How to Play The Elder Scrolls Games in Order

The Elder Scrolls is one of the longest-running RPG franchises in all of gaming, but since there are so many games in the series, it can be difficult to figure out the best order to play them in. Most players are familiar with the modern entries in the series, like Skyrim, Oblivion, and The Elder Scrolls Online, but the earlier Elder Scrolls games still have a lot to offer.

With that said, playing every game in The Elder Scrolls series is tough if you don't have access to multiple platforms. With a few exceptions, there aren't really any Elder Scrolls remasters to make the older games available on modern consoles. Thankfully, every game in the series is available on PC, and the older games can run on basically any machine.

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By Andrea Trama

Elder Scrolls Games in Release Order

The Elder Scrolls series is over 30 years old, but there actually aren't that many games in the series compared to other storied franchises. The franchise is comprised of the following titles:

The Elder Scrolls: Arena
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls: Blades

It's pretty easy to determine the order in which the numbered mainline games were released, but there are some spinoffs that muddy the continuity a bit. Battlespire and Redguard were released in between Daggerfall and Morrowind, but they're safely skippable. Still, they're some of the only old Elder Scrolls spinoffs with modern ports, so you can check them out if you'd like.

The Elder Scrolls: Blades is technically the most recent Elder Scrolls game, surprisingly. It's a mobile-first dungeon-crawler with a Nintendo Switch port. Blades support is discontinued and there haven't been any updates in years, but it's still available for download. The same can't be said for games like The Elder Scrolls: Legends, a collectible card game that was delisted from all platforms in early 2025. Mobile gamers can also enjoy The Elder Scrolls: Castles, a fantasy-themed clone of Fallout Shelter, but there isn't any story in that one, so it's not included on the list.

Tge Elder Scrolls Games in Chronological Order

The Elder Scrolls timeline jumps around a bit with its spinoffs, letting players explore the eras in between numbered mainline titles. The following is the chronological order of the games:

The Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
The Elder Scrolls: Arena
An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls: Blades
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls Online and all of its expansions are the earliest chronological entries in the series. Then, Arena is sandwiched between Redguard and Battlespire. From there, the numbered entries can be played back to back until Oblivion, where the timeline takes a break to focus on Blades before ending up at Skyrim.

Again, there are a few Elder Scrolls spinoffs not mentioned on this list (like the Travels games), but these are the games that are currently playable on modern platforms. There are hundreds upon hundreds of hours of content in The Elder Scrolls series, and you can't really go wrong with any of them. That's not even mentioning the vast sea of Elder Scrolls mods for every game.

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