In TES: Castles, you take control of a dynasty of rulers who must keep their citizens happy, build up their castle and reputation, defeat or outsmart enemies, and outplay plots to remove them from power – all while comfortably sitting on your throne and waiting for time to pass.
I have to admit that I wasn’t extremely excited about the release of The Elder Scrolls: Castles, Bethesda’s latest mobile game that looked like Fallout Shelter in the TES universe.
Note: I just published a full TES: Castles guide for beginners, full of tips and tricks that will help you play better. Make sure to check it out as well!
While it is, for the most part, Fallout Shelter in a different setting, it’s both entertaining and addictive, with plenty of new elements to keep everyone happy: both casual mobile gamers who enjoy Fallout Shelter and veteran Elder Scrolls players who prefer more depth.
The Elder Scrolls: Castles – Show me the money?
Fortunately, The Elder Scrolls: Castles doesn’t seem like your typical mobile cash grab. I’m currently on my second day of playing, with over 8 hours of game time, and I’ve never felt forced to make any in-game purchases.
I love games that let players decide when, or if, they should make a purchase based on their enjoyment, rather than being unable to progress without paying. So, I appreciate TES: Castles’ approach here.
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The Elder Scrolls: Castles Gameplay Mechanics
TES: Castles is a time management game at its core, with some RPG and strategy elements sprinkled in for variety.
Most of the time, your main goal will be micromanaging your people, assigning them to different rooms to perform various tasks. In turn, they will produce items (each room typically capable of producing more than one type), which you’ll use to grow bigger and stronger, eventually leading to your ruler being idolized by their people.
This part feels much like Fallout Shelter in a new setting, with the core mechanics remaining similar. If you’ve played Bethesda’s other time management game, you’ll feel right at home here.
One of the different mechanics that I enjoy the most, though, is the fact that your ruler, just like all your subjects, will age as time goes by, with one real life day being equal to one year of in-game time.
As a result, children grow into adults, who become elders, and eventually pass away, leaving their heirs to take over and achieve greater things.
You can marry people – regardless of gender and even if they dislike each other – or make complete strangers have children (again, gender doesn’t matter and it doesn’t even matter if they’re married or not). You can name and rename the children, and even track family trees a bit, noting their parents, siblings, lovers, friends, and enemies.
I enjoy these small, albeit mostly cosmetic, details. They’re things I like to get lost in while waiting for the next batch of Iron Ingots to finish.
The ruler is also under constant threat – not just from time passing by. Plots to assassinate them or other unexpected events can end their reign prematurely.
Even if that happens, it’s not game over for you. You will simply choose a heir (or a completely new person) to take their place and keep the dynasty going.
Apart from that, gameplay is pretty basic. You build rooms (although you have complete freedom here, making rooms as large or small as you wish/afford), you produce resources that allow you to upgrade said rooms, build items that improve the quality of life or work of your people and so on.
Every now and then, your King or Queen will have to complete a Throne Ruling, in the vein of Reigns or Lapse: A Forgotten Future. You will be presented with a situation and usually three (sometimes just two) choices on how to handle it. Depending on your choices, you will earn or lose resources, as well as make people or factions happy/upset with you.
Some of these seem to be part of a scripted storyline, while others appear to be random and potentially procedurally generated. Either way, it’s a new mechanic that adds depth to the game and makes it more fun to play.
We also have a combat element in the game. You can send up to three fighters to complete various battles on the adventure map, each with their own set of different enemies, requirements to complete and rewards upon completion.
While these battles can be completed without your input, you will usually have to interact a little, by tapping on an icon for your fighters to use their special attacks, using potions or targeting specific enemies.
Bethesda did a great job of making TES players feel at home without overwhelming newcomers. All the races from The Elder Scrolls are present, but overall, things look less “Elder Scrolls” than Fallout felt in Fallout Shelter.
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Things I don’t like
I have to say from the beginning that I wasn’t a huge Fallout Shelter fan (even though I LOVE the Fallout franchise) so I’m not blown away by these game mechanics.
This game becomes, in my opinion, a boring chore sooner or later. In the case of TES: Castles, it will surely be later, because there is a nice progression system that unlocks more buildings and more things to do than just the micro-management aspect.
There are other small things that really annoy me. For example, when you place your people in a healing room or in the room that improves their happiness, once they’re maxed out, they’re not taken back to their original room/job.
Right now, I only have some 20-something people in the castle and it’s difficult to remember where each used to work (although their items/clothes help here). It would make sense for them to resume their job automatically after healing or happiness is maxed out.
Another small frustration is selecting equipment in the rooms. Often, the game selects a worker instead of the equipment, forcing me to tap multiple times or zoom in to make the right selection.
But apart from these minor problems, there’s no deal breaking bug or feature in The Elder Scrolls: Castles, which is a lot for a free to play mobile game.
Conclusion: A Good Game or Not?
If you enjoyed playing Fallout Shelter, I am sure you will find The Elder Scrolls: Castles a much better, more complex game, with many more things to do.
If you didn’t, you will probably not be blown away by it, despite the plethora of additions. In the end though, it’s more or less the same thing.
Objectively, though, TES: Castles is a good, fun game. It’s not ruined by microtransactions or excessively long waiting periods, making it a solid choice for those looking to build a fantasy castle and dive into micromanaging everything from resource production to social relations, but without the complexity of a full AAA city-builder.
Even though I am not a huge fan of the genre, I still end up playing in sessions of up to an hour each, doing all sorts of things, combining items to level them up and trying to get more legendary characters for my kingdom.
So, no matter what, do give it a try!
Final rating: 8.5/10