Gaming: The Elder Scrolls heading to Elsweyr; Westworld game shuts down

One of Tamriel’s most mysterious and least-visited places will be the centerpiece of a year’s worth of new content for The Elder Scrolls Online, following Bethesda’s announcement this week that the game’s next major expansion will take place in the Khajiiti homeland of Elsweyr.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr will take players into the heart of the desert world of the cat-like Khajit race alongside The Season of the Dragon, a new, year-long story arc announced with a lengthy cinematic trailer you can view below:

“In Elsweyr, you can traverse both fertile grasslands and scorching deserts, interact with moon-sugar farmers and wandering nomads, or confront merciless Imperial occupiers and roaming bandits. In this new Chapter, you can truly dive into the life, history, culture, and mythology of the Khajiit and their homeland,” Bethesda teased on the expansion’s announcement page.

Like Skyrim, Cyrodiil, Morrowind, and more, the lore-rich Elsweyr is one of the most frequently-mentioned of Tamriel’s nine provinces — although the last time it was featured in a game was in 1994’s The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Along with other provinces that haven’t yet been given a standalone game of their own, it’s been the subject of some fan speculation that Elsweyr may be in the running with locations like Hammerfell, High Rock, and Black Marsh as the setting for The Elder Scrolls VI, which Bethesda announced at last year’s E3.

In addition to introducing a new playable Necromancer class, The Season of the Dragon will bring the dragons of Skyrim to Elsweyr, where “you must discover the dark purpose behind their rampage in a new epic story and prevent the destruction of the Khajiiti homeland,” without the benefit of Skyrim’s Dragonborn powers, Bethesda teased.

Pre-orders are already live for the expansion, which will release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac on June 4, with PC and Mac early access starting May 20. 

Days after Bethesda settled a copyright infringement lawsuit against the makers of the mobile game based on HBO’s Westworld, the game has shut down and been removed from both Google Play and the App Store.

Developer Behaviour Interactive, which also had previously worked on Bethesda’s Fallout Shelter mobile game, announced the shutdown via Twitter:

In its lawsuit, Bethesda had accused the developer of making a “blatant rip-off” of Fallout Shelter with Westworld, although the two parties settled the suit earlier this year. The parties gave no indication, at the time, that either game would be affected by the agreement, and the terms of the settlement were not made public.

Filed last June, the suit reportedly accused Behaviour Interactive of copyright infringement, breach of contract, and unfair competition for allegedly copying Fallout Shelter’s style and basic gameplay formula. Fallout Shelter remains available for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, iOS, and Android.