The Complete History of Open-world Games #1

[GameBanshee News]

PCZone has presented the first on a studio of the history of open-world games.

The year 1994 was a major one for PC gaming with the beginning of a role-playing series that would set standards for immersive 3D worlds: The Elder Scrolls.

Beginning with Arena (which you can now download for free at the game's 10th Anniversary page at elderscrolls.com), which was followed by Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion and many expansion packs, Bethesda's series takes in the empire of Tamriel and otherworldly realms such as the Shivering Isles, with the player character able to be a number of races (including Orc, Dark Elf, Imperial and Nord) and classes (such as knight, bard and sorcerer).

"I think that perhaps, the Elder Scrolls series has most of all pushed the idea that massive scale can also be manageable," says Howard. "That all the little details can be done to an extreme, yet the whole world can still fit together and tell its own story as you wander through it."