An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire

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In "An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire," players must investigate a mysterious situation at the Battlespire, an elite training center in a pocket realm of Oblivion. When they arrive, they find the staff dead and the gate back to Tamriel blocked. To escape, players must fight their way through hordes of daedra and navigate the dark realms of Oblivion. This action-packed game offers a challenging and immersive experience for fans of the Elder Scrolls series.

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An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire screenshot

67%

Audience ScoreBased on 95 reviews

gameplay5 positive mentions

stability13 negative mentions

Battlespire offers a unique setting and lore, exploring a darker corner of the Elder Scrolls universe with interesting Daedric enemies and a captivating story.
The game features a challenging combat system that requires strategy and timing, appealing to players who enjoy tactical battles.
The character creation system is well thought out, allowing for a high degree of customization and flexibility in building your character.

The game suffers from clunky controls and a cumbersome interface, making navigation and combat frustrating for players.
Battlespire's linear gameplay limits exploration and freedom, which may disappoint fans expecting the expansive worlds of other Elder Scrolls titles.
Numerous bugs and glitches, including save corruption issues, significantly hinder the gameplay experience, making it feel unpolished and difficult to enjoy.

gameplay
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
57%
19%
The gameplay of Battlespire is characterized by its linear dungeon-crawling format, diverging from the open-world style of the Elder Scrolls series. While it offers a unique combat-focused experience with engaging dialogue options, players frequently criticize its clunky mechanics, buggy controls, and lack of polish, which detract from the overall enjoyment. Despite these flaws, the game's atmosphere and storyline have potential, suggesting that a refined version could be worth exploring in the future.
- “The game offers a challenging and engaging gameplay experience set in a rich and detailed world that will keep you hooked from start to finish.”
- “You can dialogue with your enemies; this is a unique game mechanic that can help you pacify some of your foes if you don't have enough health to fight.”
- “So although the gameplay is a bit dated, I would still recommend giving it a fair chance to play just so you can enjoy the dialogue!”
- “It's a game that tries to offer something different, focusing on combat and a darker storyline, but falls short due to its limited scope, clunky mechanics, and lack of polish.”
- “This game is a buggy and difficult mess with barely any documentation about its deeper mechanics anywhere online.”
- “This game has no tutorial and the gameplay is so old school it's painful to attempt.”
story
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
60%
15%
The game's story, set in a mysterious interdimensional fortress, attempts to expand the series' lore with new daedric enemies and unique level design, but suffers from a lack of clarity and polish, leaving players feeling aimless. While some appreciate the darker tone and humor, many find the narrative underwhelming, with an anticlimactic ending and a gameplay experience that feels rushed and confusing. Overall, the story has potential but is better experienced through summaries or playthroughs rather than direct engagement with the game itself.
- “The game’s story is set within a strange, interdimensional fortress and introduces new Daedric enemies, providing an interesting backdrop and expanding the series' lore.”
- “The story follows the siege of the Battlespire by Mehrunes Dagon and his forces.”
- “This is far better than the NPCs of Arena and Daggerfall, as they mainly exist to either just give you a quest or tell you a location of something, whereas here you can actually have conversations, and all the dialogue is voice-acted to boot.”
- “It's definitely not comparable to any of the main titles from the franchise, but I do appreciate the direction and story it was attempting to tell.”
- “If you are interested in the story of this game, I would recommend you watch it on YouTube or somewhere else.”
- “The game just overall feels a lot more aimless than Daggerfall or Arena, which is saying a lot considering Daggerfall was an entirely open-ended non-linear adventure, but here you are just placed in a building with no clue where to go or what's going on, and this is by design; the plot is that your player character is misled into this building and has no idea what's going on.”
stability
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is severely criticized, with numerous reports of game-breaking bugs, save file corruption, and erratic mechanics that hinder gameplay. Players describe it as a "buggy mess" with frustrating difficulty spikes and clunky controls, making it nearly unplayable despite its intriguing premise and handcrafted levels. Overall, the game's technical issues overshadow its potential, leading to a consensus that it is not worth recommending.
- “No amount of humorous dialogue can make up for a game so horrifically buggy, even after a handful of official patches, as to be, without hyperbole, almost unplayable.”
- “Having reached level 5, I have faced many save-corrupting glitches that broke my game and made me quit.”
- “Prepare for stupidity, insanity, and a good premise and concept done wrong by its literal game-breaking glitches and bugs, some of which can corrupt a save file on level 5. Back up your saves before this level as each 'drop to dos' slowly corrupts your saves.”
music
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
10%
30%
The music in Battlespire receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate its atmospheric qualities and find it enjoyable, others feel it lacks the excitement of previous titles like Arena and Daggerfall. Certain tracks are noted for being creepy and unsettling, but there are complaints about looping issues and a general sense of boredom in the soundtrack. Overall, the music is seen as a highlight by some, but not universally praised.
- “Music and dialogue are great!”
- “The music is fantastic, a lot of the visual style I enjoy a great deal.”
- “The music is also very good.”
- “Level 3 and 6 music tracks are incredibly creepy and unsettling.”
- “Most of the music is just mediocre.”
- “The music is much more atmospheric, which I suppose is 'better,' but to me, it feels boring and drab compared to the great soundtracks of Arena and Daggerfall.”
atmosphere
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
30%
The atmosphere in the game is a mixed bag, with some players appreciating the handcrafted dungeons and immersive exploration reminiscent of Oblivion, while others criticize the basic sound design and lack of depth compared to earlier titles like Morrowind. While some find the darker, more atmospheric setting engaging, others feel it detracts from the overall experience, describing it as drab and uninteresting. Overall, the atmosphere is noted as a strong point for some games like Battlespire, but opinions vary widely among players.
- “I like the atmosphere and Oblivion aesthetic, and the dungeons this time actually feel handcrafted. You can get your bearings and know where you are without a map, unlike Arena or Daggerfall.”
- “Each world is original and feels good to explore. The atmosphere is awesome; it really feels like you are wandering in the dangerous planes of Oblivion.”
- “Aesl: Battlespire is a true RPG dungeon crawler from 1997 with an incredible daedric atmosphere that holds up in 2022.”
- “Now that I've stumbled through roughly the first third of the game, though... this is the kind of pretentious and nonsensical gibberish that the fantasy genre used to be mocked for, and it entirely lacks the atmosphere Morrowind provided to make the obtuse worldbuilding presentable.”
- “While I admit that the gameplay is clunky and in some cases completely broken, I don't feel like this detracts from the atmosphere Battlespire has.”
- “The writing isn't the best you'll find, but the atmosphere makes up for it.”
graphics
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
44%
33%
The graphics of Battlespire are generally criticized for being poor and outdated, featuring blocky textures and limited animations that fail to impress even for its release period. While some appreciate the atmospheric design and hand-crafted dungeons, the overall aesthetic is marred by low-resolution visuals and a lack of polish, making it difficult for the game to compete with its predecessors in the Elder Scrolls series. Despite its intriguing setting, the graphical shortcomings significantly detract from the overall experience.
- “I like the atmosphere and Oblivion aesthetic, and the dungeons this time actually feel handcrafted. You can get your bearings and know where you are without a map, unlike Arena or Daggerfall.”
- “If you can look past the low-res textures, the overall aesthetic is really top-notch. The Daedric architecture is foreboding, sinister, and larger-than-life.”
- “Poor graphics and sound design: even for its time, Battlespire's graphics are lackluster, with blocky textures and limited animation.”
- “The graphics are rough, but worse, it's not smooth.”
- “It's like they tried to be 'cutting-edge' and threw in everything they could to spruce the graphics up more than the game engine could really handle.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by funny dialogue and unexpected moments that can elicit genuine laughter, particularly regarding the daedra's political workings. However, many players feel that the humor is overshadowed by significant technical issues, making the game nearly unplayable despite its potential for a good story and comedic elements. Overall, while there are highlights in the humor, they are not enough to redeem the game's numerous bugs.
- “It's also got some funny dialogue and a few interesting tidbits about the daedra, such as their political workings.”
- “But on the positive side, the game does seem to have a potentially good story and humor and could be interesting if it was remastered properly.”
- “I burst out laughing multiple times because it's always at unexpected times.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
100%
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with players reporting issues such as poor fullscreen performance and numerous bugs. Additionally, the challenging gameplay, particularly in the early stages, can be exacerbated by suboptimal character builds, making the experience feel punishing. Despite these issues, some players still find enjoyment in the game.
- “Optimization and bugs are very much present, and the game itself is incredibly punishing early on, especially depending on your build. However, the game, while different and less than Daggerfall, is enjoyable and has its moments.”
- “Let's just say that this game did not work in fullscreen... when it comes to how poorly optimized... wow, this is sad.”
- “Optimization and bugs, oh very much so, and the game itself is incredibly punishing early on, especially depending on your build.”
- “This game is hard, even with a custom optimized class (I played as a warrior).”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that grinding in dungeon crawlers can detract from the overall enjoyment, with players expressing a preference for engaging, story-driven experiences over tedious gameplay. Comparisons to earlier titles like Daggerfall highlight a desire for more rewarding and less repetitive mechanics, suggesting that the removal of certain systems, like the rest system in Arena, may lead to a less satisfying experience in Battlespire.
- “Dungeon crawlers should be fun and not a grindy, un-rewarding slog.”
- “If you have experience with Daggerfall, the entirety of Battlespire is essentially a string of better designed, less tedious, more story-based, handcrafted Daggerfall dungeons.”
- “The rest system in Arena is tedious, but viable, which was then greatly improved in Daggerfall, so of course, Battlespire chooses to remove it entirely.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers note that Battlespire suffers from a lack of depth and replayability due to its simplified character progression and fewer RPG elements compared to other Elder Scrolls titles, making it less engaging for repeated playthroughs.
- “Lack of depth and replayability: with fewer RPG elements and a more simplified character progression system, Battlespire lacks the depth and replayability of other Elder Scrolls games.”