29 Sep 2023 1:59 PM +00:00 UTC

Bethesda suddenly drops The Elder Scrolls: Castles

A castle in The Elder Scrolls: Castles and the Dragonborn from Skyrim.

Ever since Starfield released earlier this month, Bethesda has been at the forefront of gaming discourse. Its long-awaited space RPG was the company's first new IP in over two decades, having long-focused on the beloved Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises.

Today (September 29), Bethesda looks back to its roots by releasing a brand-new mobile game, The Elder Scrolls: Castles, without prior warning. If you've blitzed through loads of Starfield quests and want something a bit more traditional to break things up, you're in luck.

Billed by Bethesda as "a new mobile game that puts you in control of your very own castle and dynasty," you can go ahead and dive into a brand-new Elder Scrolls game right now.

Will you be downloading The Elder Scrolls: Castles?

As it stands, The Elder Scrolls: Castles is only available in an early access format from the Google Play Store. Therefore, players keen to dive in on iOS will have to wait for a more full-fledged release.

Developed by Bethesda Softworks, The Elder Scrolls: Castles is a mobile management sim in the same vein as Fallout Shelter, which launched a few months before Fallout 4 in 2015.

A 2D image of a castle with various inhabitants in The Elder Scrolls: Castles.

The aim of the game is to manage and command your own small part of Tamriel, namely a castle designed to your specific liking. You can alter floors and rooms, upgrade new areas to welcome more inhabitants, and wield the mighty power of controlling your villagers' destinies.

Quests are present as a form of narrative-based progression, though you can also focus purely on the social aspect, dealing with the dynamics between quarrelling families and their own separate bids for power. Think the twisty back-stabbing of Succession, with an Elder Scrolls sheen. Or is that just Game of Thrones?

It's still unclear how long iOS players will have to wait for The Elder Scrolls: Castles to release, bit it'll likely be a short wait. Fallout Shelter took a month to land on Android after it started life on iOS, though things are the other way around with this game.

Either way, it's always exciting to see a beloved franchise like The Elder Scrolls cross into new genres and platforms, keeping the series in the conversation while diehard fans continue to wait for The Elder Scrolls 6.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Gaming News , OMG News , and Skyrim pages.

Luke Hinton

Group Guides Editor

Guides Guardian

Luke has been at Gfinity for two years, and works as Guides Editor across Gfinity Esports and Stealth Optional. When not in the Roblox or mobile game mines, he'll probably be updating his Letterboxd.

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