During the event, Bethesda’s Todd Howard took to the stage to debut footage of The Elder Scrolls: Blades running on an iPhone XS Max. The new footage showed off a combat sequence as the player uses melee combat, shield blocking, and a magical attack to take down an opponent.
Howard also explains that the iPhone XS Max’ OLED screen allows Bethesda to “pull out all of the detail that you’d usually miss in the bright and the dark areas.” The Bethesda executive highlights the way that the lighting from the crystals in the cavern bounces off of the walls and reflects off of a puddle of water or off of the blade of the player character’s sword. Post-processing on the handset is also 40% faster than before. Combined with audio features and haptic feedback, it makes The Elder Scrolls: Blades feel more “immersive,” says Howard.
At the end of his segment, Howard says that fans can expect to play The Elder Scrolls: Blades on iOS this fall. A recent report and an update to the game’s iOS pre-order page suggested that the game had been delayed to December. There may have been some miscommunication between Bethesda’s higher-ups (those who are in charge of the release schedule) and the team in charge of maintaining the product page. Announcing a specific release date beyond the vague “fall 2018” would help to clear things up.
It’s also unclear whether the iOS version of the game will offer any special features. For example, the Android version of Fortnite Battle Royale includes a cosmetic skin which is exclusive to new Samsung handsets. The Android beta for that game was also exclusive to Samsung users for a few days. Apple benefits massively by using a franchise like The Elder Scrolls to show off how powerful its new smartphones and Bethesda benefits from the promotion that the Apple reveal event brings. But whether the partnership runs deeper than that isn’t apparent right now.
The Elder Scrolls: Blades will be released on Android and iOS devices later this year.
Source: YouTube - The Verge
