The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996) for DOS is a massive open-world RPG and the second installment in The Elder Scrolls series, developed by Bethesda Game Studios. Set in the fictional continent of Tamriel, specifically the provinces of Daggerfall and the surrounding regions, the game offers players an enormous world to explore—roughly 15,000 cities, towns, villages, and dungeons.
Key features of Daggerfall include:
- Massive World: The game world is one of the largest ever created in a video game, with hundreds of locations to discover. It’s procedurally generated, meaning it offers a nearly endless amount of content.
- Deep Role-Playing Elements: Players can create a custom character with various races, classes, and skills. The game allows you to join factions, complete quests, and interact with NPCs in an open-ended way.
- Real-Time Combat and Magic: Combat is real-time, and magic plays a big role in both combat and exploration. The game features a detailed spellcasting system with a wide variety of spells.
- Quest-driven Story: The main quest involves stopping the evil Queen of the Iliac Bay, but players can also take on side quests, explore dungeons, and build their character in multiple ways.
- Complex Economy: Daggerfall features a robust economic system with trading, buying, and selling goods, as well as influencing the market by your actions.
Despite its technological limitations, Daggerfall was ahead of its time in terms of ambition and scale, offering unprecedented freedom and player choice. It was notable for its depth, open-ended gameplay, and the sheer size of its world, though the graphics, being 2D with 3D models, have a dated look today.
