The next Elder Scrolls Online Chapter will take players to High Isle, part of a never-before-seen archipelago in the Abecean Sea. Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle promises to return to a more grounded, political narrative to contrast the large-scale threats of previous expansions. The lack of leaks about the High Isle Chapter before the official announcement has made many players wonder what new features would make their way to Elder Scrolls Online in 2022 with the High Isle Chapter.
Most year-long releases for the MMO so far have come with a new mechanic, class, or side activity – like the Psijic Order of Summerset or the Companions system of Blackwood. As it turns out, the High Isle Chapter will add a side activity that few were expecting, one that players can take part in across all Tamriel and Beyond: a collectible card game.
The CCG will be called Tales of Tribute and introduces the card game itself, a new joinable faction, and a questline that takes players all across Tamriel and beyond to battle card-playing NPCs. In an interview with Game Rant, Leamon Tuttle, the Loremaster for Elder Scrolls Online, said players "might even track down the people who originally invented the game."
Tales of Tribute is unique from other online CCGs in that it puts balanced gameplay ahead of anything else, plus it can be played in-game. Better cards or decks will not necessarily benefit their owner as each player puts up two decks from their collection to be shuffled into a larger, shared deck. During the High Isle reveal stream Rich Lambert, Creative Director for Elder Scrolls Online, described Tales of Tribute as a resource-building game where players' goal is to reach a victory point threshold rather than destroy their opponent in combat.
When the High Isle Chapter is released players will have to complete a basic introductory quest before being able to play Tales of Tribute. Players will be given four different decks at the start, and can earn new decks and unique "upgraded" cards by progressing the Tales of Tribute questline and winning battles in the world. Lambert also went over the possible rewards from playing Tales of Tribute, including furnishings, cosmetics, gold, crafting materials, and the ever-coveted Transmute Stones.
While not much is known about the specifics of Tales of Tribute yet, Lambert promised a much more detailed overview of the new card game and its mechanics when the High Isle Chapter reaches the ESO public test servers.
Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle releases on June 6, 2022 for PC and Mac, and on June 22, 2022 for PlayStation and Xbox consoles.