space. And who knows, we might even see a Starfield-themed version in the years to come!
As soon as we learn more about an Australian release date we’ll let you know.
