PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

The Elder Scrolls Anthology (for PC)

 & Matt Sarrel Contributing Editor, PC Magazine

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

Our Expert
LOOK INSIDE PC LABS HOW WE TEST
65 EXPERTS
43 YEARS
41,500+ REVIEWS

The Elder Scrolls Anthology puts the entire Elder Scrolls series, Elder Scrolls Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, and all of the downloadable content in one convenient and beautiful package. The full series is assembled into an elegant book. Each game gets its own folded page, and unfolding each is like a journey into that particular title. Each side of each folded page is designed to convey the mood and aesthetic of each particular game and still they all fit together into the larger aesthetic of the entire book (and series). Merely unboxing the anthology was a journey through the vast and varied landscapes already familiar to me from playing each game as it came out. Physical maps, alas printed on a page not on cloth as in days of yore, complete the scene and bring to life the lands of Tamriel, Iliac Bay, Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim.

While this is by no means a necessary purchase for those who already purchased each game separately, it is awfully convenient to have all of them together in one box, and even more so to have all of the downloadable content at hand. This includes the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions for Morrowind; Shivering Isles and Knights of Nine are included for Oblivion; and Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn are there for Skyrim. This is a lot of gameplay in one box.

The Elder Scrolls is a bundling and a re-release, not a remastering or an upgrade. All of the games appear in their original format – Arena and Daggerfall run within a DOS emulator. Sure, they don't look great, but this is where it all began. Seeing this almost made me gasp with nostalgia.  Seeing all of the games together showed me a much larger and more cohesive storyline than I had noticed previously. Subtle connection became more apparent, and the amazing depth and scope of the individual stories and worlds are even more spectacular than the first time through.

The Elder Scrolls Anthology contains a mind-bogglingly insane amount of exploration. The whole series must be hundreds of hours of gameplay. If you're an RPG fan, then it would be hard to go wrong purchasing this anthology.

About Our Expert

Matt Sarrel

Matt Sarrel

Contributing Editor, PC Magazine

Matthew David Sarrel is Executive Director of Sarrel Group, an editorial services, product test lab, and information technology consulting company. Mr. Sarrel is also a technical writer, game/product reviewer, and contributing editor for PC Magazine. Previously, Mr. Sarrel was a technical director for PC Magazine Labs, where he led all testing conducted by the Applications, Enterprise and Development Software, OS and Utilities, Network Infrastructure and Wireless LAN teams. Prior to joining PC Magazine, Mr. Sarrel served as Vice President of Engineering and IS Manager at two Internet startups. Prior to his experiences in the world of Internet startups, Mr. Sarrel spent almost 10 years providing IT solutions in medical research settings, beginning his career as a network administrator and ultimately serving as Director of IT for the New Jersey Medical School National Tuberculosis Center and CIO for the HIV Educational Exchange for Healthcare Workers in Vietnam project. Mr. Sarrel has earned a BA (History) from Cornell University, an MPH (Epidemiology) from Columbia University, and is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Mr. Sarrel has written for and spoken to numerous international audiences about information technology and information security. He participated as an expert in two Federal Trade Commission workshops, one about spam in 2003 and one about spyware in 2004.

Read full bio