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"For the first time in ESO's history," the MMO is moving past the events of the base game with Seasons of the Worm Cult: "We've never really moved time forward"

News
By Jordan Gerblick published 3 June 2025

"Molag Bal is defeated, the Planemeld is ended, and the world is recovering"

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Elder Scrolls Online Seasons of the Worm Cult
(Image credit: Bethesda)
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For the very first time, new Elder Scrolls Online updates are moving the MMO's timeline beyond the events of the base game.

Starting in 2025, Zenimax Online ditched ESO's long-running update structure of dropping one massive annual expansion in the middle of themed years, adopting a seasonal release cadence in its place. Well, the first major update of the Seasons of the Worm Cult saga is out now on PC, and it's the first update in ESO history to put a lid on the story told in the base game.

"For the first time in ESO's history, that I'm aware of, we're moving the timeline forward. The story itself is advancing," said zone lead Jason Barnes in a recent preview attended by GamesRadar+. "We are basically saying, 'the events of the base game, which is Molag Bal's Planemeld, have already happened. Molag Bal is defeated, the Planemeld is ended, and the world is recovering.'"

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Barnes was quick to stress that this advancement of the timeline in Seasons of the Worm Cult won't lock you out of any existing content. You can still play Seasons of the Worm Cult updates and then go back and play the base game, and the base game story will still be playable as ever. It's just that in the world of Seasons of the Worm Cult, everything that went down in the base game is in the past.

After years of asking, Elder Scrolls Online fans hear the 3 words they've dreamt of since playing WoW and Lord of the Rings Online: Difficulty options are "in the works"

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CATEGORIES
The Elder Scrolls RPGs
Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
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Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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