This is three weeks old, but time is a construct. Philip Boyes is an expert on writing systems and cryptic alphabets, and he has looked at games that use fictional script over on Eurogamer. Zelda’s ancient Hylian is mentioned, and the rune-like alphabet of the Elder Scrolls gets a shout-out too. But also discussed is Sethian, a game about deciphering a dead alien language based on the responses of an old computer, covered with symbolic buttons to mash. I liked this game and it’s good to see both its failings and strengths discussed from the perspective of someone who understands how these magical squiggly lines are born. It’s an interesting read and not too long or hyper-detailed (except maybe when he talks about “deciphering Linear B based on internal correspondences”… buh?). Anyway, fans of silly-looking text, give it a read.

My earliest memories of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall were of fear and excitement at the boundless possibilities of a true fantasy sandbox. Of amazement at the most comprehensive character creation screen I’d ever seen, and of deep annoyance when I managed to fall through the floor and into an endless void in the first minute of the game.

I’ve spent over twenty years waiting for someone to fix Daggerfall, and that dream seems tantalisingly close to being realised. Daggerfall Unity (Daggerfall ported to the Unity engine, shockingly, and something we’d briefly covered years ago) can now be played to completion, and with greatly reduced risk of falling through a crack in the world.

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With the announcement of The Elder Scrolls: Legends, an upcoming free-to-play strategy card game set in the Elder Scrolls universe, Bethesda’s quest to become Blizzard continues in earnest. They clearly want a piece of that Hearthstone pie. At this rate we’ll see Bethesda announce a MOBA, perhaps named Heroes Of The Scrolls, at E3 next year.

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In case you haven’t figured it out by now, the DICE Summit is a place where a bunch of game developers congregate to say things. Lots of things. Promising things, important things, silly things. But these sorts of events tend to have a unifying thread running through them – something that stitches all the itsy-bitsy baby things into a mighty Thingzilla. This year, though, it was a bit strange. The conference’s main refrain was “So yeah, what’s next?” But the reply was a chorus of “Errr, I dunnos.” The future’s right around the corner, but is it bite-sized and lo-fi, biometric, entirely user-driven, mobile, console, open, closed, or something else entirely? On edge, is how I’d describe the general sentiment. Unsure. Well, except for when I spoke with Bethesda‘s Todd Howard. He didn’t seem particularly worried, in large part thanks to these here personal computing devices we’re so fond of.

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