The biggest dungeons in the Elder Scrolls games

Key recommendations

• Labyrinthian in Skyrim is a maze of Norse ruins with bastards to battle and treasures to find.
• Sundercliff Watch in Oblivion has 23 areas with cultists and Daedric architecture.
• Blackreach in Skyrim is a massive cavern filled with bioluminescent plants and enemies like the Falmer.

Coming across an enclosed space full of bad guys, monsters and loot is one of the mainstays of fun in The Elder Scrolls games. However, all too often, as soon as the player is ready to begin serious dungeon exploration, the game ends and they are forced to return (or, in Skyrimhis case, ejected back to the entrance through a secret door).

Fortunately, there are plenty of extra-large dungeons throughout the series for intrepid explorers to get lost (and die) to their heart's content. Whether long and winding or tangled and tangled, the maddeningly intricate arrangements of these underground gauntlets could take some players a kalpa to find their way back.

7 Labyrinthian – Skyrim

As long and confusing as its name might suggest

As the name might suggest, Labyrinthian is a sprawling labyrinth of Norse ruins that can only be truly explored by SkyrimThe College of Winterhold questline. It features all the usual assortment of fiends: draugr, trolls, and skeletons, as well as some delightful enemies to take down, including wraiths, dragon priests, and even an undead skeletal dragon.

In its five large areas (Outside, Labyrinthian, Chasm, Thoroughfare and Tribune) are hints of a fallen city and, of course, loot distributed among chests, urns and corpses. A powerful dragon word to slow down the cry of time can be found here, and luckily it only slows down time for enemies and doesn't increase the time it takes to clear this dungeon.

6 Sundercliff Watch – Oblivion, Mehrune's Razor DLC

Not exactly a quick cut to the end

This dungeon, added with OblivionMehrune Razor's DLC is so big it has the equivalent of a tower block of people living in it. The powerful Daedric Artifact, which was conspicuously missing from the game before the DLC, must be hard won behind the grueling 23 zones filled with cultist worshipers of Mehrune Dagon.

Sundercliff Watch starts out as a run-down, ordinary-looking watchtower, no different from the many others dotted around Cyrodiil. However, exploring below reveals an entire village, a production forge, a mine complex, and Ayleid ruins. Traveling below reveals a layer of cave systems and eventually traces of Daedric architecture and the razor itself.

5 Bthardamz – Skyrim

A healthy walk through a sizeable dwarven settlement

Any dungeon that has an area called an “upper quarter” is bound to be a long one. Bthardamz, found in The Reach in the westernmost part of Skyrim, is a Dwemmer ruin (or perhaps more accurately, a ruined Dwemmer city) filled with those who call themselves “the afflicted”.

Those afflicted are the subject of the quest “The Only Cure”, where the player can obtain the Daedric artifact Spellbreaker. Of course, hidden around Bthardamz's upper and lower quarters, the workshop areas, living areas, library, and vaults are dwarven automatons, traps, and exposed steam vents that make the job of assassinating the Affected boss that much more difficult.

4 Darkfall Cave, Darkfall Passage and The Forgotten Vale – Skyrim, Dawnguard DLC

A gauntlet of nightmares and dark passages

Part of what makes this Skyrim the dungeon feels absolutely huge is the pitch black darkness, difficult traversal and all the terrible monsters roaming around. This dungeon is split into two (probably three) dark and brutal sections: Darkfall Cave and Darkfall Passage.

Depending on whether a dungeon crawler could technically consider an outer area a “dungeon”, the final part of this chain of locations, the Forgotten Valley, would expand Darkfall Cave to frighteningly large proportions, especially when taken considering the effort required to reach the altars. , the temple, and one of Skyrim's most powerful ranged weapons, Auriel's Bow at the end.

3 The Soulcairn – Skyrim, Dawnguard DLC

The ultimate dungeon space for the torture of eternal souls

The Soul Cairn, introduced in I'm hidingThe DLC of “Dawnguard” is a dungeon like realm that lies beyond the veil of life and death. Soul Cairn exploration rewards the persistent player with soul gems, hidden treasures, and the chance to uncover lost lore. Finding their way out can be more of a challenge than getting in.

This haunting subplane of Oblivion, whose entrance is found deep within Castle Volkihar (which itself could be considered a dungeon depending on which side the player aligns with), is full of trapped wandering souls, powerful undead enemies, and the ever-present glow , strange of the Ideal Masters, who watch over their collection of dark souls with unknown intentions.

2 Scourge Barrow – Daggerfall

A labyrinthine nightmare fit for the god of necromancy

While many of the The fall of the daggerIts locations look generic due to the game's heavy reliance on procedural generation, the story behind this maddeningly convoluted dungeon may at least be familiar with its most famous inhabitant, Mannimarco, otherwise known as the King of Worms. This necromancer-turned-god (or an incarnation thereof) reappears during the Mage's Guild questline in Oblivion.

Navigating the Scourg Barrow is a test of patience and perseverance. The dungeon design is sprawling, with the game's 22 dungeon blocks of twisted passages and rooms seeming almost deliberately disorienting. Due to the low fidelity of the dungeon textures, passages of Scourg Barrow can feel copy pasted from start to finish. Even the 3D map can be confusing to read, filling the crawl length extensively.

1 Blackreach – Skyrim

Welcome to Deepest Darkest Dungeon City

Of all the massive dungeons in the SkyrimBlackreach probably lingers longest in the memories of trauma The Elder Scrolls fans. This enormous underground cavern is accessible through several large Dwemer ruins, such as Alftand or Mzinchaleft, and is filled from top to bottom with bioluminescent plants, Dwemer architecture, Falmer, and dwarven automata.

Exploring Blackreach feels like discovering a lost world rather than a dungeon, with its glowing mushrooms, eerie ambiance, and sprawling design creating a sense of wonder and frustration in equal parts. The whole area looks more like a supersized city than a cell for prisoners to rot in. However, there are plenty of rotting enemies to contend with (and the elven corpse of a familiar face), as well as unique rewards such as crimson nirnroots.