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Every Bethesda RPG Ranked From Worst to Best

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Ignacio Weil

Gaming - January 29th 2026, 17:00 GMT+1

Cropped The Elder Scrolls Blades — 14. The Elder Scrolls: Blades (2019)

Bethesda’s mobile experiment had a solid pitch – quick dungeon runs, bite-sized quests, and that familiar fantasy flavor you can tap through on a commute. The problem is that *The Elder Scrolls: Blades* never quite feels like a real Elder Scrolls game so much as a series of corridors with a leveling treadmill attached. The swipe-y combat can be fun in short bursts, but it also gets repetitive fast, and the town-building layer feels more like a timer-based obligation than a role-playing hook. It’s not unplayable, it’s just thin: lots of gear tinkering, not much world to actually live in. If you’re ranking “Bethesda RPGs,” this ends up closer to a side snack than a meal. | © Bethesda

Elder scrolls legend battlespire msn — 13. An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire (1997)

*An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire* is what happens when the series trades its wide-open fantasy wanderlust for a claustrophobic, puzzle-y crawl through hostile corridors. It’s an oddball even by late-90s standards: more dungeon grinder than open-world RPG, with a vibe that’s part grimy spelljammer, part combat trial. The setting is cool – this magical training ground turned nightmare – but the experience can feel unforgiving and cramped, especially if you came looking for the freedom people associate with *Elder Scrolls*. There’s a certain charm to how weird it is, yet that same weirdness makes it hard to recommend outside of “curiosity” territory. It’s a fascinating detour, not a comfortable classic. | © Bethesda

Elder scrolls arena msn — 12. The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)

The first game is less “play this for comfort” and more “play this to see the blueprint.” By the second sentence, you can already feel how *The Elder Scrolls: Arena* set the series’ core addiction: roam, loot, level, repeat, with a world that feels enormous even when the tech shows its age. The interface is clunky, the feedback is old-school opaque, and dungeons can stretch into exhausting labyrinths that make you miss modern map design. But the scale is still impressive for its time, and there’s something charming about how unapologetically it throws you into the deep end. It’s historically essential – and definitely not the entry most people should start with today. | © Bethesda

Cropped The Elder Scrolls Adventures Redguard — 11. The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (1998)

This one deserves credit for trying something the series almost never does: a focused, story-forward adventure with an actual named hero at the center. You play as Cyrus, and the whole thing leans into swashbuckling energy – more “action-adventure” than sandbox role-play, with a setting that feels distinctly different from the usual snowy mountains and medieval gloom. The catch is that the linear structure and awkward combat make it feel stiff compared to what fans want from Bethesda. Still, there’s personality here – characters, politics, and a sense of place that foreshadows how much richer the worldbuilding would get later. It’s a rough ride, but the ambition is easy to respect in *The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard*. | © Bethesda

Cropped The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall — 10. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996)

For a lot of players, this is the moment Bethesda’s ambition stopped being a promise and became a problem you could actually get lost in. In *The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall*, scale is the main character: enormous regions, sprawling dungeons, and enough quests to make you forget what you were originally doing. The flip side is that it can feel unwieldy – navigation, pacing, and procedural weirdness are part of the deal, not occasional hiccups. Still, there’s a specific magic to how free it feels, like you’re wandering through a fantasy simulation more than a curated theme park. It’s messy, historic, and oddly hypnotic. | © Bethesda

9. Starfield (2023)

*Starfield* is at its best when it leans into Bethesda’s comfort zone: quest hubs full of little stories, factions with competing agendas, and that familiar loop of getting distracted for hours because you opened the wrong door. The new stuff – space travel, ship building, planet hopping – can feel both impressive and oddly fragmented, like you’re bouncing between great ideas that don’t always fuse into one seamless experience. Some players love the scale and the sandbox freedom; others miss the dense, hand-crafted sprawl that makes *Skyrim* and *Fallout* feel like one continuous place. The shooting is more confident than older Bethesda combat, and the role-playing options can shine when you commit to a build and a mindset. It’s ambitious, often fun, and just a little too stitched together to rank with the studio’s cleanest classics. | © Bethesda

8. Fallout 76 (2018)

Nothing in Bethesda’s modern history has had a more dramatic “first impression vs. later reality” gap than this one. *Fallout 76* launched as a rough online experiment – thin on story, heavy on frustration – then slowly rebuilt itself through years of updates that added NPCs, questlines, and more traditional *Fallout* structure. Even now, the vibe is a little different from the single-player classics, because the world has to support other players and live events without breaking. But when it’s working, the Appalachian setting is genuinely great, and the scavenging loop can be dangerously addictive. It’s still a strange entry in the family, just no longer the punchline it used to be. | © Bethesda

7. The Elder Scrolls Online (2014)

If your brain wants Tamriel as a place you can hang out in forever, this one is basically a bottomless buffet. The MMO structure means *The Elder Scrolls Online* isn’t chasing the same lone-wanderer fantasy as the mainline games, but it compensates with sheer breadth: regions, story arcs, dungeons, and constant new reasons to log back in. The writing can be surprisingly solid for an online game, and the worldbuilding is packed with deep-cut lore that feels like a love letter to Elder Scrolls obsessives. Combat and progression aren’t for everyone, especially if you prefer the single-player rhythm, yet it’s hard to deny how much “Elder Scrolls” is actually in it. As a long-term home base, it’s quietly one of Bethesda’s biggest successes. | © Bethesda

6. Fallout 4 (2015)

*Fallout 4* is the Bethesda RPG you boot up “just to check something,” then suddenly you’ve spent two hours looting desk fans because you’re short on screws. The moment-to-moment loop is slick – shooting feels better, exploring feels smoother, and the Commonwealth is stuffed with the studio’s favorite kind of distractions. The trade-off is role-playing texture: the voiced protagonist and dialogue structure can make choices feel narrower than in older games. Settlement building is either your new hobby or the thing you politely ignore, but it’s undeniably a huge pillar of the experience. Even with its rough edges, it’s an addictive sandbox that understands the joy of getting sidetracked. | © Bethesda

Cropped The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind — 5. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)

Stepping off the boat and realizing nobody is going to guide you is half the point, and the world doesn’t apologize for it. In the middle of its alien landscapes and faction politics, *The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind* makes discovery feel earned – giant mushrooms, strange customs, and quests that expect you to pay attention. The early hours can be punishing if you’re used to modern hand-holding, but that friction is what makes progression feel real. The writing leans deep into culture and lore instead of simple hero fantasy, and it treats the player like an adult. If you want the Elder Scrolls entry that feels the most like being dropped into another society, this is it. | © Bethesda

Cropped Fallout 3 — 4. Fallout 3 (2008)

Before the memes and the endless debates, there was the simple shock of stepping out into daylight and realizing the world had teeth. The Capital Wasteland is bleak in a way that feels iconic now, full of ruined landmarks and small side stories that make the apocalypse feel personal instead of abstract. Bethesda’s shift to first-person exploration gave the series a new kind of immersion, even if the gunplay and RPG systems show their age compared to later entries. What really sells *Fallout 3* is the mood: lonely radio songs, moral choices that feel grimy, and a cityscape that looks like history got sandblasted. For a generation of players, this was the moment *Fallout* became a mainstream obsession. | © Bethesda

Cropped The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion — 3. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006)

There’s a storybook warmth to Cyrodiil that makes the game feel inviting even when it’s being goofy. Some of the faces and AI quirks are unintentionally hilarious, but the questlines are sincerely great – especially the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild arcs that still get brought up all these years later. *The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion* also carries that mid-2000s Bethesda charm where wandering is the real game and the main quest is just one option among many. The leveling system can be messy, yet the sense of freedom is huge, and the world is constantly nudging you toward “just one more” detour. It’s the entry that made Bethesda’s open-world formula feel mainstream-friendly. | © Bethesda

Cropped Fallout New Vegas — 2. Fallout: New Vegas (2010)

Choice is the whole religion here, and the game doesn’t just let you pick a side – it makes you live with what that decision does to the Mojave. The writing gives factions real ideological teeth, and quests are packed with delicious compromises where there’s no clean “good” button, only consequences. Even if the gunplay and visuals are rougher than later Fallout polish, *Fallout: New Vegas* wins on role-playing depth: builds feel distinct, dialogue is sharper, and the world reacts with satisfying specificity. The smaller stories – the weird towns, the opportunists, the broken dreamers – still feel part of one coherent political ecosystem. If you come to these RPGs for freedom that actually changes outcomes, this is the benchmark. | © Bethesda

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim — 1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)

At some point you realize you were heading to a quest marker two hours ago, and instead you’ve joined a guild, cleared a ruin, and accidentally become a local legend. That’s the magic: the world is built to reward wandering, and every road seems to hide another hook. The role-playing systems are streamlined compared to older entries, but *The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim* trades complexity for approachability in a way that keeps pulling new players in. The atmosphere – music, mountains, weather, and that cozy Nordic grit – turned it into a cultural fixture, not just a hit. When people picture “Bethesda RPG,” this is usually what they mean. | © Bethesda

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Bethesda RPGs are the kind of games you don’t just finish – you live in them, glitchy charm and all. One person remembers the questlines, another remembers the mod list, and someone else still swears a random cave ruined their sleep schedule for a week.

This worst-to-best ranking looks at the big stuff: world design, role-playing freedom, combat feel, writing, and how each game holds up today. Expect some sacred cows, a couple of hot takes, and at least one entry you’ll defend like it’s your homeland.

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Bethesda RPGs are the kind of games you don’t just finish – you live in them, glitchy charm and all. One person remembers the questlines, another remembers the mod list, and someone else still swears a random cave ruined their sleep schedule for a week.

This worst-to-best ranking looks at the big stuff: world design, role-playing freedom, combat feel, writing, and how each game holds up today. Expect some sacred cows, a couple of hot takes, and at least one entry you’ll defend like it’s your homeland.