Lavish in detail and heavy with new content, Shivering Isles is well worth the USD 30 price tag. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has seen a PC-only expansion before with Knights of the Nine, but nothing in that meager add-on compares to the experience that Shivering Isles brings to the fantasy world of Tamriel. Visually captivating graphics rounded out with a well-designed environment combine to make this expansion feel like a separate game with the same old ground-breaking RPG flavors we’ve come to love since last year. It’s not all grand, however, as collision detection issues, flawed physics, and the rare absence of content mar an otherwise cohesive gaming experience.
Your new adventure begins 24 hours after you’ve loaded into Oblivion with Shivering Isles installed; a doorway to the realm of the Daedric Prince Sheogorath appears smack in the middle of Nibben Bay, and in the spirit of adventure your character is urged to investigate. You can take a brand-new character on this wild ride a day after finishing the training dungeon, or bring along a more seasoned veteran. Either way, one look at the creepy Easter Island style doorway shaped like a gaping mouth should be enough to pique your curiosity. And the raving NPCs you encounter outside the door are also a tantalizing glimpse of what’s to come.
Enter the doorway in any case and you’ll find yourself in The Fringe of Sheogorath’s kingdom with the possibility to enter either Mania (the lurid and “happy” side of his realm) or Dementia (the gothic and depressing side). You’ll soon get your fill of both domains as you venture deeper into Sheogorath’s twisted kingdom. The main quest of Shivering Isles has you running all over the Madgod’s realm to accomplish tasks set to you by the raving, semi-Scottish Prince of Madness. And, like all other faction quests in Oblivion, you rise in status as you work your way through – eventually becoming the Madgod in your turn.
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