When talking about The Elder Scrolls franchise, most players tend to remember only Skyrim and Oblivion. Those who have been around as fans for a longer time will often mention Morrowind as well, but only real old-time fans will be familiar with games like Daggerfall and Arena. These titles, although very old now, served as defining steps towards games like Skyrim.
Skyrim has become a bit of a sensation over the years, and is well-known for its memes, bugs, amazing open-world, and also its pretty huge file size. It takes quite a bit to run this game properly on a computer, and even then, some weird glitches are bound to happen. Looking back to previous titles, this obviously wasn’t always the case. Here are the file sizes of all The Elder Scrolls games, from Arena to Skyrim.
14 The Elder Scrolls: Arena - 8.8MB
For a game that came out in 1994, Arena was actually quite revolutionary. It was among the first games with a day and night cycle that was somewhat realistic.
Sure, the graphics weren’t magnificent, but it was amazing given its time. Arena’s file size was only a measly 8.8MB, which has nothing on some of the more recent games.
13 The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall - 149MB
Just by looking at screenshots, it’s obvious Daggerfall was a huge upgrade from Arena in both mechanics and graphics. The games were only released within two years of each other.
Daggerfall’s graphics were still very rudimentary, but much sharper with a clearer, more 3D-feeling world. Its file size was at 149MB, a significant rise from Arena.
12 An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire - 2GB
Originally meant to be an expansion for Daggerfall, Battlespire didn’t meet the success expected upon its release. Still, it offered a nice dungeonpcrawling experience with refreshed graphics.
Battlespire didn’t end up as an open-world game despite becoming a standalone. Its file size is significant compared the past two, at 2GB.
11 The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard - 2GB
Similarly to Battlespire, Redguard was heavily criticized for lack of customization, which forced players into the boots of a man named Cyrus. The world, as with Battlespire, was also more confined.
Due to having a very different feel, Redguard lacked popularity among Bethesda fans. Its file size was the same to Battlespire, sitting at 2GB.
10 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - 1GB
Morrowind is among fan favorites due to its nostalgia factor. Bringing players back to an open-world setting with high customization, it was an immense victory for Bethesda, who brought players into the world of Dunmer.
The game brought a lot to the table, and yet what’s interesting is that the minimum requirements for Morrowind sit at 1GB of disk space, which is much less than Battlespire and Redguard.
9 The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal - 1GB
After Morrowind’s success, the developers wanted to expand on the world and introduced the capital of Mournhold in the Tribunal DLC. It also overhauled the existing quest journal to make it more organized for players.
Despite being a DLC, the minimum requirements state that Tribunal needs 1GB of disk space, which is also the original file size of Morrowind itself.
8 The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon - 1GB
The second expansion to Morrowind was known as Bloodmoon and acted as a nice preface to Skyrim later on by introducing Solstheim and Nords.
Unlike Tribunal, which created a new location players had to teleport to, Bloodmoon actually modified the original world of Morrowind to fit the island. Much like Tribunal, it also required 1GB of disk space.
7 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 4.6GB
Oblivion took players deep into the capital of the Empire, Cyrodiil, to fight off an incoming Daedric invasion from the Oblivion plane. It was unlike anything players had seen before, both in terms of graphics and size.
Despite its highly repetitive voice acting and dungeon design, Oblivion was a masterpiece of its time. It stood at a whopping 4.6GB file size.
6 The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights Of The Nine - 155MB
Much like Morrowind, Oblivion was also designed with DLCs in mind. The first expansion was a simple brand new quest line with the introduction of a faction known as Knights of the Nine and a new antagonist, Umaril.
There wasn’t actually much to this expansion, and it shows in its file size at 155MB. Most likely Bethesda just wanted to add a new quest line to keep the game fresh, but there were no other major changes.
5 The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles - 944MB
Still in line with the Daedric theme of Oblivion, the Shivering Isles expansion introduced players to a brand new dimension ruled by Sheogorath, where they would become his servant in a fight against Jyggalag.
Since a new, pretty massive area was introduced into Oblivion, the file size was much more significant compared to Knights of the Nine, standing at 944MB.
4 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 12GB
Finally we get to Skyrim, the fifth installment of The Elder Scrolls series which follows the tale of the Dragonborn as he sets on a quest to defeat Alduin.
Skyrim was revolutionary, which is why its reign has lasted for almost ten years now. Known as one of the biggest open-world games, it continues to entertain players. Its file size is not insignificant. At 12GB, players are definitely getting a bang for their buck.
3 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard - 6GB
The first DLC that was introduced to Skyrim focused on vampires, and brought in a new area called the Forgotten Vale. The Dragonborn gains the choice to either join the Dawnguard to fight vampires or join Lord Harkon’s clan and become a vampire themselves.
Despite Forgotten Vale being much smaller than it could have been, it’s still more than Bethesda’s done in the past. The DLC adds 6GB more to the base game of Skyrim, which isn’t insignificant.
2 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Hearthfire - 6GB
The thought probably crossed players’ minds at some point about building their very own houses in Skyrim. What’s cool to note is that these revolutionary building mechanisms were then later used in Fallout 4’s settlement building.
Hearthfire didn’t gain every fan’s heart or attention. However, it definitely introduced a lot of gameplay into Skyrim that was new and a bit weird. Its file size was a solid 6GB.
1 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn - 6GB
The last DLC and undoubtedly the most popular of the three is the Dragonborn DLC. Bethesda most likely had time to take in feedback and learn from its mistakes before it re-introduced Solstheim from Morrowind in this expansion.
The DLC brings in a compelling new antagonist, Miraak, and tons of new enemies, as well as a sense of challenge. That’s 6GB worth of content, which, given its high quality, might be hard to believe.
