The Elder Scrolls Online: 2025 Content Pass (DLC)

I came back to ESO for the Subclassing system and stayed for the Worm Cult. That combination tells you almost everything you need to know about whether this pass is worth your time. The free Update 46 that ships alongside the Content Pass finally gives veterans the build creativity they have been asking for years, letting you mix class skill lines in ways that fundamentally change how characters function past level 50. The paid pass layers a full year of story content on top of that foundation, and the result is the most cohesive ESO has felt in a long time. The centrepiece is Seasons of the Worm Cult, the eighth main story arc and a direct sequel to the original main questline. If you were invested in the defeat of Molag Bal and Mannimarco back in the base game, this is the follow-up you have been waiting a decade for. The narrative takes you to Solstice, a tropical island split in two by the Writhing Wall, a soul-magic barrier the Worm Cult erected to hide their operations on the eastern half. Part 1 covers Western Solstice and gives you five full-length main objectives, three Delves, the Deetra Grotto public dungeon, three World Bosses, and the Ossein Cage, a 12-player trial set in Coldharbour that throws grotesque necromantic mechanics at veteran groups. Part 2 then opens Eastern Solstice and brings the King of Worms storyline to its conclusion. The zone-split structure sounds like artificial padding on paper, but in practice it creates genuine narrative tension: half the island is physically locked away, and the server-wide Writhing Wall event, where players across all of Tamriel collectively contribute to breaking the barrier, was the kind of community beat ESO has rarely pulled off with this much dramatic weight. The two dungeon packs round out the package. Fallen Banners sends four players into an Imperial stronghold tied to Three Banners War fallout, while Feast of Shadows covers Daedric forges and the necromantic dangers converging on Solstice itself. Four new dungeons across a year is not an overwhelming number, but they are mechanically distinct and tied into the overarching story rather than feeling like filler drops. The loot economy is also worth noting: the pass adds 16 Antiquities including three new Mythic items per zone half, plus new Trial item sets with Perfected versions, which means endgame build-crafters have a legitimate grind runway to chase well past the story credits. Where the pass earns some honest criticism: the Solstice zone drew mixed community reactions at launch, with some players finding it thinner and quieter than a traditional full chapter, and the drip-feed structure of content across the year will frustrate anyone who prefers to binge a complete expansion in one sitting. The two-part story split in particular means you are living with a literal wall blocking half the narrative for several months. ZeniMax is also walking a messaging tightrope here because this is the first pass of its kind for ESO, a transitional model between the old annual chapter format and a newer seasonal approach, and the word "season" caused genuine confusion at launch about whether content would be temporary. It is not temporary; purchases are permanent. But the rollout pacing is a real consideration. For committed ESO players and lore-hunters who have wanted the Worm Cult properly reckoned with, this is a strong year of content. The Subclassing system alone changes how you approach every build you already own, and the Ossein Cage gives endgame guilds something genuinely challenging to work through. If you bounced off ESO years ago and are considering returning, the Hero's Return onboarding system included in the free update makes re-entry far less painful than it used to be.

Monika · Scout Team

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