Every Bethesda Game Studios RPG ranked from worst to best

This is barely a Bethesda RPG as we know them. It vaguely looks like one, but playing it is an entirely different experience. You know the hundreds of caves in Skyrim? Picture those, but randomly generated, and that’s the entire game. You do gather resources and materials to upgrade your home base, which is a nice touch, but that’s pretty much it. This doesn’t have a true Elder Scrolls story or world, so it’s probably not worth your time.

Fallout 76 was an admirable attempt to take the Fallout universe and make it resemble an MMO, with its own factions, economy, and story to carry the experience. While the game has had a bunch of updates to improve the game, it was a disaster at launch, barely working for a majority of players thanks to the always-online requirement. It might be more worth your time now, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to any of the other big-budget Bethesda RPGs.

Fallout 4 isn’t many people’s favorite Fallout game, but it’s undeniably solid – especially after a few post-launch patches. Fallout 4 was the first new Bethesda RPG of the PS4 and Xbox One generation, and it flaunted that with the best visuals we’d seen yet in a Bethesda game, updated controls and mechanics, a base-building system, and much more, on top of what people love about Fallout. It might not have been genre-defining in the same way earlier Bethesda RPGs were, but it’s worth playing even now.

This is the game that introduced a generation of console gamers to what a huge Bethesda RPG was like, and it changed lives. Deep PC RPGs were alien to console gamers until this point, and Morrowind’s huge world literally changed lives. But even on PC Morrowind felt like a revelation, rendering huge 3D worlds that many were seeing for the first time. Morrowind set a precedent, and the standard for all Bethesda RPGs going forward. You can still give Morrowind a shot on PC, or with Xbox Game Pass via Backwards Compatibility, and it’s still uniquely great, but a bit too obtuse and old-school to recommend in 2023.

This was Bethesda’s first Fallout game after acquiring the license, and they set out to explore the Fallout universe through the same lens that we see The Elder Scrolls games – and it was a success. Many players that weren’t happy with familiar fantasy universes adored Fallout 3’s gritty, post-apocalyptic atmosphere, and the game felt more story-driven from the first moment as you grow up in vault 101 and eventually leave find your father. It’s a strong story, but the real highlights are the places and characters you encounter on your journey.

The most recent BGS game, and one of the most important of all time. Starfield eschews the open-world formula and instead gives you a thousand worlds to explore, on top of spaceships to build, factions to ally with, adventurers to romance, and much more. Exploring space gives the Bethesda RPG formula a brand-new feel, and the guns are sharper and more refined than they ever have been before in a BGS title. If you’ve ever wanted Skyrim in space, Starfield is for you.

Oblivion is where Bethesda hit the big time. This was a smash-hit on the Xbox 360, and was considered one of the greatest RPGs of all time at launch. The stakes had been upgraded once again, and instead of being a random on a boat, you’re a prisoner that almost immediately gets introduced to emperor Uriel Septim, one of the most famous men in the Elder Scrolls world. The story only picks up from there, and Oblivion, with all the DLC and updates, is still a mysterious and engrossing RPG adventure.

This is the definitive Bethesda RPG. Like it or not, this is what peak performance looks like. The land of Skyrim itself is fascinating to explore, with its mountains, caverns, and humble towns, but the stories and characters you’ll meet inside are what will stay with you long after the game is over – and is a game like this ever really over? Some many argue, but it doesn’t change the facts: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Game Studios’ best ever RPG.