I normally don’t do this, look so far into the future. But when Chip Theory Games is putting up the preview for a game coming to Gamefound in March next year, and it’s Elder Scrolls, I think it’s worth it to start building up some hype. This reminds me of my excitement when the giant Galactus rolled out from CMON to announce Marvel Zombies.

Check Out the page here.

Initial Information for The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era

So what do we know about it this far. Before you decide to get hyped about it, like I am, you probably should know why.

Like Too Many Bones

The first thing that caught my attention is that this is building off of the Too Many Bones system. I need to play my copy of Undertow while I wait for the last crowdfunding campaign to deliver. But the basic idea is that you unlock dice and you improve abilities, stats, etc.

But unlike Too Many Bones, this should offer more story. Too Many Bones tends to be focused on little runs through the game. I fully expect that The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era is going to be much bigger than that. And according to their big graphic, it’s their most ambitious game to date, which is saying something. Too Many Bones, Cloudspire, Hoplomachus Victorum, and Burncycle are all big games.

Player Count

For me, one of the next things that I wanted to see was that it is a cooperative and solo game. I don’t know how’d they’d make it competitive, but also that it’s cooperative with a solo mode. All games don’t need a solo mode, but if you have a cooperative game, try and build it into the game. You’re already going to be dealing with the enemy, so might as well be able to do that as one player.

The Setting

Now, I know a lot of people the setting will be more of a draw than it is for me. But I have Skyrim, which I need to play. I’ve played some Oblivion as well. This is a big sprawling fantasy setting that has been around for a long time. What interests me about it, besides that it’s tied to a game that I like, is that there is so much lore to draw from in Tamriel.

And that the core box, there will be expansions, is 30 main story quests. That is a ton of content. And the you play three of those in kind of a mini campaign is interesting. I wish that they were doing a full campaign, the Too Many Bones mini campaigns seem fine, but I also appreciate that they are trying to balance a game with story and with being able to get it played.

Will I Back It?

This is one of those things, I want to see more. And I want to know the price point. If I were to guess now, yes, I’d back this game because it looks great. I’d back it because it’s Chip Theory Games and it’s iterating on a very successful design with Too Many Bones. Plus it’s a world that I like.

But how much will it cost. That’s the other big question. I got Burncyle and expansions for $200 or so. I think this will cost more. Now, I might try and rush it and grab one of the pledges that gets you future Chip Theory Games pledges for future crowdfunding campaigns. But there aren’t many of those each campaign and they aren’t cheap. But probably worth it.

I do appreciate that thy put this out so far ahead of time. I want to sit down, now, and play some Too Many Bones: Undertow. It is a system that I know, but I’ll need to relearn and I need to see how much I love it. Too Many Bones isn’t easy to get your hands out, at least it isn’t cheap to get your hands on. But if The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era looks interesting, it’s worth trying to play.

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