The next chapter of the Legacy of the Bretons year-long event, High Isle, is here! And with it, a refreshing feel to The Elder Scrolls Online. The past few year-long events have been these epic quests where you must stop a threat to life on Tamriel as you know it. This year, we take a step back and look back toward the people of Tamriel. The Three Banners has been at the heart of ESO the entire time. When you select your class you are even pledging allegiance to one of those banners. High Isle returns to the more political side and brings us a story focused more on politics than dragons or demons. However, the structure of this chapter feels so similar to past additions. Because of this, the chapter as a whole begins to feel a little stale. However, there is still plenty to explore and be excited about in High Isle.

High Isle brings a breath of fresh air to what has been an otherwise quite dark string of additions to The Elder Scrolls Online. This chapter is visually brighter and more down-to-Tamriel. After playing expansions that have been so dark, it was quite lovely to walk into a new zone with so much color. Every zone addition has been visually stunning in its own right, but High Isle is something special to explore.

This chapter will take you across two islands in the Systres Archipelago: High Isle, the main island that acts as a vacation spot and home to druids, and Amenos, a more tropical-themed prison island. As usual, the development team has done an excellent job with the zone design. Both islands are beautiful, and deadly, in their own way.

High Isle is breathtaking. Flower fields take center stage on this island. Running through them and getting looks at the wildlife around was splendid. There was so much natural beauty to behold. Stunning cliffs and radiant waterfalls made it obvious why High Isle was a vacation spot. Even the deadly volcanic vents strewn about the island couldn’t stop me from staring in awe.

Amenos is pretty as well, but much deadlier. Since it is a prison island, people have not worried about corralling the dangerous wildlife quite as effectively. While the prison is safe with its walls, prisoners can be exiled and left to their own devices. And just about everything outside of those walls wants you dead. 

The enemies in High Isle are a sight just as much as the location. A common enemy throughout Tamrielic regions, the Haj Mota, has a coral version. This coral skin is unique and has gotten me in trouble more than once while trying to look at it. But the Haj Mota is not the only fun enemy type.

There are so many that range from cool-to-look-at to kinda disturbing. The faun enemies, bipedal faun-folk, are one of those kinda disturbing types. Think a satyr, but in reverse. And now imagine one of them making a beeline for you. Yeah, it’s a little scary.

While High Isle has plenty of high fantasy monsters to fight, the real story is about people. This chapter focuses more on culture and politics. You will work with all manner of folk in this adventure. The Elder Scrolls Online has never been shy about having various races living together. High Isle is no different. And some friendly faces make a return! Za’ji and Caska return from Dragonhold and make a welcome appearance alongside other favorites.

High Isle starts with your helping of some nobles in Gonfalon Bay. They are looking for some lost “cargo” after a few ships have gone missing. This cargo just happens to be royals from each of the Three Banners. They were on their way to High Isle for peace talks to end the Three Banners War. However, they were not simply lost at sea.

The mysterious Ascendant Order is behind the wrecked ships. This group claims that the nobles have had their chance at peace. They believe that they can bring peace to Tamriel. And they are willing to do whatever they see fit to get there.

Your quest is to find a way to stop the Order and figure out who is behind it. The entire chapter is quite politics-heavy. You will talk to different families on High Isle and learn of the issues between them and how some rose to power as others fell from favor. While politics may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I found it quite enjoyable. It plays almost like a whodunit mystery as you work to discover what noble family might have ties with this group. And just who is the Ascendant Magus? What role does he have to play in all this?

There is still plenty of combat to take you through this campaign. You can get through the chapter fairly easily and ignore some of the intricacies of the political side if you wish. I got quite interested in it all. I would talk to extra NPCs in an area and go through all the optional dialogue options. However, if this is not how you like to play, you can run through the essential dialogue to move on and continue your hunt for the Ascendant Order.

And while it is not running up against some big world-ending threat, High Isle plays very similarly to other chapter additions. In fact, chapters feel pretty formulaic at this point. You run some errands for the main NPC while trying to figure out the enemy’s motive and where they will strike next. The chapter ends with a climactic battle and that’s that. And while the stories are enjoyable with some great characters, the repetition does not go unnoticed. There are new locales and even new mechanics in these additions, but at its core, it all starts to feel the same.

One big, and quite welcome, addition to The Elder Scrolls Online is Tales of Tribute. This new card game is a welcome reprieve from the errand running and battles of the quests. There is a building on the coast in Gonfalon Bay that houses the local chapter. There you will meet with Brahgas, a wood elf Tales of Tribute player. He introduces you to the game and will teach you the ropes. 

The game isn’t too hard to learn, but you will certainly need some practice. ESO does a pretty good job at making sure you run through practice before letting you play on your own. Plus, you have a pretty good teacher. Brahgas, though a troublemaker, teaches you to play quite well. He is also voiced by Billy Boyd, who is a treat to have teaching you to play!

Billy Boyd is not the only notable voice actor in High Isle. In fact, there are quite a few. Bill Nighy being one such voice actor. This year, Laura Bailey has joined the ESO team as Isobel Veloise! Isobel is a new companion that can join players after completing her questline. The quests are not too long and having a companion is such a help in your adventure. Isobel is a melee fighter. This made her a perfect companion for me as I like to play a Necromancer class and stand away some. Having someone be able to go in and take some of the heat while playing a magic-user helped quite a bit. Companions are a pretty new addition to ESO overall, having first been introduced in Blackwood last year. As someone who enjoys single-player games and playing ESO at my own pace, having a companion has been wonderful.

While ESO is certainly growing and filling out the map of Tamriel, it feels like it is stagnating some. New additions like the Antiquities system and Tales of Tribute give players some variety in the gameplay. However, the core of the stories feels the same. While it can feel stale, I do still enjoy playing each new chapter. The new locales and characters usually make up for it. As do the new systems. I am interested to see what the devs bring us next as well as where the Legacy of the Bretons will go.