Elder Scrolls Online

I would sooner re-date my exes than replay the early days of Elder Scrolls Online again. And thankfully, in both cases, I never have to again (no, I’m not returning your text request to “meet up”). Once one of the most miserable gaming experiences I can recall in recent memory, an atrociously deployed fusion of Elder Scrolls-style gameplay with MMO fixins, it’s a wonder I even sat through those frustratingly long queues to get into the game in its early days. Why do we spend such precious time in unprecious ways?

Returning to Tamriel in this MMO makes it clear that those days are behind us, and I’m so, so sorry to have misjudged you for it, ESO. While it’s a rewarding MMO to play with friends, I find dipping into ESO these days to be, surprisingly, simply a great Elder Scrolls experience—and until there’s more to look forward to in the forthcoming Elder Scrolls VI, it kind of is the quasi-sequel Skyrim has deserved since it came out in 2011.

Updates in the years since have added more playable areas, including lovely recreations of locations from 2002’s Morrowind that flood my brain with instant dopamine-triggering nostalgia. It’s a joy to play with other folks, but it’s also just time well-spent in this classic video game fantasy setting