Every The Elder Scrolls game, ranked
All 7 The Elder Scrolls games we hold, spanning 1994 to 2025: 7 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 702,941 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition Deluxe (2009) (GamingPickz Score 8.5), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994) and follow the release-order timeline below.
- For the money: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition gives the most score per dollar right now.
The The Elder Scrolls games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 7 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
7 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 7 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Multi-platform
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
7 best The Elder Scrolls games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition Deluxe (2009)
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
8.5GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition Deluxe (2009) at a glance Released 2009 Studio Bethesda Game Studios® Player sentiment 95% positive of 52,989 Critics 94/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 95% shrinks to 94.9 on 52,989 reviews, then blends with the 94 critic aggregate, giving 8.5.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 2
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
8.3GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition at a glance Released 2016 Studio Bethesda Game Studios Player sentiment 92% positive of 376,171 Critics 74/100 Price $39.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 12 GB Accessibility 5 declared features Raw 92% shrinks to 92.0 on 376,171 reviews, then blends with the 74 critic aggregate, giving 8.3.
What the data supports- 92% positive across 376,171 reviews is a strong signal at that volume, where a few enthusiasts cannot move the number.
- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Small install at 12 GB.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 92 against 74. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 3
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
8.3GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceThe Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition at a glance Released 2009 Studio Bethesda Game Studios Player sentiment 95% positive of 28,571 Critics 89/100 Price $14.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 95% shrinks to 94.8 on 28,571 reviews, then blends with the 89 critic aggregate, giving 8.3.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 4
The Elder Scrolls Online
Best for: Playing through with a friend online
7.4GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceThe Elder Scrolls Online at a glance Released 2014 Studio ZeniMax Online Studios Player sentiment 81% positive of 161,491 Critics 80/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 150 GB Accessibility 6 declared features Raw 81% shrinks to 81.0 on 161,491 reviews, then blends with the 80 critic aggregate, giving 7.4.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
Worth checking first- Carries in-game purchases. Check what they cost before committing.
- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- Multiplayer only. There is no solo mode to fall back on.
PCPlayStation 4PlayStation 5Xbox OneXbox Series X and Series SSteam Deck
- 5
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
7.0GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered at a glance Released 2025 Studio Bethesda Game Studios Player sentiment 75% positive of 70,071 Critics No aggregate Price $49.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 125 GB Accessibility 5 declared features Raw 75% shrinks to 75.0 on 70,071 reviews, giving 7.0. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 6
The Elder Scrolls: Arena
Best for: Trying the genre without spending anything
6.7GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceThe Elder Scrolls: Arena at a glance Released 1994 Studio Bethesda Softworks Player sentiment 80% positive of 2,574 Critics No aggregate Price Free Steam Deck playable Install size 0.02 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 80% shrinks to 80.5 on 2,574 reviews, giving 6.7. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Free to download, so trying it costs only time.
- Small install at 0.02 GB.
- 7
The Elder Scrolls: Legends
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
6.5GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceThe Elder Scrolls: Legends at a glance Released 2017 Studio Sparkypants Studios, LLC Player sentiment 75% positive of 11,074 Critics No aggregate Price Not listed Steam Deck verified Install size 3 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 75% shrinks to 75.3 on 11,074 reviews, giving 6.5. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Small install at 3 GB.
Worth checking first- Carries in-game purchases. Check what they cost before committing.
Best and worst entry
The best-received The Elder Scrolls game we can score is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition Deluxe (2009) at 8.5. The lowest is The Elder Scrolls: Legends at 6.5, a 2.0-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 1994 to 2025. The later entries score lower than the earlier ones: the series has been trending down.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: The Elder Scrolls: Arena at Free. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the The Elder Scrolls entries on Steam:
- Verified: The Elder Scrolls Online, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
- Playable: The Elder Scrolls: Arena, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition Deluxe (2009), The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition
Platforms across the series
Where the 7 The Elder Scrolls games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 7 of 7 |
| PlayStation | 1 of 7 |
| Xbox | 1 of 7 |
The The Elder Scrolls series, game by game
Every The Elder Scrolls game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 1994
THE LEGEND BEGINS (Steam)
Plot
The game's setting begins in Tamriel on the 389th year of the Third Era when Emperor Uriel Septim VII summons his advisor and Imperial Battlemage Jagar Tharn over concerns of betrayal from within the court. His concerns are justified when Tharn is revealed to be the traitor, magically trapping the Emperor and his general, Talin Warhaft, in another dimension. When Tharn proceeds to magically disguise himself as Emperor to usurp the throne, his conspiracy… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception When previewing the game in December 1993, Computer Gaming World noted Arena s "huge world split into nine provinces", many races and terrains, NPC interactions, and absence of level limits. The magazine stated that the game had sophisticated graphics "without forgetting the lessons of the past in terms of game design" or being "more like [console] action games", citing similarities with Ultima IV , Wasteland , Dragon Wars , and Darklands . The… (Wikipedia)
- 2009
PUBLISHER UPDATE - This is the product page for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Deluxe Edition, released in 2009.---The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition presents one of the best RPGs of all time like never before. Step inside the most richly detailed and vibrant game-world ever created. (Steam)
- 2009
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® Game of the Year Edition includes Morrowind plus all of the content from the Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions. The original Mod Construction Set is not included in this package. An epic, open-ended single-player RPG, Morrowind allows you to create and play any kind of character imaginable. (Steam)
- 2014
Every legend starts somewhere and in The Elder Scrolls Online, it starts with you. Join millions of players in an online, fantasy RPG set in a vast living Elder Scrolls world. (Steam)
Plot
The Elder Scrolls Online is set on the continent of Tamriel during the Second Era, but not all places in Tamriel are playable. The events of the game occur a millennium before those of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and around 800 years before The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion . Its structure is broadly similar to Skyrim , with two separate conflicts progressing at the same time, one with the fate of the world in the… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Original release The Elder Scrolls Online received "mixed or average" reviews from critics for the PC version, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . PC Gamer gave it a score of 68/100, writing that it is "an MMORPG of moderate scope with a few good ideas" but cautioning that "'okay' isn't good enough when you're facing down this much of a premium. " ZeniMax addressed many of the game's early criticisms and released major updates. (Wikipedia)
- 2016
Winner of more than 200 Game of the Year Awards, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition brings the epic fantasy to life in stunning detail. The Special Edition includes the critically acclaimed game and add-ons with all-new features. (Steam)
Plot
Setting Skyrim is set 201 years after the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion , and it is not a direct sequel. Skyrim is a cold and mountainous region in the north of the continent of Tamriel. It has traditionally been divided into nine administrative sections, called "holds", each governed by a jarl from a larger town. (Wikipedia)
Characters
The player character is the mythic Last Dragonborn and is typically referred to as such. The Dragonborn can be male or female, from one of ten races. Each of the ten races has, in addition to a bonus for certain skills, a power specific to their race – for example, Nords start with a bonus to several martial skills, and the ability to intimidate enemies for a short period. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Reception Skyrim received critical acclaim upon release. It received a combined 40/40 score from four editors of the Japanese video game magazine Famitsu , the first Western-developed game to do so. The removal of the character class system, present in previous The Elder Scrolls entries, was generally well received by reviewers. (Wikipedia)
- 2017
The Elder Scrolls: Legends™ is an award- winning free-to-play strategy card game based on the world and lore of the Elder Scrolls series. Play for hours or minutes across many game modes that are easy to learn but challenging to master. (Steam)
Plot
The story revolves around the player character and some allies against a High Elf named Naarifin who has invaded the heart of the Empire, Cyrodiil. The player character, called 'The Forgotten Hero', has to fight various hazards along the way to reaching the White-Gold Tower, where Naarifin plans to release demon -like creatures called Daedra in an attempt to fulfill an Elder Scroll prophecy called the Culling. Along the way, the player makes various… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The Elder Scrolls: Legends received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic . ^ "The Elder Scrolls: Legends for PC Reviews" . Metacritic . (Wikipedia)
- 2025
Explore Cyrodiil like never before with stunning new visuals and refined gameplay in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion™ Remastered. (Steam)
Plot
Main article: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion § Plot The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is set in the province of Cyrodiil, and the player takes the role of the Hero of Kvatch, who is drawn into a conflict involving the Daedric realm of Oblivion after the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim VII. ^ Black, Todd (April 22, 2025). "The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered Has Been Officially Revealed! (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . OpenCritic determined that 87% of critics recommended the game. The game won "Best Remake / Remaster" at the 2025 Golden Joystick Awards . (Wikipedia)
The Elder Scrolls, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
The Elder Scrolls vs other series
How The Elder Scrolls stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: The Elder Scrolls vs Dragon Age, The Elder Scrolls vs DRAGON BALL, The Elder Scrolls vs Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls vs Monster Hunter, The Elder Scrolls vs Mount & Blade, The Elder Scrolls vs Yakuza, The Elder Scrolls vs ARK, The Elder Scrolls vs Borderlands, The Elder Scrolls vs Deus Ex, The Elder Scrolls vs Risen, The Elder Scrolls vs State of Decay, The Elder Scrolls vs The Witcher, The Elder Scrolls vs Torchlight, The Elder Scrolls vs Watch, The Elder Scrolls vs ArcheAge, The Elder Scrolls vs Divinity, The Elder Scrolls vs Dragon's Dogma, The Elder Scrolls vs Dungeon Siege, The Elder Scrolls vs ELDEN RING, The Elder Scrolls vs EverQuest, The Elder Scrolls vs God of War, The Elder Scrolls vs Gothic, The Elder Scrolls vs Hades, The Elder Scrolls vs Heroes of Hammerwatch, The Elder Scrolls vs Kingdom Come, The Elder Scrolls vs Kingdoms of Amalur, The Elder Scrolls vs Marvel’s Spider-Man, The Elder Scrolls vs Middle-earth, The Elder Scrolls vs Might & Magic, The Elder Scrolls vs NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, The Elder Scrolls vs Pathfinder, The Elder Scrolls vs Prototype, The Elder Scrolls vs South Park, The Elder Scrolls vs Street Fighter, The Elder Scrolls vs The Lord of the Rings, The Elder Scrolls vs The Surge, The Elder Scrolls vs Tom Clancy’s The Division, The Elder Scrolls vs Two Worlds, The Elder Scrolls vs Wasteland
Common questions
How many The Elder Scrolls games are there?
We hold 7 The Elder Scrolls games in the catalogue, released between 1994 and 2025. 7 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which The Elder Scrolls game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition Deluxe (2009) rates highest at 8.5. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the The Elder Scrolls games in?
Release order is listed below, from 1994 to 2025. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
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