20 Years Later, 'Skyrim''s Older Brother 'Morrowind' Is Still The Best

Gamers who are loving/already getting withdrawal symptoms from having beaten Elden Ring, maybe consider giving The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind a try on the 20th year after its release. We're talking about Skyrim's and Oblivion's older brother, as well the game that solved all modern video game user interface and experience problems (before they had even been invented). 

Even though Morrowind doesn't share Elden Ring's excellent combat mechanics, it does feature a few hilarious traps that will remind you of Dark Souls games. And while newcomers might find themselves underwhelmed with the game's visuals at first because it was made before developers could legally use graphical black magics such as HDR and DLSS, the game more than delivers on the visual level for those who stick with it. Unlike Oblivion, which takes place in a lush but seemingly world-spanning forest, and Skyrim, which takes place in the winter lands of Game Of Thrones,  Morrowind features various landscapes that go from small seaside towns,

 to barren wastelands, to alien mushroom kingdoms lands.

And those who don't think masterful art direction makes up for the lack of graphics can just inject the thing with a few mods to make it gorgeous.

Or a few more mods and make sure it looks better than what our eyes deserve.

But no beautiful world is worth a damn unless paired with some top-level exploration. Not only was the world of Morrowind filled with the same kind of surprises Elden Ring players get when they try to finish the main quest but need to go on a detour because they've just encountered a beautiful new catacomb to die a few times in, but it also made that exploration exciting. There was no fast travel, or at least not in the way modern gamers are accustomed to. Back in those days, we couldn't just teleport anywhere on the map, we'd have to reach a silt strider, the unfairly neat name given to this world's version of a bus.

And by “reaching a silt strider” we don't mean following an all-knowing arrow that would guide all players to the destination. We mean following general information that would hopefully lead us there. The same applies to every single quest in the game, making immersion not just stronger, but mandatory, even.

Interestingly, both worlds feature a deadly plague that's not just for show but actually plays an important role in the plot. This means that while Elden Ring probably offers a good representation of our times, Morrowind offered a good prediction of them.

Top Image: Bethesda