The Elder Scrolls is one of the biggest role-playing video game series of all time and Bethesda's most successful original IP, revolutionizing the idea of first-person RPG gameplay and having massive, sprawling worlds for players to explore. Games like Morrowind and Skyrim have reached multiple sales records and achieved critical acclaim, but the original two games, Arena and Daggerfall, have faded into obscurity. Previously released for free exclusively on the Bethesda Launcher, Arena and Daggerfall are now available for download on Steam with no extra charge.

As first-person action-adventure games in the vein of a fusion between DOOM and Ultima, the first two Elder Scrolls games were among the earliest to feature such a large scale, with Arena actually being nearly infinite with its procedurally generated worlds. However, these titles haven't necessarily aged well, with many modern gamers noting their clunky controls, obtuse mechanics, and unforgiving difficulty. Still, it's easy to see how influential these games were to not only future Elder Scrolls entries, but also to gaming as a whole.

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Arena is definitely the harder of the two games to get into, which is understandable since it's the first. Beyond the wonder of exploring many villages and forests that are randomly-generated, Arena is a fairly typical dungeon crawler with a simple story about a player whose thrust into a collect-a-thon journey to defeat an evil wizard. Combat is as clunky as one might expect from an early Elder Scrolls game, with directional swinging based on mouse location and magic being over-powered.

Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall Skeleton

A lot of mainstay aspects of the series' lore and world are very different or absent entirely, such as the lack of playable Orcs (who are always evil), the Dwarves being alive (and very Tolkinesque), Khajit looking more like normal humans with face paint, and the lack of Daedra. On top of this, the gameplay is extremely unforgiving, as there are only designated areas to save in, status effects are more deadly, and almost anything and everything will be trying to kill you.

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As for Daggerfall, the game is considered a massive improvement on Arena on multiple levels and the true start of where the series becomes definitively "Elder Scrolls." Featuring a far more robust world, many elements from the series' lore make their first real appearance here, most importantly the Daedra. Daggerfall also has a wide variety of guilds for the player to join, from the Thieves' Guild to the Dark Brotherhood, which return in later games. The only thing really holding Daggerfall back is that many of these new features would be greatly improved in later Elder Scrolls titles.

While both of these games certainly show their age, which may turn off many newer Elder Scrolls fans, Arena and Daggerfall are both still worth taking a look as major pieces of gaming history. Seeing the evolution of one of the greatest fantasy RPGs ever made is a treat for those interested in gaming history and preservation, as well as fans of Bethesda's magnum opus. The fact that they are free also means they're incredibly accessible for with the time and patience to experience them.