In the upcoming sixth chapter of The Elder Scrolls Online, High Isle, players will be introduced to a new region of Tamriel never before explored in any Elder Scrolls game. High Isle is part of the Breton kingdom and is a feudal society based on the Mediterranean and Medieval England. In Elder Scrolls Online lore introduced this chapter, High Isle has been chosen to host peace talks organized by the Society of the Steadfast to bring an end to the Three Banners War. However, other forces are at play that could threaten the negotiations for peace. Players will find themselves mired in political intrigue once more and fighting a more grounded threat than they have in previous expansions.
Every chapter of ESO features a major new mechanic, and High Isle's is the new tavern card game Tales of Tribute. The game is described as a resource-gathering deckbuilder that the citizens of Tamriel play at the tavern in their free time. Players can engage in either PvP or PvE matches and will be able to collect all the available cards just by playing the game. They'll earn different rewards from playing Tales of Tribute, including cosmetics, gold, transmute crystals, dyes, titles, and home furnishings. Tales of Tribute promises to be a deep mechanic of High Isle and introduce new ways for players to pass time when they aren't questing or battling monsters.
The process of designing new mechanics for established games can be a challenging endeavor. Tales of Tribute introduces the added challenge of being a deep game that required the creation of a separate leveling system and story progression to accommodate PvP and PvE play. Irenio Calmon-Huang, ESO's Senior Systems Designer, and Rich Lambert, Creative Director for ESO, recently sat down with Screen Rant to discuss the process of bringing the new tavern game to life and what else players can expect from the High Isle chapter.
Tales of Tribute is the big new mechanic coming with the High Isle expansion. Could you talk a little bit about the premise of this particular system?
Rich Lambert: Sure. The initial intent behind this is: what do people in Tamriel do to essentially pass time? What would you do if you were waiting on a ship to go somewhere, or in a tavern hanging out with your friends? You're probably going to drink, but you're also probably going to read or play cards or something like that.
We wanted to have this alternate activity for players to do that felt like it fit in the world of Tamriel.
Irenio Calmon-Huang: It was a good opportunity to offer something that wasn't just killing monsters in the world to everyone that plays as well.
Rich, I was wondering what the inspiration was for Tales of Tribute specifically.
Rich Lambert: The concept of tavern games has been something that I have been very, very interested in for a long time. I remember pitching things back in 2009, when we were still in the early pre-production phases of ESO, of having these alternate activities; these different ways to play the game and experience the lore and whatnot in the world.
I love killing things, I love collecting things, and I love doing the build and the math side of things. But I also love just the little - I don't want to say fluffy, because that's not what tribute is. It's a huge, deep system. But I love these different activities. If I'm just not in the mood to go grind some gear or some more levels or whatnot, I can just play this casual game and have it potentially turn into something that is my main focus. I love that concept and idea.
The way you described the system felt very deep and lore-heavy because you mentioned that there's story progression involved if they play with certain NPCs in the world. Is there any preview you can give about how that might work?
Irenio Calmon-Huang: If you hit up the High Isle chapter, you'll find in the main city that there's a club of gamers basically tucked away. There, you'll get introduced to the game by a lovable scamp named Bragus who will kind of get your toes wet with an introduction to the game.
He'll start you out with a couple of matches and, from there, you can learn about some of the history of the game. How it came about to be, some of the inspiration for the decks, and how it's taken to the wider world.
I think that's probably all I should say, without giving too much away. Because there's plenty of fun stuff there to discover.
Since Tales of Tribute is essentially a game within a game, what was it like trying to create that experience for this expansion?
Rich Lambert: It's been an adventure. Right, Irenio?
Irenio Calmon-Huang: Oh, yeah.
Rich Lambert: It's something that we've been working on for about a year now. I think the thing that I am most proud of, in terms of what the team and Irenio have been able to accomplish, is that this is a really big, and deep game. We spent a lot of time prototyping it; we did a lot of prototyping in Unity, working with our special projects group to prototype and fail early; to iterate on the game and the cards and the various mechanics.
It's something that we were able to build outside in prototype form, and figure out what was going to work before we actually put it in-game. That actually saved a ton of time for the team, when it got to the actual implementation in ESO.
And you guys did this entirely from home? Is that right?
Rich Lambert: We are just starting to return to the office in a bit of a flexible-slash-hybrid model. But, yeah, it's all been from home.
What was that like?
Irenio Calmon-Huang: It was challenging. Communication - a lot of the day-to-day discussions that you normally get to have when you're all working in the same space - tapered off, but we found ways to work through that. We've called many more meetings as a result, but with a bit more of a focus on trying to recover some of the collaboration that happens naturally when you're working in the same space.
I think we've gotten most of the way there. It's certainly taken some adjustment, but I think we've gotten to a pretty good place.
Rich Lambert: Yeah, it's amazing just how many game development problems are solved with those kind of random ad hoc water cooler chats. You walk by somebody's desk, and you're like, "Hey, that's cool. What is that?" Or, "Hey, that doesn't look quite right. What is that?"
We had to learn how to do those while we were all at home. And obviously, I'm not walking by Irenio's desk on the regular, and Irenio's not walking by artists' desks on the regular. We had to find new ways to do that, and it's definitely been a challenge.
I've been following along with the expansions for a few years now, and you guys have been doing this for two years.
Rich Lambert: Yep. Two years at home.
We've certainly learned a lot over the years. Looking at two years ago is crazy when we think about it, but looking at Greymoor and that year, there were some bumps where we were trying to figure out our way. But we put those lessons into practice, and I think High Isle is just that next evolution, right after Blackwood.
Blackwood was a lot better and a lot more solid than Greymoor, and I think High Isle is even better, so I'm really excited about it.
Irenio Calmon-Huang: The alacrity with which the studio shifted was also impressive. It was amazing to see. It was before my time, but I've heard all the tales, and putting people first was awesome.
Were there any other challenges that you ran into while trying to create this expansion, and Tales of Tribute specifically?
Rich Lambert: Yeah, absolutely. This is a huge game, and it is super complex. I think one of the biggest challenges that the team had was trying to make sure that this game, even though it's in ESO in a digital format, felt very physical and grounded in the world.
Tamriel isn't really a place where the everyday person is highly magical, so that was a huge thing for the team to try to navigate and figure out.
Irenio Calmon-Huang: That's when you take a small step back as well while figuring out exactly what types of games [can exist]. Because, really, you have options the world over of so many types of games that you can make - but finding something that specifically fit in Tamriel with the common person, that was a significant challenge and part of why doing a lot of prototyping really helped us to hone in on that.
I think you'll find that the game fits in with the lore of the world, fits in with the mundanity of some of the common people. They don't have to see fire and lightning or throw gold left and right in order to be able to play a game that's paper and paint on cards.
Not everybody has to fight monsters either at all times.
Irenio Calmon-Huang: Definitely so. I mean, hopefully not, at least.
You mentioned in the preview that there would be rewards players can earn by playing Tales of Tribute. For a lot of MMO fans, that is extremely enticing. What kinds of things can players expect to earn by playing the game?
Irenio Calmon-Huang: You could certainly earn additional decks and new cards. But outside of that, because we try and integrate every feature across the world, you'll be able to earn cosmetics, straight-up gold, transmute crystals, dyes, titles. It's really the gamut, like furnishings for your home.
If there's cool stuff, we've tried to include it in Tales of Tribute rewards.
Fantastic. Is that just for winning the game or for playing the game? How does that work?
Irenio Calmon-Huang: The questline will get you some of those rewards, but a lot of it is going to be in playing the game. You've got to play if you want to earn stuff. But you'll earn some rewards whether you win or you lose. It'll be better if you win, of course.
And in particular, I'm going to call out ranked play matches. There will be seasons, so you can compete and try and hit up the leaderboards to be the best in the world. And the rewards for that can be pretty astronomic.
Rich Lambert: I like to refer to them as juicy.
Apart from Tales of Tribute, are there other major changes that are coming to the world of ESO that players can expect in High Isle?
Rich Lambert: There's loads of quality-life-improvements; loads of bug fixes. There are two brand new companions coming along. Companions in Blackwood were really successful, so we have two more companions that have very unique personalities. And we've done some improvements just to the overall quality of companions in this update: more dialogue, so that they repeat less. The stories are a little bit deeper, the companions are a little bit smarter in terms of getting out of things and moving around and whatnot.
Yeah, there's lots of things. This is a big update, and it's not just Tribute.
Could you give a little bit more background on these companions? That was a really exciting mechanic last expansion, and I know fans have been asking for more of them.
Rich Lambert: Yeah, so there's two new ones. One is named Ember, and she is a Khajiit. As for her personality, she grew up on the streets. She's used to finding ways to survive so she's not really afraid of people stealing things or murdering other people. She's a little bit morally flexible if you will. She has just an amazing personality. She is probably my favorite companion that we have done to this point. I really love her storyline and who she is as a character.
The other character is basically the exact opposite of Ember. She is a Breton Knight named Isobel, and she has a very strong sense of what's right and what's wrong. But she doesn't go about it in a stuffy, insufferable way. Her character is actually really, really cool. And Isobel is voiced by Laura Bailey of Critical Role fame, so it was really exciting to be able to work with her again. I think players are really gonna go bonkers over Isobel.
That is exciting, my goodness. With this expansion, there's always a lot to explore and a lot to discover. But what was your favorite part of High Isle, and what do you think players need to know before they jump in?
Rich Lambert: Oh, boy. You're making me choose between my babies, How about I let Irenio go first?
Irenio Calmon-Huang: Sure, I'll buy you some time.
I referred to a lovable scamp that will introduce you to a bit of Tribute. That was really fun to hear come to life, because that level will scamp is voiced by Billy Boyd. Might be a little bit of recognition there from Lord of the Rings and the like. He's got a pretty wide range, but he's distinctive. So, I really loved that.
But in part, I'm just so very much looking forward to seeing players get their hands on Tales of Tribute because, as with so many things when you make a really deep game, there are gonna be strategies that people come up with you did not anticipate. And I'm quivering with anticipation to see that.
Rich Lambert: Yeah, I'm also really excited about Tribute. This has been a long time in the making. The team has been working on it for a year, but the concept of this game and tavern games has been bandied about and pitched several times over the years. So, I'm really excited that we finally get that in there.
But if you're asking me to pick just one thing out of all of this, it's got to be Ember and her storyline. I think it's just some of the best storytelling we've done up to this point, and I'm really excited about it.
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle will release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.