The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles Preview

1Up has published a new preview of Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles expansion pack, taken from a recent issue of Games For Windows magazine.
As if grappling with the Prince of Destruction wasn't enough, Sheogorath--the Daedric Prince of Madness--needs a hero. "Basically, there's an impending threat to Sheogorath's realm, and because of the nature of that threat, he needs a mortal's help," explains Shivering Isles' lead designer Mark Nelson. "Players will need to rise in the ranks of the Court of Madness in order to earn the respect of the citizens of the Shivering Isles and eventually repel the threat."

Adolescent power fantasy redux? Maybe not. While Nelson admits you'll still engage in a healthy amount of "find this" and "kill that"--"Let's face it," he argues, "The Lord of the Rings was really just one big FedEx quest."--the ambience sounds delightfully demented. "The 'creative' and 'psychotic' themes gave us lots of room to create interesting characters with sometimes bizarre motivations," Nelson says. Meaning that, while ticking off your checklists untangling conspiracies and rebuilding broken artifacts, you'll be dancing toe-to-toe with some of the looniest clucks in The Elder Scrolls coop.