The next year of The Elder Scrolls Online aims to take players back to “the dark heart of Skyrim” via several expansions set in the icy region. The latest stop on the itinerary, Greymoor, released yesterday for folks on PC and Mac, introducing a new questline, updates to the Vampire skill line, and, most importantly, an intro cinematic that should be familiar to anyone who’s ever played Skyrim.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim remains one of my favourite games of all time, but back in 2011, I never imagined its opening would become a pervasive internet meme. And yet, over the last few years, online jokesters have inserted those first few moments into otherwise unrelated videos as a new sort of Rickroll. While you may not be entering Skyrim as a prisoner this time around, Greymoor pays homage to Skyrim’s iconic prelude during its own introduction.
“Hey, you’re finally awake!” the wagon driver announces. “We just crossed the border.”
As your vision clears, you realise you’re travelling through snowy, mountainous woods. A man sits on the opposite bench, eyeing you warily before returning to his book. After a bit of table-setting exposition, the camera floats away to present sweeping vistas of the imposing Skyrim landscape in which I often found myself getting lost so many years ago.
I’m not an Elder Scrolls Online player. It never really clicked for me. But something about seeing the snow-capped peaks and evergreen shrubbery of Skyrim rendered so beautifully by modern graphics makes me want to give it another try. But who am I kidding, we all know I’ll probably just fish out my old copy of Skyrim and begin yet another adventure there instead.
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