Markarth is the endgame of Elder Scrolls Online's Dark Heart of Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls Online's next expansion takes players to a familiar place: The city of Markarth, in Skyrim. It's a location very familiar to Elder Scrolls fans, as Markarth featured prominently in Skyrim, the singleplayer predecessor to Elder Scrolls Online. The ESO implementation is pretty familiar looking, though it's controlled by the wild men of The Reach and covered in banners, mammoth tusks, and red paint.

This year's storyline for ESO is called Dark Heart of Skyrim, the story of a war of vampires and werewolves, and the Markarth update storyline ties directly into it: A confrontation between the players and a big, nasty vampire called Rada al-Saran. It also features an older character: Verandis Ravenwatch, a vampire that has shown up in earlier ESO stories. Beneath the zone of The Reach there are also sprawling caverns filled with glowing fungus and ancient libraries.

The new zone of The Reach in the Markarth DLC will also include a new solo arena, something ESO players have been clamoring for. The release date for Markarth is November 2nd on PC and Mac, and ESO Plus members will automatically get it. The prologue questline for Markarth is available immediately in ESO's Crown Store.

A new event will also begin next week, called Lost Treasure of Skyrim. Players in Lost Treasure can unlock new collectible rewards like cosmetics, a pet, a house, and new houseguests. That all works using the Antiquities system from earlier this year.

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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.