A Daedric Prince who doesn't know what's going on or why other Daedra are fighting over them. A massive forest has sprung up overnight. Daedric incursions threaten the Empire's forces. With all of that combined, it's worth at least trying to figure out what's going on.
That's the main gist of Gold Road, the latest chapter of The Elder Scrolls Online. In it, players are tasked to figure out what's going on and keep fate itself from completely unraveling. Overall, it's a solid new entry in this ongoing story that brings some interesting quests to explore and a great new addition to gameplay in the form of Scribing.
Due to the nature of this expansion, there will be some unmarked spoilers in this review from last year's chapter, The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, as Gold Road is the second half of the Secrets of Apocrypha story arc that began in 2023.
What is The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road?
Price: $50 at Amazon, $33 at CD Keys
Developer: ZeniMax Online Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Genre: Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Install size (full game): 120.5GB
Playtime: ~35 hours
Release date: June 3, 2024 (PC and Mac), June 18, 2024 (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4)
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Mac
Xbox Game Pass: No (base game is included)
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is the latest story chapter for ZeniMax Online Studios' long-running massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Gold Road takes players into the West Weald, a region in southern Cyrodiil that includes vast vineyards, rolling hills, and the titular Gold Road.
In order to play a story chapter or any other DLC in The Elder Scrolls Online, players will naturally need to own the base game. Alternatively, it's also included in Xbox Game Pass. Either way, chapters are then a separate purchase from the main game, with each chapter expanding the world through new locations to explore and a new storyline to go through, as well as dungeons, achievements, and sometimes other features.
Traditionally, one of the defining features of The Elder Scrolls Online is how the story chapters each tell a different narrative, meaning players can pick up the latest chapter and simply hop in without fear of having missed out. That's not exactly the case here, for reasons I'll delve into below.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road — Story and characters
Gold Road continues the story that began with last year's chapter, The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, with the formerly unknown Daedric Prince Ithelia wandering the West Weald. Ithelia doesn't know what she can do or why she's out of her prison, but her very existence is a threat to all of fate, at least according to Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Knowledge. The story alternates between investigating Ithelia and the Dawnwood, the latter of which is a strange forest that has suddenly appeared in the West Weald, causing the Recollection — a mysterious faction of Wood Elves — to surge out across the land.
Ithelia, a Daedric Prince whose very nature changes fate, is by far the most compelling element of the story. Any point where you get a chance to talk to her feels like peeling back the curtain just an inch on a Broadway stage house packed with secrets. The implications of her domain and the paths she walks are truly fascinating, and I wish we got to explore them even more.
Outside of these conversations, I do wish the main story played out with a bit more mystery. A dearth of characters means that certain revelations don't really come across as a surprise, and while it's never bad or unenjoyable, events with the Recollection and other investigations across the West Weald play out in a fairly straightforward fashion.
It is worth noting that there's a free epilogue that's accessible once you've played through both Necrom and Gold Road. This additional handful of quests caps off the story threads that have been carried through the Secrets of Apocrypha adventure, and while I wish we had some grander revelations, the story concludes in a way that certainly feels true to Tamriel's mythos while still leaving the door cracked for future revelations.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road — Gameplay and features
For the most part, the gameplay functionality in Gold Road is the same as it has been across several prior chapters. Unlike last year, there's no new class, so players can continue to use their Arcanists or other classes without the encouragement of spinning up a new class.
The one big exception is in the addition of Scribing, a new feature that requires purchasing The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road to access. In the West Weald, players can embark on a series of quests to unlock Scribing, which is meant to function as an in-universe predecessor to spell-crafting.
Once unlocked, you can customize specialized skills with different effects and appearances, changing the function and aesthetic to your liking. It's a really cool system that I hope the developers expand in the future, as it really allows for a unique spin on characters outside of just following recommended builds.
Across the chapter's side quests, things do liven up with some variety, with a murder mystery being examined by Mizzik Thunderboots — the Khajiit conjunction of Hercule Poirot and Benoit Blanc — being a particularly delightful highlight.
As for new companions, there are some coming, but not right now. Two more companions are slated to be added to the game toward the end of 2024, with more details to come in the months ahead. This isn't a massive loss — only because I'm sticking with Sharp-as-Night, voiced by the iconic Brandon Keener — but the delay is worth noting.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road — Visuals and performance
ZeniMax Online Studios has long maintained a strong art direction for the Elder Scrolls Online, and that hasn't changed here. As longtime players return to a land last seen in Oblivion, the technological advancements made since then mean the West Weald looks better than ever. The ever-present autumnal tones mean it has a relaxed vibe, making exploration pleasant and encouraging a sense of frolicking even amidst danger.
That changes at the edge of the newfound Dawnwood forest, with warm vineyards and gentle streams giving way to scorched earth and devastation ahead of the towering greenery. It's a scene not unlike that of the burned edges of Fangorn Forest in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and it has a similarly jarring effect whenever you reach its borders.
While it's not quite as unique as last years betentacled domain of Apocrypha, it's still beautiful to behold, and I found myself frequently stopping to admire the sunset in the West Weald as the amber glow consumed the nearby forests and hills.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road — Accessibility and approachability
While The Elder Scrolls Online already features a number of accessibility-related options, there's nothing new in Gold Road that isn't available to other players as well. This comes back to the fact that Gold Road is an expansion, and with the notable exception of Scribing (as discussed above), the gameplay here is the same as players can expect from other parts of the long-running game. That's the same across combat and accessibility.
If any new accessibility features are added in the future, they'll almost certainly be available to everyone playing the game, not just those that buy Gold Road or whatever chapter happens to correspond with that update.
As for the chapter's overall approachability, this is the first time in a long while that I wouldn't immediately recommend a chapter for newcomers. Instead, I really encourage interested players to at least go through the Necrom chapter first. While you can play Gold Road without its 2023 predecessor, the story here is far more meaningful if you have knowledge of some prior events heading in. As a reminder, you'll get all the prior chapters and this year's adventure if you purchase the Gold Road Collection. If you're looking to enter this game, that's your best route.
Additionally, the aforementioned epilogue is only available to players that complete both Necrom and Gold Road, so you'll need to play it anyway in order to see how the story arc ends.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road — Final thoughts
Ultimately, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is a solid new yearly entry for the multiplayer world of Tamriel. It's a change of pace from how the in-game stories have traditionally been told, with the team choosing to make a chapter that heavily relies on and eventually requires something that came before. Not every decision here works perfectly, and I wish multiple points in the story weren't played so safe, but I still had a lot of fun with my time in the West Weald.
I do hope The Elder Scrolls keeps its overall approachability, but I wouldn't mind more two-year arcs in the future. I also truly hope we haven't seen the last of Ithelia, and I'm hopeful to learn more about her and her paths in the years ahead.
The Elder Scrolls Online is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Mac, and for fans of MMORPGS, it's one of the best Xbox games available.
