The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom is the next major chapter/expansion coming to The Elder Scrolls Online and takes players to a new region of eastern Morrowind. Plus, it introduces a new Oblivion-powered class in the form of the Arcanist. Announced as part of the Developer_Direct with its own big deep dive, it's set to arrive on June 20 on consoles and June 5 on PC/Mac.

Here's the cinematic announcement trailer.

Defend the secrets of Hermaeus Mora and fight to preserve reality itself with The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, part of the Shadow Over Morrowind saga. Master the new Arcanist class, explore Morrowind’s Telvanni Peninsula, and walk between worlds as you experience a new adventure that takes you from Tamriel into the mind-bending realm of Apocrypha itself.

Here's a breakdown of the new Arcanist class.

Necrom introduces an all-new class — the Arcanist — which allows you to master three new skill lines (Herald of the Tome, Curative Runeforms, and Apocryphal Soldier). Each new skill line draws from Oblivion to help you deal damage, support your allies, and absorb punishment. As an Arcanist, you can call upon Runeblades, which launch Oblivion-empowered projectiles at your foes, or the Apocryphal Gate, which summons a portal to assist your party’s mobility.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom Screenshot

With the Arcanist’s new Crux system, you can use select Arcanist abilities to generate a new resource called Crux that you can then spend to empower other abilities. How you spend your Crux can make a big impact on the way you play your Arcanist, and those that take the time to truly master all the Lord of Knowledge’s gifts can become truly formidable.

For a deep dive into Necorm and ESO in 2023 check out the big deep dive below with the development team going over all of the goodies coming.

The Elder Scrolls Online's latest chapter, and meaty expansion, is set to tell a tale of political intrigue, assassination, and war as the online-RPG sets its sights on the High Isle. A location not seen in a mainline Elder Scrolls adventure -- the home of the Bretons.

The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle is the big story chapter, offering up 30 hours of new narrative goodness, and it's on track for release June 6 for PC and Mac with the Xbox and PlayStation release to follow on June 21.

Here's the cinematic reveal.

In High Isle, ESO’s more than 20 million players will experience an island paradise steeped in medieval culture and architecture, complete with magnificent castles and exciting tournament grounds. The story of this year’s Chapter focuses on political intrigue, and High Isle is the perfect getaway destination for alliance delegates to take on peace talks that would put an end to the Three Banners War. While the summit is hosted by the noble Society of the Steadfast, players should beware of The Ascendant Order and their chaotic motives.

A previously unexplored region, the Systres Archipelago takes inspiration from the beautiful, windswept shores of the Mediterranean. Here lies the stunning world of High Isle, home of the Bretons, descendants of both humans and elves. The social elite live in the feudalistic society of Gonfalon Bay, the center point of all political dealings on High Isle. Above all, ruthlessness is a virtue here, so players will have to watch their backs!

As per above the island location will play host to a tale involving the Three Banners War with the island location of the Systres Archipelago offering a look and feel that's distinctly its own.

In terms of stuff coming there's the new zones of High Isle and Amenos which includes a new 12-player Trial called Dreadsail Reef. World Events are making a return too with Fissures where you're tasked with investigating and shutting down volatile volcanic fissures plaguing the islands. Two new companions are also being introduced alongside a new in-game collectible card game called Tales of Tribute. No doubt comparisons to GWENT will be made once we get a proper look at how it works.

The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle arrives as part of the Legacy of the Bretons year-long adventure which will kick off with the Ascending Tide DLC in March and continue with dungeon and story packs post Chapter launch.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Deadlands is the next bit of narrative DLC headed to the online game, and its set to close out the year-long Gates of Oblivion by taking the action into the Deadlands. Which is the red, volcano-heavy wasteland many an Oblivion Gate closer will recognise.

Albeit with one of the largest in-game cities to date, with Fargrave "a mystical desert metropolis roofed by a massive skeleton". Very cool.

Those who’ve played The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will recognise parts of the Deadlands. The Burn is an area that sports molten rivers, flame-infused beasts, and towering metal spires. And never-before-seen in an Elder Scrolls game, players can venture into a new zone of the Deadlands called The Sever, a region with fierce storms and ferocious winds.

Finally, not even a Daedric prince can tame this final region of the Deadlands. Fargrave is one of the biggest cities in The Elder Scrolls Online, a mystical desert metropolis roofed by a massive skeleton. It’s a city where players can craft, buy, and sell goods while traveling between realms. Before you visit this metropolis, ask yourselves one thing: What is valuable to those who do not need to eat, drink or rest?

As per the announcement this DLC-sized expansion sounds pretty hefty, promising 20-hours of new story content -- and a fitting finale to the Mehrunes Dagon saga. It's set to drop November 1 on PC with consoles to follow on November 16.

In a very cool move Bethesda is currently running a Bounties of Blackwood event, where if players reach a certain criteria the Deadlands DLC will unlock for all owners of the Blackwood expansion. The two-week event is currently sitting at 59% complete.

NVIDIA's DLSS tech is something we've heard about quite a bit in recent years, with its AI-powered rendering able to boost performance without sacrificing image quality. It's the stuff that makes the RTX 20 and 30 series GPUs highly sought after. Well, as part of a recent The Elder Scrolls Online stream showcasing the upcoming Deadlands zone DLC as part of Update 32 -- we got word that DLSS was coming to the game. But also, something called DLAA.

Which is Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing, a version of AA which is that thing that smooths out edges to remove jaggies. "While we were working on adding NVIDIA DLSS, we also worked with them on some new tech that we're going to be the first game that's ever done this before," said ESO Creative Director Rich Lambert. "This is debuting their new tech, which is called NVIDIA DLAA. It's the same kind of concept, you won't get a performance boost out of this but what you get is absolutely incredible anti-aliasing. It's unbelievable, it's crazy how good it is."

As with DLSS, DLAA utilises the AI Tensor Cores found in modern GeForce graphics cards. For the full ESO Update 32 preview -- head here to watch the presentation in full on Twitch.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Waking Flame is the latest installment in the Gates of Oblivion year-long storyline, following up on the Blackwood expansion with two new four-player dungeons: The Dread Cellar and Red Petal Bastion. But, it also brings Xbox Series X|S and PS5 optimisations in the form of a Performance Mode that features dynamic resolution scaling to maintain a smooth frame-rate.

Scaling on Xbox Series X and PS5 will be between 1080p-2160p and 1080p-1440p for the Xbox Series S. In addition to this a PC update in June will add the "console render multithreading" as an opt-in beta which should improve performance for all players with modern multi-core CPUs.

Performance stuff aside, here's a look at Waking Flame and the continued fight against the influence of Mehrunes Dagon in the two new narrative-focused dungeons.

Red Petal Bastion: For centuries, the honorable Knights of the Silver Rose prosecuted crusades against the servants of Oblivion. Now, they wield their Daedric plunder almost indiscriminately. Invade Red Petal Bastion and uncover the truth behind the once noble order's fall.

The Dread Cellar: The Empire kept its darkest secrets hidden in the depths of Black Marsh, far from prying eyes—the Dread Cellar, a torture chamber meant to hold those the Empire wanted to vanish. Explore this forgotten abattoir and learn its secrets, old and new.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Waking Flame is available now on PC and is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4 on September 8.

Wrapping up its return to Skyrim, Bethesda has dropped a little teaser to what we can expect when it comes to The Elder Scrolls Online in 2021. As per this new teaser it looks like the Oblivion gates are re-opening in a new story that will transport players to the hellish realm last seen in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Destruction comes to Tamriel with the Gates of Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls Online’s next big year-long adventure.

The full reveal, or at least first-look at the prologue and story is set to come as part of a new year stream scheduled for January 22 at 9am AEDT. It will be interesting to see a new interpretation of the whole Oblivion gate stuff from Oblivion, on the account of closing all of those things becoming a sort of maze-like chore back in 2006. The art-style and mood will make for some pretty impressive set-pieces, and the idea of gates opening as part of World Events does sound pretty cool. As does the return of Mehrunes Dagon.

We sit down with The Elder Scrolls Online composer Brad Derrick to talk about the Dark Heart of Skyrim and composing new music for one of the most iconic locations in all of gaming.

AusGamers: Skyrim has one of the most iconic soundtracks of all time, how did you approach those themes/motifs when scoring Greymoor?

Brad Derrick: From the very beginning, we knew that despite being set in Skyrim, this was not the "Skyrim" of The Elder Scrolls V. It had a different tone, a different identity. As such, the music also needed to support that and establish its own identity. That's just a fancy way of saying the music of Greymoor has no specific thematic ties to the music of TES V.

That being said, it was imperative that this score - like all scores for ESO - should still sit comfortably next to the entire canon of Elder Scrolls music… that it should sound like one piece of a larger whole. So while there are no literal musical connections to the music of the original Skyrim, there are broader stylistic ones - the expressive quality, haunting melodies, lush sonorities - elements that are the hallmarks of Elder Scrolls music.

Our Full The Elder Scrolls Online Interview

The Elder Scrolls Online's 'Dark Heart of Skyrim' yearlong narrative concludes with the Markarth DLC - available now on PC and coming November 10 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Ahead of its launch we got our very own grand-tour of the iconic stony city and its surrounding areas.

This year The Elder Scroll Online has made the trek back to the icy tundras and wind-swept mountains of Skyrim at large, using the iconic location as the setting for its year-long The Dark Heart of Skyrim narrative. Which, as per the title, has been dealing with all manner of vampiric redness and werewolf-y wolf-ness – brought to the fore in the major Greymoor expansion from earlier this year.

The yearlong story is set to conclude with Markarth – with players venturing out to the Reach, alive and bustling with activity, embarking on a new quest. Albeit said activity comes via ESO’s very different timeline, where the difference sits at around 1,000 years or so from the events in The Elder Scrolls V. As the snowiest and rockiest region in Skyrim, the blend of ancient structures and harsh conditions presents a different feel to the areas found in Greymoor. Which is very cool because Markarth and the Reach have always stood out as distinct and very different, not only in terms of Skyrim, but The Elder Scrolls as a whole.

Our Full The Elder Scrolls Online Markarth DLC Feature.

The Elder Scrolls Online’s Dark Heart of Skyrim culminated with the release of the massive Greymoor expansion. Which took players back to Skyrim in an experience set a thousand years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, with a tale involving both vampires and werewolves.

And now, Markarth is set to continue and conclude that journey with the introduction of a new zone and story set in the Reach.

Bethesda and Zenimax have put up the following deep dive covering the year and what Markaarth will bring. That being, a showdown with a powerful Vampire Lord.

Explore a dangerous new zone with the Reach, gather a band of unlikely allies, and confront a Vampire Lord and his ancient army. Markarth also introduces a new solo arena, Vateshran Hollows, designed to test the strength, wits, and resolve of players with challenging bosses, multiple unlockable paths, and powerful, hidden secrets.

Markarth is set to drop on November 2 for PC, Mac, and November 10 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Also, a free Markarth Prologue questline is now live that sets up the new story and the Dark Heart of Skyrim conclusion.

Following up from the Greymoor expansion released earlier this year, which presented a new campaign and storyline to playthrough, the team at Zenimax are now ready to unleash the Stonethorn DLC Dungeon Pack for The Elder Scrolls Online.

Which introduces a couple of brand-new locations, stories, and PvE challenges for players in the form of the Castle Thorn and Stone Garden dungeons. We sit down with The Elder Scrolls Online’s Lead Encounter Designer to talk about the evolution of dungeon design.

“I have one designer who is all about taking story elements to inform boss fights,” Mike Finnigan, Lead Encounter Designer on The Elder Scrolls Online tells me. We’re discussing what goes into designing boss encounters, those long protracted and involved combat scenarios found across the game’s many dungeons. “They’ll ask why is this boss here? What is their motivation?” he continues, noting that some team members go full method – channelling their inner Al Pacino or Daniel Day Lewis.

“Another designer might take inspiration from other games they’re playing and ask themselves how they might incorporate some of that into The Elder Scrolls Online,” Mike adds. “It's different by designer, and whatever designer we have on a boss fight dictates the approach. Really, I just let them run with whatever method works best for them, but at every stage in the process we're always bringing it back to theme.”

Our Full The Elder Scrolls Online Stonethorn Interview

Even though we've got some time on our hands before we get more juicy The Elder Scrolls VI info, we don't have long to wait before the release of the next The Elder Scrolls Online expansion. Called Greymoor it invites players to explore "the dark heart of Skyrim", with a return to the iconic location - now embroiled in a plot involving arcane magic, vampires, and the red stuff we all have inside.

Due for release May 26 for PC/Mac and June 9 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the latest trailer gives us a look at the darker and more sinister narrative found in The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor.

An ancient evil rises in The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor, and a monstrous army marches on the Nords of Western Skyrim from below. Confront a fallen legion in this latest Chapter of The Elder Scrolls Online saga and continue your Dark Heart of Skyrim year-long adventure. Skyrim needs heroes—will you answer the call?

Recently we had the chance to go hands-on with an early previous build of Greymoor and were impressed by the size and scope of the offering. One of the cool features is the ability to delve into Blackreach, the huge underground ruins found in Skyrim will play a major role in the expansion. Also the new treasure hunting Antiquities system will let players don their best Indiana Jones style hats as they head out in search of rare treasures that, naturally, belong in a museum.

In addition to the major expansion, The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr, the yearlong Season of the Dragon narrative concluded with the release of Dragonhold - as highlighted in a new cinematic trailer. But, right at the end we get a little teaser as to where the game is headed next. And that location is - Skyrim.

The setting which no doubt many associate with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - playable on just about every platform in the known universe. With a full reveal set to come in mid-January, here's the cinematic trailer that showcases the dramatic climax to a year of dragons.



No details have emerged so far other than Skyrim will play host to 2020's yearlong adventure and new Season which will let players explore the "Dark Heart of Skyrim". If this year is anything to go by we can expect to see an introductory bit of DLC arrive in the early parts of the year with a full-szied expansion to follow sometime later.

The full reveal is set to take place 8am AEST on January 17, 2020.

In a new charitable initiative The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios is partnering with GlobalGiving, Best Friends Animal Society (North America), and FOUR PAWS (pan-European) to raise money to save real-life cats alongside the digital Khajiit kind. With the recent release of The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr taking place in the home of the feline, special in-game events will see the studio donate up to $200,000 USD.

And the premise makes sense, the Dragon Rise event kicking off this weekend and running up to October 14 will task players will taking down dragons. An act that will save the in-game cats - Khajiit - and see Bethesda donate $1 USD for every five dragons taken down split evenly across the aforementioned charities.

With more in-game event as per below coming.

Witches Festival – October 24 through November 4

The grim spectacle of the Witches Festival once again returns to Tamriel. Take part in the ghastly celebration to enjoy bonus XP gains and earn terrifying rewards.

Undaunted Celebration – November 14 through November 18

Take on random dungeons via the Dungeon Finder to earn Mysterious Reward Boxes that contain in-game rewards including Motif Chapters, weapon styles, and more.

Dawn of the Dragonguard – November 26 through December 9

Hunt down Elsweyr’s most dangerous monsters with your fellow players and you’ll earn new in-game loot. And remember, for every five Dragons slain during the time period, we’ll donate $1 to the #SlayDragonsSaveCats campaign.

New Life Festival – December 19 through January 2

Celebrate the end of another amazing year in Tamriel with the New Life Festival. The merry event returns with a host of fun quests and festive holiday rewards for all, including XP-boosting collectables, unique furnishings, and more.

A great cause to be sure - not that we needed anymore reasons to slay dragons.

Which explains the 40GB update The Elder Scrolls Online was downloading the other day on our Xbox One X. New expansion time! After recent adventures into Morrowind and Summerset, Elsewyr has players heading out to the home of talking cats (i.e. Khajiit) to face a new Imperial and dragon threat.

With the following launch trailer showcasing just that, in addition to highlighting Elsewyr as more than a collection of deserts and mountains.



In addition to the new lengthy quest and location to explore, Elsewyr also sees the introduction of a new class - the Necromancer. Which will allow players to "command the dead and cast powerful spells to overcome their foes and bolster defenses".

With The Elder Scrolls Online getting these annual expansions, this time around the new Season of the Dragon will intorduce a year-long interconnected story with new adventures released periodically. For more on Elsewyr and the above be sure to check out our interview with Rich Lambert, Creative Director at Zenimax Online Studios.

Available now on PC and coming to PS4 and Xbox One on March 12, Wrathstone introduces two new cinematic dungeons that kicks off a year-long story that leads into the upcoming Elsweyr expansion in June. Which as per the name of the season introduces dragons into The Elder Scrolls Online.

The two new dungeons are highlighted in the following trailer - Depths of Malatar and Frostvault.

ESO heroes are tasked with fighting their way through the dungeons to retrieve both halves of the Wrathstone tablet. Depths of Malatar will send you to an ancient Ayleid ruin hidden under a secret Imperial fort while Frostvault guides you through a trap-filled, automaton-occupied, Goblin-inhabited, Dwarven vault.

Wrathstone is free for those with ESO Plus membership and available to purchase via the in-game Crown Store for everyone else. As part of a new update to the game, there's a new Zone Guide system being introduced which sounds perfect for completionists. Basically it lets you track progress for each and ever zone in Tamriel offering markers and ways to find and complete all of the Quests and Delves in addition to finding all the hidden Skyshards.

For more on The Elder Scrolls Online in 2019 check out our interview with Rich Lambert, Creative Director Zenimax Online Studios.

The next major expansion coming to The Elder Scrolls Online, building on the success of both Morrowind and Summerset, is called Elsweyr (and we're assuming it's pronounced 'elsewhere') and is set to launch June 4 for PC/Mac, PS4, and Xbox One. In addition to taking players to the Khajiiti homeland for a new quest the expansion will also introduce a new class - the Necromancer.

Very cool. Here's the cinematic announcement trailer.

Previously, you have been able to explore the province of Elsweyr in The Elder Scrolls: Arena and its outer edges in ESO’s regions of Reaper’s March and Khenarthi’s Roost, but in this new adventure, you can fully experience the home of Tamriel’s beloved cat people. In Elsweyr, you can traverse both fertile grasslands and scorching deserts, interact with moon-sugar farmers and wandering nomads, or confront merciless Imperial occupiers and roaming bandits. In this new Chapter, you can truly dive into the life, history, culture, and mythology of the Khajiit and their homeland.

Which also features dragons, and plays into the new year-long Season of the Dragon event that kicks off in February with the Wrathstone DLC dungeon pack - with further updates coming throughout the year. Weirdly enough this is the first time dragons have been seen in The Elder Scrolls Online and will play a major role in both the new season of content and of course the new Elsweyr expansion. Which is being described as being as large and expansive as Summerset and Morrowind. And like the Morrowind expansion new players will be able to jump straight in and begin their journey in Elsweyr.

Which is also great for veteran players as they'll be able to check out the new Necromancer class in a new land filled with quests, delves, dungeons, and the new dragon attack World Events. Great news for The Elder Scrolls Online fans - we're loving the yearly expansions.

On PC, as The Elder Scrolls Online players on PS4 and Xbox One will need to wait until November 7 to venture out into the swamp. The new expansion introduces the deep swampland and marshes of Murkmire - home to a group of Argonians. The DLC represents a feature packed but smaller expansion than last year's Summerset, continuing the recent trend of meaty yearly updates.

In the Murkmire DLC game pack, you are able to explore a new zone located on Black Marsh’s southern coast, experience a brand-new story questline, and test your mettle in the Blackrose Prison Arena.

Explore a New Zone

In this new zone, you can venture into the heart of Black Marsh to learn about the native Argonian people, their culture, and their history. In addition to the main story, this new zone is packed full of new adventures to experience, including unique quests, Delves, World Bosses, and countless other dangers that lurk in the deep swamp.

Recover a Piece of Murkmire’s History

In Murkmire’s story questline, you shall work to investigate the long-forgotten past of this remote and unforgiving land and help an Imperial scholar search for an ancient and powerful Argonian relic. Ready your supplies and prepare to embark into a world secluded from Tamriel for centuries. You might even discover the hidden history of the Argonians themselves.

Face Blackrose Prison

If you’re looking for a fight, you and your companions will be challenged by Murkmire’s new four-player Arena, Blackrose Prison. In this former prison colony, you must face waves of monstrous beasts and Blackguard warriors in vicious combat. Be sure to make use of the new Sigils to survive, because should you claim victory, you’ll earn powerful new Blackrose weapons not found anywhere else in Tamriel!

As you explore, quest, and battle your way through the deep swamp, you’ll be rewarded with three new zone sets and unique, Murkmire-themed collectibles. Finally, this new zone also introduces the new Dead-Water motif style, acquired by completing daily quests – so get exploring!

And hopefully, a few vintage editions of The Lusty Argonian Maid. For the full patch notes - head here.

The Elder Scrolls Online's next expansion is set to take players to the new location of Summerset. The Summerset Isles, which as per the latest location trailer looks to be the most fairy-tale like setting in the Elder Scrolls saga yet. We're talking massive Disney-like castles, lush green forests, and plenty of flowers. So many flowers.

But really, what we were to expect from the home of the High Elves. A dark craggy volcanic landscape? Nope.



On a personal note I think this looks awesome, and the giant castles and gardens add a very different flavour to likes of Morrowind or Skyrim. The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset will release for PC/Mac, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on the June 5, and introduces a new zone, story, faction, skill line, and the long awaited jewel crafting.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Dragon Bones is the latest DLC pack for the MMO that brings two new dungeons Scalecaller Peak and Fang Lair to the game. Which, admittedly look pretty cool. Alongside the release comes an update that brings improvements to player housing and some new maps for the PvP Battlegrounds mode.

The stars of the show no doubt are the new dungeons.

In Scalecaller Peak, the burial site of a long-dead Dragon Priest is now overrun with diseased cultists harboring an evil agenda: to unleash the deadliest plague Tamriel has ever known. You and your team must journey to Scalecaller Peak, battle your way through the cultists and their followers, and put an end to this threat.

Deep within the belly of Fang Lair, an ancient Dwarven ruin, a master of necromancy works a dark ritual in an effort to reanimate the bones of a once-living dragon. It's up to you and your companions to enter the dungeon, face the necromancers, and stop the ritual before this undead monstrosity can be unleashed on Tamriel.

The Dragon Bones DLC game is free for ESO Plus members and available for purchase in the in-game Crown Store for everyone else. The Elder Scrolls Online: Dragon Bones is also available on PC.

And in-game savings galore at the Crown Store. Unfortunately the free-to-play week excludes the Xbox One version and is limited to the PS4, PC, and Mac. But, on the plus side from December 1 through to December 7 you get the entire core experience of countless hours of adventuring through Tamriel - minus the recent Morrowind expansion.

For the duration of the event both ESO and the Morrowing expansion will be on sale up to 50% off.



The best bit though is the Special Dungeon Event, which runs from 2:00am AEDT/4:00am NZDT December 1 to 2:00am AEDT/4:00am NZDT December 7. Where all ESO players have a chance to win in-game rewards, including consumables and collectable prize packs that include pets, mounts, and costumes. All you need to do is fire up any random dungeon via the Dungeon Finder and you'll get a Mysterious Reward Box. This also extends to Free Play Week players too.

Oh, and 10 million players? Congrats ESO!