I felt like I was playing A Fantasy MMO with Elder Scrolls elements – thankfully, more of them than I expected – sprinkled on top. That’s not meant to be a damning appraisal by any means, and there’s certainly time for major changes before launch, as the suddenly existent first-person mode demonstrates. Based on what I was able to play, however, TESO’s currently a competent but largely typical MMO with a few interesting buds that could blossom into something far more unique. Here’s hoping it manages to really soar, but for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

These additions are interesting, and if what you want from The Elder Scrolls Online is a new MMO that evolves the usual formula a little in a new setting, then good news! There's nothing wrong with that, either. Tamriel is a fine world for adventuring, it'll be fun to see the likes of Skyrim in a different context, and the world being split into distinct thirds makes it unlikely everyone will end up with the same quests. What TESO wants to do, it will probably do fine.

I went in worried and came out pretty pleased. There are new ideas here. I don’t believe that there’s a single type of person defined by the phrase ‘Elder Scrolls fan’ and I can see it working for some but not others. If your time in Skyrim was exclusively spent tooling around with emergent systems, murdering townspeople in their beds and stacking cheese wheels, then you’ll feel the absence of those things from TESO. If you’re up for something a bit more structured, then keep it on your radar.