Arena:Arena

Arena CD-ROM Version box art

Setting	Tamriel
Time Period	1st of Hearthfire, 3E 389 - 3E 399
Developer	Bethesda Softworks
Original Release Date	25 March 1994
10th Anniversary Release Date	25 March 2004
GOG.com Release Date	26 August 2015
Steam Release Date	26 April 2022

Arena Deluxe Edition box art

French Arena box art

The Elder Scrolls: Arena (also known as The Elder Scrolls Chapter One: Arena in some companion pieces) is the first game in the Elder Scrolls series. Emperor Uriel Septim VII is betrayed by Imperial Battlemage Jagar Tharn and imprisoned in another realm. You alone are left to travel the vast continent of Tamriel in search of the legendary Staff of Chaos that will allow you to rescue the true Emperor and restore peace to the Empire.

Although it was the first of the series and received very little initial attention, Arena became a cult classic that spread in popularity through word-of-mouth, and it secured Bethesda's place in the RPG industry.

Arena is available for free on Steam, and from GOG.com if you buy another game in the series. Other options for downloading the game can be found here.

Quest Information

• Main Quest — The walkthrough for the Arena's Main Quest
• Random Quests — A general walkthrough for all other quests in the game
• Artifact Quests — Information about Artifact Hunting Quests
• Quest Dialogue — Information about general quest dialogue

Character Information

• Attributes — Information on character statistics, and how they affect gameplay
• Character Creation — Everything you need to know when you make your own character
• Classes — A page listing all the classes that you can choose from in Arena, and what benefits they offer
• Races — A guide on the playable races of Arena, and what each specializes in

Gameplay Information

• Artifacts — A listing, with descriptions, of all sixteen in-game artifacts
• Buying and Selling Guide — A guide to getting the most from your gold piece
• Thievery — A simple guide to the workings of stealing and lockpicking
• Combat — The semi-complete guide to fighting and staying alive in the Arena
• Controls — A table of the various controls used to interact with the game
• General Hints — Hints relating to non-combat activities and general gameplay
• Glitches — List of in-game glitches, along with means of circumventing them
• Items — Directory of over eleven thousand items with location and price, divided by category
• The Known Spellbook — All of the pre-made spells available for purchase from the Mages Guild
• Magic — A guide on the use of magic in the world of Tamriel
• Magic Items — A list of all items with magic effects
• Magical Effects — A list of all the magical effects available for spellcrafting in the game

World Information

• Factions — The many shady organizations who might oppose you
• Maps — Maps of Tamriel and the provinces as seen in Arena
• Monsters — Complete bestiary with description, picture, and combat strategies
• People — A listing of people in Arena
• Places — A listing of places in Arena
• Holidays — A listing of holidays in Arena
• Services — The services you can get in the Arena
• Rumors — The different rumors you may hear across the Arena
• Greetings — The randomized greetings and professions NPCs have
• Directions — The potential answers and rumors from NPCs when asked about directions to a given location

Guides and Secrets

• Arena Player's Guide — The official game manual
• Codex Scientia — The official Arena strategy guide
• Easter Eggs — A list of some of the humorous secrets of Arena
• Unused Content — A recompilation of ultimately unused features in Arena

Technical Information

• Patches — Official patches for Arena
• Running Under DOSBox — A detailed guide to playing Arena on DOSBox under a modern operating system, including Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Running Under Windows — A detailed guide to playing Arena on Windows 95/98 operating systems
• Running Under Windows XP — A guide to playing Arena on Windows XP operating systems without DOSBox
• Unofficial FAQ — The unofficial Arena FAQ which attempts to answer the most commonly asked questions new players have
• Historical Unofficial FAQ — The original unofficial Arena FAQ released in 1994 as presented by UESP until 2005

Mods and Modding

• Mods — Content and gameplay information about player-created mods for Arena

• OpenTESArena — A fan-made open source project to recreate Arena using C++

• Technical Reference — Various Arena technical information

Downloads

• Concept Art — Archive of concept art released for the game
• Files — Arena full game, patches, mods, utilities and other related files of a wide variety
• Preview Screenshots — Pre-release screenshots in gallery form
• Save Games — Save game files made available for download and use

See Also

• The Elder Scrolls 10th Anniversary Article — A retrospective concerning Arena by its developers
• Arena Subforum — A place on the UESP forums where you can discuss the game