Ah, Skyrim. A beautiful land full of danger, mystery, and wonder. But this is not the Skyrim you know. There is no dragon threat, no Dragonborn. Greymoor takes place about 1,000 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V.

This is a new story, with familiar settings. Western Skyrim welcomes players back for a whole new experience. One that they will never forget. It is a journey full of witches, vampires, and werewolves. Danger and intrigue. And even some archaeology.

Join us for our spoiler-free first impressions of The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor. For now, we will take a look at how the older, but also newer, Skyrim feels and our thoughts. A more in-depth, story-driven review will be released when Greymoor launches later this year.

The Environment

Greymoor brings the player back to a familiar zone. Fans of The Elder Scrolls V will be pleased with this chapter expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online. New players will find themselves right outside of Solitude. I was quite shocked when I first walked into the city and found myself greeted to such a familiar sight. Solitude in Greymoor looks exactly like Solitude in TESV. And it isn’t just Solitude that feels so familiar. Much of Western Skyrim feels this way.

But why only Western Skyrim? Well, Creative Director Rich Lambert took the time to give a lovely presentation to explain some of the amazing bits of this new DLC. He explained that Skyrim is currently divided since Western Skyrim did not join the Ebonheart Pact with the Nords of the East. This decision has divided Skyrim in two, causing much tension between the Nords.

As always, the environments in The Elder Scrolls Online are gorgeous. It is a little weird seeing familiar locales in an MMO instead of TESV, but it is quite welcome. However, the familiar terrain of Skyrim is not what is most eye-catching. It is the unique look of Blackreach.

Blackreach is a massive world of its own underneath Skyrim. It is absolutely gorgeous, in that evil but still really cool kind of way. Players must venture between the surface and Blackreach to stop the evil threat.

The Threat

There are many threats in Greymoor, but werewolves, witches, and vampires are usually pretty classic issues. They are not easy foes and have many tricks up their sleeves. But the encounters with them are interesting and quite memorable. Rich Lambert mentioned that this story would be much darker, more sinister, and have a gothic feel to it, and the developers have done just that. Greymoor feels uniquely horrific, is a good way. This is a story that reminds me of late summer, early fall horror movie nights. And I absolutely love it!

However, these classic baddies might not be the biggest concern to the inhabitants of Western Skyrim. There are great harrowstorms cropping up across the land that are enthralling citizens and turning them against their people. These harrowstorms, combined with the many forces of evil the player must face, make for quite the challenge, but the player is not alone.

We see the return of quite a few familiar faces, namely. Lyris Titanborn. Lyris was first introduced to players in The Elder Scrolls Online during the tutorial mission of the base game. Now, you must join the half-giant woman to take down those who dare threaten the land and its people.

Other familiar faces will join the player’s side as well, including a familiar face from the Harrowstorm DLC. These characters help make the world feel connected and really help get the player through their missions. It is important to remember, that even during a world-ending threat, you are never alone.

Antiquities

This is a new system being implemented with the release of Greymoor. According to Rich Lambert, this is the first major system to be implemented since the Housing system. It is also unique in that it encourages exploration, not combat. For those who love to uncover more lore about the world, this is the system for you.

The system allows players to join the Antiquarian Circle in Solitude and then search for hidden objects throughout the land. You can channel your inner magical archaeologist and you scry for information about an object in a minigame. The more information you uncover, the easier it is to find the dig site.

When the player reaches the dig site, they are given another minigame to uncover the artifact. There are also bonus items in the dig sites as well. As players uncover artifacts, they are given a multitude of new rewards. These range from furnishings, to mounts and mythic items.

Mythic items are awesome, powerful 1 piece item bonuses that help players with their builds. But remember, there is always a give whenever you take. Rich Lambert brought up, for example, boots that can be used to percent getting snared by other players in PVP. This sounds great, but you also cannot sprint.

This new system is a wonderfully fun addition. It also helps the player get away from all the dark horrors of the Greymoor campaign for awhile as well.

Final Thoughts

The Greymoor DLC has already been one of my favorite DLCs for The Elder Scrolls Online. Even if I had only played a preview. I cannot wait until the full release! I don’t know if its the nostalgia of playing in Skyrim again or fighting against some of my favorite villain types. The whole experience is wonderfully dark and absolutely enthralling.

I would like to give a massive thank you to Rich Lambert for the wonderful presentation he gave to introduce other writers and myself to the Greymoor DLC. I was already interested in this new chapter expansion, but he really got me excited for it!

Rich Lambert did also make a couple of good notes that I think are important to share:

• The Greymoor DLC is not just for long-time players of The Elder Scrolls Online. You can be completely new to the game and still hop right into Greymoor.
• The Elder Scrolls Online has gotten where it is today because of the amazing community. The community has always been a big focus around The Elder Scrolls Online. They even announced the Dark Heart of Skyrim year-long event at a community event last year.

The development team has always been good about making their DLCs accessible to new players. I really hopped in last year at the start of the Season of the Dragon year-long event and have found it easy to hop right into a newly released story and fit right into the community.

If you are thinking about getting into The Elder Scrolls Online for the first time, check out our news post for more information about Greymoor and when The Elder Scrolls Online is holding their free-to-play time.