• Bethesda has “soft launched” a new mobile game in the same vein as Fallout Shelter – The Elder Scrolls: Castles.
• The game had a previous launch last year in September, but is still not available worldwide.
• In Elder Scrolls: Castles you create a ruling dynasty and manage a castle, go on adventures, enjoy RPG-like combat and deal with your subjects.

An upcoming mobile game from Bethesda Game Studios has been officially unveiled by Bethesda, even though it was already online as of September last year. The game is called The Elder Scrolls: Castles, and it takes inspiration from Fallout Shelter to produce the same base-building gameplay and addictive feedback mechanisms but with an Elder Scrolls setting.

“We’re excited to finally share The Elder Scrolls: Castles, our new mobile game from the team behind Fallout Shelter. The team has been hard at work on it for the last few years and we absolutely adore it,” said Bethesda Game Studios in a post on X.

“In Castles, you’ll build your own dynasty where every day in our world is a year in the game’s world. Citizens are born, they die, rulers change, and can be betrayed. This soft launch is one of the first steps as we get your feedback and make changes before it launches worldwide,” they add.

The game is only, for some reason, available in the Philippines, which means that users with a VPN may be able to download it. More regions will be added in the coming months, the Starfield devs confirm.

Despite Bethesda declaring this a “soft launch,” a build of the game showed up in September though the company didn’t acknowledge its existence until now. The game is now expected to have an actual launch – the third by our estimation – in December 2025, according to GamesRadar citing mobile App Store data, but it could be December 2024 too, so there’s no concrete date set yet.

As for the gameplay of Fallout Shel-… Elder Scrolls Legen-…, ahem, Elder Scrolls: Castles, the game takes inspiration from mobile RPGs as well as games like Crusader Kings, where you can create a dynasty of rulers that evolve, go on adventures, fight monsters in Final Fantasy-style combat, rule a kingdom, and stave off political intrigue.

The entire idea sounds interesting, but we’re a little bit disturbed by how a universe as rich and unique as the Elder Scrolls can look so generic. It’s quite jarring. Compare this game to Morrowind or Daggerfall and it would be easy to believe they were made by two different companies.

We’d be interested to get our hands on the game to check it out, when it does eventually go through with its next launch. Maybe it will help tide us over until the Elder Scrolls 6. In the meantime, users can pre-register for the titles on the App Store and the Google Play Store.