Bethesda just released a new Elder Scrolls mobile game that's basically Fallout Shelter meets Skyrim

A castle — (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

Remember when Fallout Shelter was first announced on June 4, 2015, followed by the news that you could play it right there and then? That's sort of what happened today—only without the announcement part.

Bethesda just published a new game that looks like Fallout Shelter set in Skyrim. It's called The Elder Scrolls: Castles, and it's a mobile game currently only available for Android, and apparently only in the United States at the moment.

And weirdly, as far as I can tell, Bethesda hasn't actually announced the game. That, coupled with the fact that The Elder Scrolls: Castles doesn't even show up when you search the Google Play store (you can only find it by visiting Bethesda's page within the store) leads me to believe, I dunno, maybe the game wasn't actually supposed to be published yet? Grab it quickly if you're interested, in other words, just in case it vanishes.

I don't have an Android device so I can't play it myself, but it does look quite reminiscent of Fallout Shelter, a management game where you build a bunker and try to keep your residents happy. Others (including Austin at GamesRadar, who spotted a post about the game over on Reddit) have been able to play and mostly seem to be enjoying it. It's got a cartoony look, but somehow doesn't have the same visual charm as Fallout Shelter, though I haven't seen it in action yet.

"Train your subjects, name heirs, and maintain order to help your kingdom flourish" reads the game's store page. "Will you keep your subjects happy and ensure a long life for their ruler? Or will they grow discontent and plot assassination?

"Customize your castle from the ground up, adding and expanding rooms, placing lavish decorations and inspirational monuments, and even assign subjects to workstations to ensure your castle has the resources to thrive for years to come!"

That sounds a lot like Fallout Shelter in Skyrim to me. Hopefully it'll be on other mobile devices soon, and possibly even on PC someday. It took a few years, but Fallout Shelter did eventually make it to Steam.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.