Elder Scrolls: Legends - A Hands On Preview

The booth for Elder Scrolls: Legends was tucked away in the corner of QuakeCon's exhibit hall. I only nearly spotted it while I waited in line for VR. I'm a known tabletop fanatic, and collectable card games are no exception. I gladly abandoned my post to take a look at what the Elder Scrolls can contribute to the CCG genre. After a very short line, I was shown to an impressive rig with headphones, a controller, and everything else a gamer needs. It was off to a great start.


I kinda want this in my house.

They offered to give me a breakdown of the game, but I figured it would be best to dive in, head first. The first thing I noticed was the two lane design. It reminded me of Gwent from The Witcher. Each lane is independent from the other. Attackers in one can't damage the other. Aside from that, the game plays a lot like Hearth Stone, just without the microtransactions. It even has that little quirk where every single card says a line of dialog whenever it's played. Or when it attacks. Or when it does an ability. Or when you look at it. I wasn't annoyed by it right away, but I could see that getting old fast.



In the end, I really enjoyed my time with Elder Scrolls: Legends. I much prefer the darker fantasy style of the Elder Scrolls universe to the Pixar-style, colorful fantasy of Hearth Stone. That's not surprising, considering I was a fan of Magic the Gathering. My only real complaint is a tiny one. Whenever the game sees that you have no possible moves left, the tiny "end turn" arrow turns from yellow to green. That's it. Maybe I'm just spoiled from games in the past. And I don't need anyone screaming out, "Job's Done!" when my turn is over. Just some other kind of notification would be nice. But that petty grievance aside, I fully expect to play the hell out of this open beta and snag a copy of Elder Scrolls: Legends at launch.