See Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion, the PSP spinoff that almost was

The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion was meant to be a portable counterpart to the fourth Elder Scrolls game, but it was quietly canceled nearly a decade ago. We've barely heard anything about the ambitious PSP game since then, until now: PtoPOnline has posted a treasure trove of game footage pulled from multiple in-development builds of the game.

A little more context before you get into the videos: Travels wasn't meant to be a handheld version of Oblivion, or even a full open-world game. Instead it would focus on dungeon delving through a story set parallel to the events of the home console game. Your adventures were to be anchored in a single hub area, with a populace of NPCs that shift and react according to your actions.

If you want to see more, here's gameplay footage from a June 2006 build:

And from a January 2007 build:

Bethesda largely outsourced development to Climax Group London, and while you can tell the studio had to make some concessions to fit Elder Scrolls onto a PSP, it's still remarkably familiar - and definitely further along than its fellow canceled PSP spinoff, Saints Row Undercover. Apparently the game was canceled due to budget concerns, but now I'll always wonder what it would have looked like if it made it onto shelves.

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