First of all, I will start this review saying that ESO is a good MMORPG. It is not a perfect game, just like any other MMORPG, but it does most of its stuff really well compared to many others. What I like the most is that the world seems to be really well-made and all the NPC characters are voice-acted in decent manner, which brings always additional immersion to the experience. The combat system is a bit of combination of mouse and number buttons. It feels a bit wonky at first but once you get used to it, it is pretty decent. Personally I found it a bit more refreshing compared to the most MMORPGs on the market and I ended up liking it.

Performance-wise ESO runs pretty well on my seven years old rig. The only detail I've had to set to high or medium (depending on the area in the game) has been shadows, everything else I've been able to keep on ultra or at least high level. The optimisation in this game has been done really well and I was surprised that even my old worm box was able to run the game well.

Character development is also refreshingly different compared to other MMORPGs. Most of nowadays' MMORPGs tend to have a very simplified talent tree style of character development where most of the class skills come automatically, but in ESO you can actually combine different skill sets with each other and also morph skills once you reach the maximum level in them. The game also includes an advisor system in the character development, meaning you can pick up a pre-made character template and the game then tells you, which skills this certain template would benefit you the most. You can also turn all these guides off and entirely choose the skills and abilities you want by yourself, so using the guides is not mandatory.

Quest-wise ESO is good, although some of the writing with NPCs leaves a bit more to be desired. While I find most of the writing satisfying, the occasional humour here and there sometimes feels a bit forced and makes some of the writing seem a bit immature, at least in my opinion. However, what I like the most is that most of the towns you visit in game zones have their own quest lines, which make the game again a bit more interesting than your usual MMORPG. Also, every game zone has their main plot you can follow and eventually finish once you get closer moving to the next area. The game also has one main plot which is quite mediocre compared to the major expansions (Morrowind and Summerset), although it is worth going through at least once.

ESO also has quite a sizeable and active roleplaying community on both North American and European servers, so if you're wanting to play in character and with other people, that's also very well possible to do. Quite a few different communities exist, some of them area-specific, some of them more casual RP and some of them heavy RP. I'd say the RP aspect is pretty well covered and it is rather easy to find a community to join into.

Overall, The Elder Scrolls Online is a good game and I can recommend it to anyone who likes to play MMORPG style of games. There's also free to play mode which gives you access to the most of the world, so the ESO Plus membership is not necessary to play the game.

First of all, I will start this review saying that ESO is a good MMORPG. It is not a perfect game, just like any other MMORPG, but it does most of its stuff really well compared to many others. What I like the most is that the world seems to be really well-made and all the NPC characters are voice-acted in decent manner, which brings always additional immersion to the experience. The combat system is a bit of combination of mouse and number buttons. It feels a bit wonky at first but once you get used to it, it is pretty decent. Personally I found it a bit more refreshing compared to the most MMORPGs on the market and I ended up liking it. Performance-wise ESO runs pretty well on my seven years old rig. The only detail I've had to set to high or medium (depending on the area in the game) has been shadows, everything else I've been able to keep on ultra or at least high level. The optimisation in this game has been done really well and I was surprised that even my old worm box was able to run the game well. Character development is also refreshingly different compared to other MMORPGs. Most of nowadays' MMORPGs tend to have a very simplified talent tree style of character development where most of the class skills come automatically, but in ESO you can actually combine different skill sets with each other and also morph skills once you reach the maximum level in them. The game also includes an advisor system in the character development, meaning you can pick up a pre-made character template and the game then tells you, which skills this certain template would benefit you the most. You can also turn all these guides off and entirely choose the skills and abilities you want by yourself, so using the guides is not mandatory. Quest-wise ESO is good, although some of the writing with NPCs leaves a bit more to be desired. While I find most of the writing satisfying, the occasional humour here and there sometimes feels a bit forced and makes some of the writing seem a bit immature, at least in my opinion. However, what I like the most is that most of the towns you visit in game zones have their own quest lines, which make the game again a bit more interesting than your usual MMORPG. Also, every game zone has their main plot you can follow and eventually finish once you get closer moving to the next area. The game also has one main plot which is quite mediocre compared to the major expansions (Morrowind and Summerset), although it is worth going through at least once. ESO also has quite a sizeable and active roleplaying community on both North American and European servers, so if you're wanting to play in character and with other people, that's also very well possible to do. Quite a few different communities exist, some of them area-specific, some of them more casual RP and some of them heavy RP. I'd say the RP aspect is pretty well covered and it is rather easy to find a community to join into. Overall, The Elder Scrolls Online is a good game and I can recommend it to anyone who likes to play MMORPG style of games. There's also free to play mode which gives you access to the most of the world, so the ESO Plus membership is not necessary to play the game.