Note: for this review for The Elder Scrolls Online: Markarth, like any future review I may do for an ESO DLC, I only cover the content present in the DLC itself. I will not discuss the base game changes that came with this patch. Also note that there are minor visual spoilers present; I only took screenshots from the early portion of the expansion. No story spoilers here.

Introduction

For those who may not be familiar, Markarth is the final entry in this year’s “Dark Heart of Skyrim” year-long story in The Elder Scrolls Online. Beginning last year, Zenimax Online Studios has been building stories that span the entire year. Last year was the Year of the Dragon, which was all about… well, dragons. This year saw players exploring western Skyrim and working to resolve a sprawling vampire plot.

So, does Markarth perform well at not only standing on its own, but also capping off this epic fantasy tale? Moreover, how does it compare to previous ESO DLCs in terms of value and quality? And is the explorable zone a ripoff of the landscape present in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, or is it a fresh interpretation of the setting?

A Dwemer centurion outside of a ruin.
A Dwemer centurion outside of a ruin in ESO: Markarth.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Markarth is fairly similar to the rest of ESO‘s story content; talk to X, kill Y, repeat. The story content is scaled in a way that is accessible to most players. This is mostly a good thing, though I understand higher-level players want more challenge.

There is a fair bit of variety in enemies; some new Dwarven machines populate the dungeons (finally), and there’s a fair bit of new and reskinned creatures throughout both the overland zone and Blackreach, the underground zone. I wish there was more overall variety, but I understand that corners have to be cut if a piece of software is going to launch on time.

There is a brand-new solo arena for endgame players as well: Vateshran Hollows. I haven’t tried it yet, however; my ping recently has been too high for me to be willing to try it. (That, and I am a very rusty endgame player.)

Finally: there is a reasonable amount of collectible cosmetics present throughout the zone, including what was added to the Antiquities system that was originally introduced earlier this year.

Scenery

Whenever a new story expansion comes out for ESO, I tend to spend my entire questing time on foot. I never use a mount, and I use wayshrines sparingly; I prefer to take my time and enjoy the scenery. It was no different during my time with Markarth, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

One of many scenic locations in Blackreach, which is underground.
One of many beautiful and scenic locations in Blackreach, the underground zone in ESO: Markarth.

First, the obvious question: how does it compare to the same region in TES V: Skyrim, which is set roughly 1,000 years after ESO? Thankfully, I can say that while many locations certainly feel familiar, they don’t feel like simple rehashes of the previous material. No location is an exact 1:1 copy from Skyrim, but there are plenty of similarities. I’ve highlighted a few in some screenshots below.

A scene in ESO: Markarth.
The same location in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
The titular city of Markarth in ESO.
Markarth in TES V: Skyrim.
Understone Keep in the depths of Markarth.
Understone Keep in Skyrim.
A different angle of Understone Keep.
Understone Keep from roughly the same angle, in Skyrim.

In addition to making certain locations feel like “home” for series veterans, the team at ZOS did an excellent job making the Dwemer ruins feel like they belong in Skyrim — much like how the Dwemer ruins in ESO‘s Morrowind expansion felt very similar to the ones present in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

Beyond the comparisons to TES V: Skyrim, the environments are superb. Each subsequent story update to the game is a clear visual improvement over the last, and Markarth (along with the underground Blackreach area) is a treat to explore.

Story

My feelings about the story are somewhat mixed. Markarth is a bit short, even for one of ESO‘s small DLCs, but it is helped by the Dark Heart of Skyrim epilogue questline. There aren’t quite as many interpersonal moments weaved throughout the dialogue as in past DLCs and expansions, but there are still plenty of opportunities to dive deep into the lore of the land. The story kicks off with a proper introduction to the Reachmen, a group of people treated generally as savages in TES V: Skyrim, and players learn a lot about them and their culture in the first half of the main quest… but their presence isn’t felt as strongly in the second half.

It’s hard to comment on much more of the story without spoiling some fairly major elements, so I won’t delve too deeply here. Still, if you just want to save the world from a band of vampires hellbent on destroying everything, the story certainly is satisfactory. In addition, the epilogue quests do a great job of tying together the story told throughout the entire year.

Note: if you have played through the base game (specifically, the Daggerfall Covenant storyline), I highly recommend you play the Markarth prelude questline before diving into this DLC. There is a character introduced fairly early on in the proper Markarth main questline whose presence may be confusing for veteran players. If you haven’t done the Daggerfall questline, you can safely skip the prelude – though it does serve to provide some helpful context for the DLC.

Negatives

The explorable land in the DLC is split between two zones: The Reach, and Blackreach: Arkthzand Cavern. Even though the total area is larger than previous Q4 DLCs for ESO, it feels smaller since both zones individually are smaller than previous zones. This was an issue I had with the Greymoor expansion earlier this year, so it wasn’t a complete surprise, though it was still mildly off-putting.

Another issue I had that carried over from Greymoor is tied to the Harrowstorms. In general, Harrowstorms are large blood-red cones that you can see from far across the map. They each contain waves of enemies to defeat, with a big vampire boss at the end.

A Harrowstorm in ESO: Markarth.

I don’t have a problem with this sort of gameplay; it’s nice to have a simple, grindy activity to fill a few minutes. The problems arise with how the emergence of Harrowstorms are communicated to the player; there is no indication on the zone map when one of these storms is active (or if it’s close to completion). Contrast this with the dragons added in last year’s Elsweyr expansion; each time a dragon spawns, there is a clear marker on the map that indicates where it is and how low its health is. This would have been a great feature to add to the Harrowstorms, and I am surprised that the dev team went the whole year without adding it.

Closing Thoughts

It would be criminal for me to omit that Wes Johnson voices one of the main characters. Brilliant. The voice acting in this game is usually great, but it was especially well done this time.

All in all, I enjoyed ESO: Markarth. Sure, the main quest felt a little short, but that is offset by the epilogue quest, the new Antiquities activities, the new Vateshran Hollows arena, and all of the included side quests. It’s a good value for what you get.

All screenshots captured by me. You can find me in-game on the PC-NA server as @joshfong.