Question 1

Is The Elder Scrolls: Arena free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Bethesda released it as freeware in 2004 to mark the series' tenth anniversary, and still hosts the download themselves. It is also free on Steam and GOG.

Question 2

Do I need DOSBox to play Arena?

Accepted Answer

In practice, yes. Arena is a DOS game, and without DOSBox it either refuses to run on modern Windows or runs at an unusable speed. The GOG release bundles a pre-configured DOSBox if you would rather not set one up.

Question 3

Is Arena worth playing today, or should I start with Daggerfall?

Accepted Answer

Daggerfall is the better game and is also free. Play Arena if you are specifically interested in the series' origins; play Daggerfall, ideally through Daggerfall Unity, if you want a genuinely engrossing old Elder Scrolls game.

Question 4

What is OpenTESArena?

Accepted Answer

An open-source reimplementation of Arena's engine with modern rendering and controls, in active development. It is promising and is progressing quickly, but it is not yet complete, so the original freeware release remains the way to actually finish the game.

Question 5

How long is Arena?

Accepted Answer

The main quest runs roughly thirty to forty hours, and the world is effectively endless because most of it is generated. Most players see what the generator has to offer well before exhausting it.

Question 6

Is this related to OpenArena?

Accepted Answer

No. OpenArena is a free Quake III-style arena shooter and shares nothing with this game but the word Arena.