Review for The Elder Scrolls Legends: Islands of Madness. Game for Android, iOS and PC, the video game was released on 24/01/2019
Despite the passing of time, The Elder Scrolls Legends “Holds botta”, as we would say in Rome. The card game developed by Bethesda (and now also in collaboration with Sparkypants Studios) does nothing but improve month after month, even with a renewed graphics, holding up the comparison without major problems with giants like Hearthstone and Gwent.
After Houses of Morrowind, the brand new expansion came out a couple of weeks ago, Islands of Madness which adds a new story, new cards (not to unwrap, but automatic with the purchase of the campaign), and new game mechanics!
Welcome to madness
Those who know the world of Elder Scrolls, or who have at least played Skyrim, the latest chapter in the saga released so far, will certainly know Sheogorath. The Daedric prince of madness is the protagonist of one of the most beautiful and unforgettable missions of the entire Skyrim, and has since become one of the most iconic characters, despite his little importance within the story itself. In The Elder Scrolls Legends: Islands of Madness we will travel that little adventure in this expansion, to which a story divided into 3 chapters is dedicated.
Kellen and Nagh are two vagabonds, desert travelers with a lot of time to waste on their marches. To break the monotony, Kellen decides to tell Nagh a story about Talym Rend, a former spy of the Empire, who in turn recounts our exploits in the Trembling Isles to save our son Novos from madness. Indeed, the search for Sheogorath is our goal, in a story that will test our sanity between choices of sacrifices, feelings of guilt, and many characters who will help or hinder us. The story will get more and more interesting and unique as we go along, but it's mostly the victory conditions that make this story expansion fun. In fact, compared to the usual, we will not simply have to defeat our opponents with brute force, but rather "circumvent" various preset obstacles using the brain and a good dose of strategy, sometimes even going so far as to solve puzzles or puzzles that, at higher difficulties can put anyone to the test.
New, crazy mechanics
Of course, an expansion is not an expansion without new mechanics for the new cards that are given to us. This also applies to Isles of Madness, which introduces several new features. The first of them is the phenomenon of Double Cards. These special cards have an original that, when they are drawn from the deck, will make a second card appear in our hand with a different effect and cost. This second card is not random, but is always tied to the original Double Card drawn.
We then have two new field effects that can be set by creatures: one of the two halves of the playing field can now become Dementia o Mania. A Demencia field states that, at the start of each turn, the player with the highest attacking creature on that side deals 3 direct damage to the enemy. A Mania field, on the other hand, allows the player with the highest health in that area to draw a card, always at the beginning of each turn.
These new mechanics will allow, as usual, the meta to change constantly, with an evolution that we are very curious to test ourselves in the editorial office, which until now we used to use decks dedicated to Dragons. Too bad that the new expansion does not offer any dragons or any support for them, which means that we will have to adapt somehow to challenge the madness that is bursting from all the pores of this expansion.
The Elder Scrolls Legends: Isles of Madness is yet another proof that the card game dedicated to this saga is constantly evolving. We have followed it since its inception, and it is since its inception that we have recommended it, considering it even more interesting and fun than games that are perhaps too based on luck like Hearthstone. The new expansion has only about 55 cards, very few compared to the others and which therefore probably will not affect the meta in a particularly heavy way, however they are cards that will be automatically credited to you with the purchase of the DLC, without the obligation to purchase packages and hope for good luck. On top of that, Isle of Madness features a captivating story, brain-bending and fun challenges, and most importantly there's Sheogorath! We can only recommend it.
► The Elder Scrolls Legends: Isles of Madness is a Strategy-type game developed and published by Bethesda for Android, iOS and PC, the video game was released on 24/01/2019
