As part of a fan-centered preview event, Game Crater was invited to The Elder Scrolls Online’s 10-year anniversary celebration to get an exclusive look at the upcoming Gold Road expansion. During the preview, we were able to get exclusive hands-on access to the new Gold Road chapter, as well as the interesting new zone, story, and Scribing system.
Before trying out the game for ourselves, we were introduced to Gold Road by Zenimax Online Studios’ Studio Head, Matt Firor, and ESO’s Creative Director, Rich Lambert. They emphasized how far The Elder Scrolls Online has come since its release on PC in 2014. While discussing ESO’s history, Firor praised the game’s longevity and said he is “tremendously proud” of its continued success. He sees Gold Road as the culmination of all of Zenimax Online Studios’ efforts. It sets to build upon everything that has come before it in the past 10 years.
“As an entirely new region to Elder Scrolls Online, West Weald has a variety of lush locales and distinct biomes to explore at your leisure.”
After being given access to a high-level build with all the bells and whistles, we were dropped directly in the new zone. Gold Road directly follows the events of ESO’s previous chapter, Necrom, and is set against the beautiful golden backdrop of West Weald. As an entirely new region to Elder Scrolls Online, West Weald has a variety of lush locales and distinct biomes to explore at your leisure. The older Elder Scrolls fans out there may just recognize the striking Imperial City of Skingrad, which is the capital of the vibrant autumnal-themed Gold Road area.
In our preview, we only got to go explore a small snippet of Gold Road, but we know you’ll be able to head to the dense woodland wilderness of Dawnwood, the mountainous Colovian Highlands region, and the dangerous Wildburn, a “magically twisted land” which is set to host a variety of ferocious beasts. Within these new regions, you can expect to encounter various new characters, quests, dungeons, World Bosses, and more. There’s even the Lucent Cathedral, a brand-new 12-player Trial where you can work together to survive challenging boss encounters within a long-forgotten Daedric vault.
“When discussing Gold Road’s story, Studio Head Matt Firor said that the game is aimed at new and existing players, though we’re not so sure.”
Talking of Daedra, the story follows directly from the events of last year’s Necrom Chapter in Elder Scrolls Online and introduces players to an all-new Daedric Prince, Ithelia. You will need to uncover the schemes of her most devoted followers as you look to protect the realm from any interfering baddies along the way. We only got to play an early portion of the new Chapter’s main questline, but we liked what we saw of it. When discussing Gold Road’s story, Studio Head Matt Firor said that the game is aimed at new and existing players, though we’re not so sure.
The game’s Creative Director, Rich Lambert, mentioned that players would get more out of the new Chapter if they played the previous one, and we’re inclined to agree. As lapsed players ourselves, we felt a little left in the dark, having not played ESO in a short while. Despite this, we still enjoyed what we played and expect to find the story engaging enough. It’s a good thing, too, as there’s a lot of it. Gold Road is said to bring more than 30 hours of story content to ESO and is apparently “some of the best storytelling we’ve ever done,” according to Firor. Here’s hoping!
“We were mightily impressed with the dense and region-unique foliage, believably uneven terrain, and general attention to detail you wouldn’t regularly see in other MMO games.”
During our playthrough, we spent most of our time in the beautiful Gold Road region. We were particularly taken aback by its lush, golden color palette, as its warm tones and vibrant hues encouraged us to explore as much as we possibly could. It was a tough ask, as the size of the Gold Road area alone is absolutely gargantuan in size.
One quest had us go to three separate areas on the map, located at vast distances from each other. To restore the Scholarium (we’ll get to that later), we had to dispel various portal-like deposits by finding glowing Glyphs in the environment. This required us to engage in an interesting mechanic, where we had to look through a telescope until we saw the glyph to dispel it. It was much more mechanically engaging than usual MMO quests and was certainly a nice change of pace.
Completing this quest also allowed us to experience the enormous size and scope of the Gold Road Chapter. The Elder Scrolls Online (and any Elder Scrolls game, for that matter) has always done a fantastic job of conveying a grandiose sense of scale. Gold Road takes this to the next level. Its environmental design is superb and is gorgeous to look at. We were mightily impressed with the dense and region-unique foliage, believably uneven terrain, and general attention to detail you wouldn’t regularly see in other MMO games. That being said, we did feel as though the character models looked a little dated for 2024. We would have liked them to share the same level of graphical fidelity as the game’s environment. A small gripe, we know.
“Scribing is a cool way of giving you more agency and meaningfully impacts your minute-to-minute gameplay.”
In addition to the new story and region, the Gold Road Chapter introduces a brand-new gameplay system to The Elder Scrolls Online called Scribing. In a nutshell, Scribing adds an interesting layer of depth and customization to your character’s build. It essentially gives you a way to craft your own skills to use in combat and while out exploring. You must be in the new Scholarium building that’s part of the Mages Guild in Gold Road to engage in this new mechanic. There are three parts to Scribing: Grimoires are the core overarching ability; Scripts are individual components that alter the effects of this base ability; and Inks are the consumable you need to change these effects.
Scribing is a cool way of giving you more agency and meaningfully impacts your minute-to-minute gameplay. For example, you could have a Shield Throw Grimoire with a Script that gives it a bouncing effect, as well as one that puts your foes off balance. It’s a brilliant way of making your build feel like your own. There’s even a Styling system that will allow you to change the colors of your spells and abilities, adding to the customization of this nifty feature even further. If you’re looking to get stuck into Scribing, you’ll need to head into the Mages guild in Gold Road and start its corresponding questline.
“The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road seems to be shaping up to be part of an ongoing love letter to Elder Scrolls fans.”
There’s a lot to like about The Elder Scrolls Online’s upcoming Gold Road Chapter. It’s filled to the brim with meaningful content and was clearly crafted with the sort of passion and pedigree we would hope to see in other persistently online multiplayer games. It seems to be shaping up to be part of an ongoing love letter to Elder Scrolls fans – its accompanying 10-year anniversary celebration event is a testament to that. Fans have now had an entire decade to fight, loot, and quest their way through the evergrowing world of Tamriel. With the new Gold Road Chapter coming in June 2024, there’s no sign of it stopping.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road expansion releases on Monday, June 3, 2024, for PC and Mac and on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, for Xbox and PlayStation. If you want to learn more about it, you can check out our full breakdown here.