How ZeniMax Designed Elsweyr for the New Elder Scrolls: Online DLC
The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr DLC is due to release on the 4th of June, bringing the Khajiiti homeland of Elsweyr to the game as a new region. In fact, the DLC is currently available to test on The Elder Scrolls: Online PTS. This will be the first time ever that Elsweyr has featured so prominently in an Elder Scrolls game, and in a new article published on the game’s official website, developers discuss how they approached designing the new region.
How the Khajiiti Homeland was Designed for The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr
“For us, Summerset was more of departure from our usual milieu where we went to a high-fantasy, visually striking location,” says Elsweyr’s Zone Lead, Greg Roth; “But with Elsweyr, we wanted to return to more traditional Elder Scrolls experience. That said, while Elsweyr might not be as green as Summerset, it is still a very exotic land, with its own aesthetic and appeal.”
According to the DLC’s Senior Concept Artistm Joseph Watmough, the designers drew from a number of real-world influences. These include West Africa, for the design of Elsweyr’s grasslands, as well as Indonesia, Thailand, and southern India for the more southerly part of the region; “This gives the player an experience that’s rooted in reality,” he explains; “but also something a little different.”
According to Kevin Boehm, The Elder Scrolls: Online’s Lead Artist, Elsweyr presented a new challenge for the team due to its verticality; “This new zone features a lot of cliffs and a huge gorge that runs right through the middle,” he explains; “so it was tricky to build all those canyons and vistas without making it difficult for the player to navigate.”
These canyons also provide an extra opportunity to combine real-world elements with the more fantastical. The designers apparently went so far as to research the real stratification of rocks in similar canyons and faults; all so that everything in Elsweyr would have; “a real-world analogue”. If fans want to check the new region out for themselves, they can do so via access to the game’s PTS. Otherwise, the new DLC will launch on the 4th of June.