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20-30 hours of new questing can't be bad
20-30 hours of new questing can't be bad20-30 hours of new questing can't be bad

Even by The Elder Scrolls' standard, Sheogorath is one weird character. His blonde locks, beard and cane remain from Morrowind, as does his unique sense of humour as he entreats the player to come back soon lest he'll strangle them with their own entrails. But the Mad God isn't all bad, bestowing the ability to summon his manservant Haskill, which is worth it just to see Sheogorath's amusement and Haskill's stoic ambivalence. Indeed, Sheogorath has to be one of the most filled out inhabitants of Oblivion and his rapid transition between fury and hilarity is terrifying and amusing at the same time. He has some great one liners too: "Cheese for Everyone!" being my current favourite.

Between threats and amusement, the Lord of Madness explains more of his reasons for wanting a Champion to save his realm. With the death of Tiber Septim, the Third Era is ending and the Greymarch, headed by Daedric Prince of Order, Jyggalag, is coming to wipe the Daedric realms clean. Not a good thing and Sheogorath is powerless to stop them - which is where you come in and so the Mad God sends you out into his world.

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The gameplay and controls remain unchanged but it's the quests we're really interested in. The early quests involve exploring the Shivering Isles, torturing the locals with lightning bolts and restoring Xedilian by finding the Resonator of Attenuation. This little gadget comes into play later on in the expansion in a suitably twisted manner. It draws people towards Xedilian dungeons - another of Sheogorath's amusing diversions which confronts all those who try and enter the city - complete with sick games right out of the movie Saw. The sadistic dungeon master Kiliban Nyrandil gives you a lesson in human suffering and he really loves his job. Remember that moment where you got to decide whether you should kill an innocent to join the Dark Brotherhood? To take that first step down a deadly and corrupt path towards evil?

Well here you don't get a choice and Kiliban instructs you to pick off a party one by one. Do you set a flock of Gnarls on the adventurers or summon one which grows to giant proportions? Do you flay another alive or trigger a fire trap? But it's the final one which is a doozy: you can choose to create an illusion which makes the survivor think he's dead. Returning him to his body, the shock drives him mad. You can't refuse to kill and maim; your only choice is how they meet their end: do you press switch A or B? It's in Xedilian that you get to piece together the new Gatekeeper, literally, from a pile of corpses. Yes, you finally have the chance to do a Frankenstein and build your own monster.

But a little DIY monster-making is not all The Shivering Isles has to offer. There are new sets of armour to be found and some really cool new weaponry. Chief among them is the Dawnfang and Duskfang, a single sword which switches names between the hours of day and night. Each time you end a life using the sword, a note saying 'Dawn/Duskfang has extinguished x lives' pops up and the sword is powered up when you've killed twelve beings with its blade.

Walking around the environments is always a pleasureWalking around the environments is always a pleasure

Achievement fans will be glad to hear that The Shivering Isles also includes 250 extra points to earn. During the two and a half hours I got to play the game, I unlocked at least three. They seem to range from meeting the paranoid and agoraphobic Syl, the Duchess of Dementia, to completing quests. The quest-givers shepherd you into new areas but there is of course the freedom to roam wherever you want, not bound by quests. Unlike in Tamriel, there are no horses to steal and all you can rely on is your feet. The walk to Crucible takes a good ten minutes but once you've discovered a new city or cavern, fast travel saves you some time. Walking through this new land is an experience all in itself though; the two halves are beautiful in their own spooky way and contrast perfectly to reflect Sheogorath's own hilarity and madness.

If you needed a reason to shun the outside world once again, then The Shivering Isles could well be it. It's shaping up to be a stunning companion to the original game and 20-30 hours of new Oblivion questing shouldn't be sniffed at. If you haven't already worked it out, I can't wait to play the whole thing through when it's released next month.

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