7 mainline entries1994 — today
The Elder Scrolls
A continent you can walk across, one open world at a time.
The story of the series
The Elder Scrolls promised something few games dared in 1994: an entire continent, and the freedom to ignore the main story entirely. From the buggy ambition of Arena to the modded eternity of Skyrim, the series has steadily widened the scope of what an open-world RPG can be — a first-person world of factions, books, daedra, and dragons where the player’s curiosity is the only compass. Each entry expands the map, simplifies the systems, and draws more people in, turning a niche PC series into one of the most-played games ever made.
Every release
The release timeline
From the first cartridge to the latest entry — every mainline game in the The Elder Scrolls series, in the order it reached players.
- 1994 · PC
The Elder Scrolls: Arena
The first continent. Originally a gladiator game, it grew into a vast first-person RPG across all of Tamriel — rough, vast, and ambitious.
- 1996 · PC
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
A map the size of Great Britain, procedural dungeons, and a political story. The most ambitious — and most broken — Elder Scrolls.
- 2002 · PC / Xbox
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
A strange alien province, no fast travel, and a world that doesn’t care if you fail. The cult favorite that proved depth beats polish.
- 2006 · PC / Xbox 360
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
A bright fantasy forest, Patrick Stewart, and a more guided adventure. The series reaches the mainstream console audience.
- 2011 · PC / 360 / PS3
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Dragons, shouts, and a streamlined skill system. The breakout — re-released on nearly every console since, and still modded daily.
- 2014 · PC / Consoles
The Elder Scrolls Online
Tamriel as an MMO. A rough launch grew into a vast, story-rich online Elder Scrolls that keeps expanding.
- 2019 · Mobile / Switch
The Elder Scrolls: Blades
A mobile spin-off with first-person dungeon crawling and town-building — a small experiment between mainline entries.
How it changed
What changed across releases
The The Elder Scrolls series never stood still. Here is how it reinvented itself, era by era.
The continental ambition (1994–1996)
Arena and Daggerfall threw open the entire continent with enormous procedural maps, founding the series’ promise of total freedom — at the cost of stability.
The handcrafted world (2002)
Morrowind shrank the map but filled it with meaning — a hand-built alien land, deep faction systems, and a world that refused to hold your hand.
The mainstream polish (2006–2011)
Oblivion and Skyrim simplified mechanics, added quest markers and fast travel, and brought the series to consoles and a mass audience without losing the open-ended core.
The living world and the long wait (2014–today)
ESO turned Tamriel into a persistent online world, while Skyrim’s endless re-releases and modding kept the single-player flame lit through a decade-long wait for the next mainline game.
