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Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The

EMAIL PRINT pc

8.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 83 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Developer: Bethesda Softworks

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: April 29, 2002

Summary

An epic, open-ended single-player game where you create and play any kind of character you can imagine. Be the noble hero embarking on an epic quest, or an insidious thief rising to leadership of his guild. Be a malevolent sorcerer developing the ultimate spell of destruction, or a reverent healer searching for the cure to a plague. Your actions define your character, and your gameplay changes and evolves in response to your actions. Confront the assassins' guild, and they take out a contract on you. Impress them, and they try to recruit you instead. No two sagas are the same in the world of Morrowind. [Bethesda Softworks]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon, The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Cheat Codes & Hints: Adrenaline Vault Cheat Code Central Game Revolution GameSpot Guide

Also On The Web: Official Game Site

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

GamePro

Morrowind effortlessly grabs the other PC RPGs by the throat, swings them around, and leaves them in a heap on the side of the road.

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100

G4 TV

One of the largest and most richly detailed fantasy worlds ever to wear a set of polygons. There are literally hundreds of hours of gameplay.

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100

Four Fat Chicks

It is a beautiful, exciting, rich, and well-written game. It is everything that a great CRPG hopes to be.

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100

Total Video Games

The most engrossing, deepest and open-ended videogame you’ll see for a very long time, at times it feels like more then a videogame, something to get completely caught up in and realise that time has no importance when you’re playing it.

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GamerWeb PC

Morrowind comes so close to perfection right out of the box.

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AtomicGamer

Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind is an excellent game that should keep most players busy for weeks. Its open-ended gameplay style is revolutionary, and will surely be emulated by future RPG titles.

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Armchair Empire

The best role-playing game I have played in years. It features wonderful graphics, a compelling main plot, an immense number of subplots, and all the micro-management a pen-and-paper role-playing game (RPG) geek could ever want.

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IGN

Shows more planning, talent (aesthetic, programming, and design) and creative vision than anything I've played in a very long time.

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GameZone

Bethesda Softworks has fulfilled all the hype that the game has obtained. The game is not only brilliant, but also fun to play, and looks wonderful!

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Voodoo Extreme

A massive, open-ended game that allows the player to do what they want, when they want...The type of game you can play for six hours straight and not even realize it.

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ActionTrip

There's just so much that when I think about the experience of Morrowind, my mind goes into sensory overload and shuts down. There is that much going on with this game.

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PC Gameworld

This is a game that can stay on your hard drive for six months, still offering new experiences.

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Game Informer

One of the most in-depth and cerebral role-playing games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. [June 2002, p.84]

Pregaming

One of those games that just visually takes your breath away. It has some of the most detailed, and well realistically rendered environments and characters ever seen in a computer game.

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Quandary

It really feels like another world and you can play the game however you like - be a mage, thief, acrobat, pearl diver, bodyguard or warrior. Or like myself, be a little bit of each.

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Yahoo! Games

Walking down the steps into one of the larger cities, Balmora, for the first time is a moment that will stay with players for some time to come. It's the best-looking RPG to date, undoubtedly, and certainly ranks among the most graphically-impressive games around.

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Computer Gaming World

Comes close to being the massive, sprawling, open-ended, role-playing epic you've always dreamed of. [August 2002, p.68]

Gamer's Pulse

An impressive project, and I have an ocean full of respect and admiration for the ambition, energy, and devotion that the developers poured into this game.

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GamePen

To put it simply, Morrowind is truly a game of epic proportions and will most likely only be finished by the most hardcore of gamers.

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PC Gamer

I'll still be playing it in months -- if not years -- from now, that's for sure. [July 2002, p.77]

Games Radar (in-house)

Morrowind will please both serious role-playing fans as well as anyone looking for a technically stunning adventure that will hold their attention longer than your average hack-and-slash title. This is the good stuff.

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GameSpy

It ranks right up there with recent classics such as "Baldur's Gate," "Fallout," "Arcanum," and "Planescape: Torment" in terms of sheer enjoyment, and is a game every role-playing fan needs to own.

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GameSpot

Offers some of best value for the money of any single-player game currently available, and it ranks up there in terms of size, scope, and quality with some of the best games the role-playing genre has ever had to offer.

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Game Over Online

With such an expansive game, it was bound to have multiple technical issues. Not only did I, and other people, experience these problems for quite a while before the game finally worked, but even after a patch was released, random crashes and other problems still occurred. Technical issues aside, this is still a great game.

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Game Revolution

The Elder Scrolls tech support forum is overflowing with user complaints about compatibility issues. At any rate, this is still the biggest, deepest, most detailed RPG to hit the PC since Daggerfall, and for that, earns high marks.

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Adrenaline Vault

Elegant, enormously detailed and full of extraordinary stories (to say nothing of the construction set that allows you to make your own).

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Cincinnati Enquirer

This tale includes more than 3,000 nonplayer characters (NPCs) and hundreds of monsters to interact with, giving the impression this open-ended (and certainly nonlinear) game is as limitless as the player's imagination and time.

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All Game Guide

Players with high-end systems will enjoy the scenery and gameplay more, but the pauses and stuttering framerate will annoy everyone.

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Electric Playground

Subtract the balancing issues and the system requirements and it's not nearly as good as it could be, but I enjoyed my time with it.

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Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

At times this sense of freedom is overwhelming, and attending to the minutiae can be tiresome.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 83 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John Y gave it a10:
This game is absolutely the best RPG I ever played. I played the console version 2 times through with different characters and the PC version once through. And STILL have NOT done every quest there is to do. It is a huge open world and the expansions add to it. There is countless replayability, and endless customization for making characters. And even still has a nice graphics engine for it's time. It has a long and in depth story and really indulges you into the game world. I believe this is a must buy for any RPG fan and will not disappoint. Easily a 10 out of 10.

PrimeXenon gave it a10:
There's games that are criticised by intelligent people for genuine reasons, and then there's games like Morrowind that are criticised by frankly daft people with an IQ clearly lower than Ned Flanders garden hedge. The main criticism seems to be the combat - (and in-game NPC's even say this about a zillion times) to hit enemies you need a high lvl of fatigue. When you think theres enemies about slow to a WALK. Is that really too taxing on your brain? Nearly every "review" I've read has criticised not being "able to hit things", I cant believe theres people still criticising the game for this a Decade after its release... It truly is pathetic. Perhaps they ought to think about bringing that Rover back?

Mick J gave it a9:
How is it possible I've to read certain things... Morrowind is a RPG, unlike Oblivion. In a RPG you have to train your skills to ACTUALLY "hit the things". If anyone wants to always hit then go playing OB or any other hack'n'slash. Pros: an incredibly well-constructed story, with a very detailed politic background, a stunning enviroment diversity, a very good, quite balanced skill system, same for the magic system, satisfying side-quests, a great soundtrack. Cons: too many bugs (without (un)official patches), combat system sometimes a bit "scabby" switching between phis. and mag. attacks, and I preferred more RPG style weapon attacks with random damage. Conclusion:there would be many other things to say, but the fact is that THIS is a masterpiece, to enjoy little by little, without being in a hurry.

Robert T gave it a10:
An amazing game; full of an awesome storyline that takes you through an enticing magical world... the person who reviewed before me has no idea of how great this game is...

David L gave it a0:
This game is so overrated... Even if the world is vast and things like that, it's so deeply flawed that I won't even give a 1/10. The fighting system gives me nightmares, when I try to kill something I have to try to swing my weapon about 10 times to actually hit the thing. This game has an extreme amount of bugs, so many that this review would be longer than the bible if I wrote them down. Many Morrowind fans say that this game is better than Oblivion, but it simply is not. If you're reading this review, don't buy this game. Ever.

Imran A gave it a9:
The best of the ES series (Better than Oblivion too, you console kids). Epic scale and wide variety of adventures to be had. It starts a little rough for people unfamiliar with open world games and the combat is less than spectacular, but these somewhat major complaints barely scratch the gem that this game is.

Franck D gave it a10:
There s no game yet, that have come to the deepness and size of Morrowind. Especially for those that don tlike to be grabbed by the hand and understand the real meaning of an adventure and understand concept of P&P Role Playing Game... Oblivion compared to Morrowind is a failure. And still today 2009 due to the awesome quantity of mods, i still play Morrowind, while Oblivion has been sold after 3 weeks of weak gameplay, options and tale. I hope, but surely ain t waiting, that Oblivion V will be as grand as Morrowind. IF the company can only backtrack to its RPG heart as were Daggerfall and its predecessor i´ll be happy.

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Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The

Game Info

Summary

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What The Critics Said

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