The Elder Scrolls: Legends

 PC
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. CD-Action
    Jun 7, 2017
    85
    It’s not as pretty as Hearthstone and its lack of responsiveness is sometimes annoying, but Dire Wolf Digital tackled gameplay mechanics expertly, making The Elder Scrolls Legends Hearthstone’s main rival. [06/2017, p.73]
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  2. Everyeye.it
    Mar 27, 2017
    85
    Quotation forthcoming.
  3. Vandal
    Mar 19, 2017
    85
    TES: Legends is fun, well-designed and has its own personality. Out of nowhere, it has become a strong contender in the card-based battle.
  5. Game Informer
    Mar 27, 2017
    83
    Elder Scrolls: Legends is a solid addition to the CCG lineup, and an excellent choice for those looking for something a little different. While the cards don’t really call out the feeling of exploring Morrowind or shouting at dragons, the game itself is solid enough to stand on its own.
  6. GameCrate
    Mar 27, 2017
    83
    I understand that, as a CCG fan who prefers PvE play, I am in the minority, but The Elder Scrolls: Legends has honestly been the first digital CCG that felt like it was welcoming me in with open arms instead of forcing me to either play PvP or make do with subpar alternatives. Bethesda certainly has some stiff competition going up against games like Hearthstone and CD Projekt Red’s upcoming standalone Gwent game, but as far as first impressions go, I have never been more pleasantly surprised by a CCG than I was by The Elder Scrolls: Legends.
  7. IGN
    Mar 20, 2017
    83
    The Elder Scrolls: Legends may not be the most visually appealing CCG, but what it lacks in looks it makes up for in modes, mechanics and card design. This is well worth checking out for fans of The Elder Scrolls or digital card games in general. And like all great CCGs, the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it.
  8. IGN Spain
    Apr 28, 2017
    80
    The Elder Scrolls: Legends does not invent the card, but adds its particular point of view with small innovations that result in interesting and fresh multiplayer matches.
  9. Gamer.no
    Apr 13, 2017
    80
    The Elder Scrolls: Legends is a clever and engaging card collecting game. Developer Dire Wolf Digital is blatantly inspired by other giants in the genre, such as Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering, and has used this inspiration to create something that is familiar, but still new and exciting.
  10. SpazioGames
    Apr 7, 2017
    80
    The Elder Scrolls Legends take what's good from the other card games and adds some interesting gameplay mechanics, such as the dual-lane field, and the strong definition of the dynamics of a deck. Actually there are too many unbalanced draft based mechanics, but this is something only time can adjust.
  11. Meristation
    Apr 5, 2017
    80
    The Elder Scrolls: Legends is a great and fresh idea for the card battler genre.
  12. The Games Machine
    Apr 4, 2017
    80
    It's almost impossible, for a CCG, to find its place in such a saturated market, but Bethesda plays its cards right (pun intended), with some new and interesting game mechanics. Give it a try (it's free): you may find yourself intrigued.
  13. Eurogamer Italy
    Mar 22, 2017
    80
    Quotation forthcoming.
  14. Multiplayer.it
    Mar 21, 2017
    80
    The Elder Scrolls: Legends has a solid strategic gameplay and it is another good alternative to Hearthstone.
  15. IGN Italia
    Mar 24, 2017
    78
    The Elder Scrolls: Legends is a very good CCG, but too similar to Hearthstone. The risk is to become useless for many players.
  16. PC Gamer
    Mar 17, 2017
    78
    A deep, and potentially rewarding alternative to Hearthstone that suffers from underwhelming art design and desperately needs an injection of players to grow the scene.
  17. GRYOnline.pl
    Apr 24, 2017
    70
    The Elder Scrolls: Legends offers lots of bells and whistles - a story-driven campaign, lots of ways to build your deck, and pretty graphics. But it lacks character; the game feels too mundane. After all the emotions of every combat there is almost nothing left that makes you want to play the game again.
  18. Games.cz
    Apr 5, 2017
    70
    Though it may not seem this way at first, The Elder Scrolls: Legends is at the core a relatively fresh card game that offers some surprisingly deep tactical options. Game impression is spoiled by bad styling and sound, but also by the fact that on the surface it is too much like Hearthstone. The actual gameplay is good, fans of the genre who will get over the initial embarrassment, will eventually like the game.

Awards & Rankings

69
#69 Best PC Game of 2017
73
#73 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 112 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 112
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 112
  3. Negative: 43 out of 112
  1. Marcus1990
    Sep 26, 2017
    0
    This games should be "Play for Free"? Ridiculous!!! Ever PvP match is manipulated by an AI and if you don't play an specific deck on one ofThis games should be "Play for Free"? Ridiculous!!! Ever PvP match is manipulated by an AI and if you don't play an specific deck on one of the eleven ranks on the letter let this AI always draw the wrong cards or on the other hand the perfect cards on your opponents site so you don't have any change but loose the match. Of course give the game you the illusion you can craft every card and deck as long as you spent enough time with farming the PvE mode. But there works the same AI and cheats you so badly that I already swear several times to spent my next vacation in the USA to "visit"some developers. It's just ridicules what **** the AI produce game for game for game.

    Also the balancing is absolute trash. Yes, there are some interesting cards you might build an interesting deck. Buuutttt, any deck that has more depth than the most simple rush decks has an win-rate under 40 percentage so you have the choice - play an uninteresting most simple deck with success or an interesting deck just for fun until you get frustrated form the high losing rate!

    So it's definitive not a Free to Play game and an insistent cheating AI is for me reason enough to boycott the game! Cheating players are bad enough. But where do we come to when game manufacturers start to implement there homemade cheats into there computer games?
    A bad course that should never find support!    … Full Review »
  2. aberwitz
    Sep 11, 2017
    3
    Badly designed and balanced game, with a fraudulent pay to win business model.

    Legendary cards are super powerful in this game and most of    Badly designed and balanced game, with a fraudulent pay to win business model.

    Legendary cards are super powerful in this game and most of them are not limited to 1, you can have 3 per deck. The minimum deck size in ladder games is 50, it´s not uncommon for decks to have 9+ legendarys, which means that building a competitive deck is super expensive. The chance to get legendarys from packs or rewards is very low, so the pressure to spend money on the game if you want to be competitive is extreme. Collecting cards in TESL is very slow and expensive. I´ve never played a ccg with such a shameless pay to win business model.

    The prophecy feature seems like a nice idea. Every time one of your runes is broken (at 25, 20, 15 health etc.) you draw a card and if that card is a prophecy you can play it for free. That seems like it´s intended to help against the "problem" of aggro-decks hat many ccgs have. However, while you have a chance to get a prophecy card based on how many prophecys you have in your deck (which adds a very strong rng element to the game), many aggro decks have cards that give them a guaranteed positive effect when an opponents' rune is broken. So the runes, that seem to be a counter to aggro, do the exact opposite.

    TESL has a lot of combos and card interactions that add nice complexity to the game. Sadly, many of those are so powerful and unbalanced that the game is simply decided by rng not by player decisions. Whoever draws his "killer-combos" first, wins. And those strong cards are hidden behind a pay wall.

    I really liked the PvE content of TESL, the story mode is very well done. The AI its much better than what other games have to offer. Sadly solo arena gets really frustrating at higher levels. The AI has strong rebuild decks with awesome interactions and also "magically" draws perfect, while you have to draft a deck and obviously the rng in draft can result in awful decks. I´ve reached rank 1 in solo arena and managed to win against all 9 opponents at rank 1 multiple times, I'm not saying this because I'm angry for losing. I'm angry that the developers use the decent rewards in PvE as carrot, a carrot you often can't reach because the difficulty level is designed in a way that most players will not make any profits out of PvE. But hey, you can spend money on arena tickets and try again. Just another cash grab.

    It takes months until balance changes are made, if that ever happens (no problem, most changes make no sense anyway). Player feedback is ignored and there is almost no developer interaction with the community.

    TESL had the potential to be an awesome ccg in the elder scrolls universe. Shameless greed and developer incompetence when it comes to game design and balancing prevent that.    … Full Review »
  3. Zenren
    Sep 14, 2017
    0
    This game is horribly imbalanced and requires you to play one of twelve different types of decks in order to compete, and one of six differentThis game is horribly imbalanced and requires you to play one of twelve different types of decks in order to compete, and one of six different types in order to compete at the highest level. There is no creativity, just reading a deck list and collecting those cards. This isn't like Hearthstone where you can build a deck unlike other people's decks and still have fun, you are forced to play a specific type, most often based on Lethal or Mana Ramp, in order to compete. I discourage anyone from spending cash on this game, after spending $60 I got a total of 2 legendary and 4 epics. That was an average of $10 per card. The Skyrim story pack is also worthless in regards to rewards, so if you're completing it for cards, it's not going to help you much.… Full Review »
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