When a Mage tests his theory that everyone has a manic and demented side, the bizarre town of Split is created, where there’s both a Manic and Demented version of each person. And so begins the unusual quest called “The Great Divide.” Even the town is divided into two sub-communities—Mania to the north, Dementia to the south. Everyone in Split hates having a double, and both the Manic and Demented versions of each person would love nothing more than to see the other dead. The doppelgangers are restricted from killing their offending twin. But an outsider has no such restriction. Since you’re an outsider and happen to be in the neighborhood, you get elected for the job. All you have to do is decide which side to kill off, and how you’re going to go about it.

Clearly, if you’re really into role-playing your character and are a member of the Dark Brotherhood or some other evil-type, you can have a field day in The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles. Save-the-world good-guy (or girl) types will probably grit their teeth, get the job done and feel guilty-as-hell about it later. Okay, I’ll admit it—I didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt about Thadon…

Speaking of the Dark Brotherhood, if you haven’t joined but are considering, and want to use some of the quests in Shivering Isles to get on the membership list, your results with having Lucien Lachance—the Listener (a fancy title for Recruiter or Talent-Scout) of the Dark Brotherhood visit you in your sleep while you’re in the Isles, may vary. He never visited my character until she returned to her home in Cyrodiil and went to sleep. Other players have reported that Mr. Lachance does make house-calls in the Shivering Isles, but have experienced some weird dialog issues with him, or him getting “stuck” and not returning to Cyrodiil to help jump-start your career in the organization.

Still, not every quest in Shivering Isles quest involves murder and assassinations to win friends, influence and halt apocalyptic events for lunatic Daedric Princes. Noble characters have plenty to do that they can feel good about without getting their “hands dirty” (killing the creatures out to make you their meal and other bad-guys notwithstanding).

The quest “To Help a Hero” takes you to a small community of artists in Mania named Hale. You’ll find a Redguard there named Pyke, a former member of the Knights of the Thorn. You may recall the Knights from the “Wayward Knights” quest in Oblivion where you enter an Oblivion Gate and rescue the leader of the chivalric order (who is also the son of the Count of Cheydinhal), and his entourage. Pyke has found serenity and love in the Shivering Isles, and plans to spend the rest of his life there. But on his initial exploration of the Isles, he was attacked and lost his Knights of the Thorn Medallion during the fight. Although he is no longer a Knight of the Thorn, the medallion has sentimental value for him. Infiltrate Fetid Grove—a Grummite root tunnel lair, recover his medallion, and he’ll reward you with the Thorn Shield, which carries a 17% Fortify Block and 22% Reflect Spell enchantment.

In your travels through the Isles, your journal will advise you when you come across certain unique items you place them in your inventory. Una Armina at the Museum of Oddities in Bliss will pay you a finder’s fee of up to 350 gold for each one. These special items appear randomly throughout the game world. Some of them are duplicated in more than one location. However, Una will only play you for a particular item once.

Hypochondriac proprietor Sickly Bernice of the Sickly Bernice Taphouse in Crucible, will pay handsomely for an alleged “miracle cure” called “Aquanostrum” that can be found only in a subterranean pool in Knotty Bramble (interestingly enough, “aqua nostrum” is Latin for “our water”). Naturally, the place is overrun by Grummites, but if you succeed, Sickly Bernice will reward you with the Circle of Verdure—an enchanted ring with leveled health and endurance fortifications and leveled resistances to disease and poison.

One beneficial quest that doesn’t really “end” in the conventional sense, is the “Antipodean Hammer.”  In the Shivering Isles, Bethesda has introduced the ability for the player to collect specific ingredients—namely Amber and Madness Ore—which can be forged into armor and weapons. In Bliss, the Orc smith Dumag gro-Bonk at The Missing Pauldron will give you an Amber Materials List that will specify how much amber is required to make each piece of Light Armor or weapons. In Crucible the Bosmer smith Cutter at Cutter’s Weapons will give you a similar list that specifies how much Madness Ore she’ll need to make each piece of Heavy Armor, or weapons. Amber and Madness Ore can be found throughout the Shivering Isles in numerous locations, and on certain creatures. Somewhat more difficult to find and located less frequently, are Matrices, which allow you to create enchanted armor and weapons from Amber and Madness Ore. You can only craft items that you have enough material and matrices for. This is a really nice and long overdue addition to Elder Scrolls IV gaming. Hopefully, it will be included in future expansion packs.

In the Shivering Isles, Cyrodiil’s now-famous caves and mines usually filled with bandits, critters, loot and the undead, have been replaced by Root Tunnels—named aptly because you gain access to them through a door made of tree bark/membrane located at base of the larger mushroom trees dotting the landscape. The tunnels often lead to larger chambers and multiple levels. Even with your trusty map, it’s very easy to get lost or turned around in the larger, more complex tunnel networks. Lit only by the glow of luminous plants, the dirt and moss-covered floors make it a little easier to run while sneaking without being detected. You’ll find most of your plant-based alchemical ingredients here, plus tree stumps and limbs that contain Amber. Be cautious: some of the underground plant life you encounter can be hazardous to your health.

Although a “dungeon crawl” by any other name is still just that, you’ll undoubtedly find the ruins in the Shivering Isles with their Graeco-Roman-style architecture a refreshing change of pace from the more familiar Ayleid ruins and ancient forts of Cyrodiil. Watch out for Statue Traps. They function similar to the Dark Welkynd Stone traps found in some of Cyrodiil’s Ayleid ruins—except they zap the player with a potent Damage Health spell. You’ll also encounter collapsing ceiling, column and archway traps that can be a real headache—figuratively and literally.

Bethesda has taken the combat routines for the game’s new enemies up a notch from Oblivion and Knights of the Nine, making them a little tougher and more aggressive in their pursuits and attacks—a welcome change. Some are able to cloak themselves and can’t be seen by spells, potions, jewelry and armor that detect life. Some absorb spells and regenerate health faster than you can deal out the punishment. Some you should avoid fighting in water or the rain (or kill as quickly as possible), as it makes them stronger. Some grow larger, stronger and immune to any single elemental spell (fire, frost or shock), requiring that you hit them with multiple elemental spells with opposite effects, or use normal weapons to take them out. The latter option is perhaps the best approach, since these same creatures are quite proficient with their ranged Silence attacks, preventing you from casting spells at all (not all of them are hostile however, and some can actually help you).

Jaiden pressed her back against the wall, trying to ignore the pain and the warm stickiness tricking down her side beneath her armor from the arrow wound, as she cautiously peered around the corner. As soon as she did, an arrow that would have found its mark right between her eyes chipped off a piece of stone as she ducked her head back to safety. But the stone still struck her cheek, stinging as it drew blood. Jaiden’s crimson eyes burned with rage as she cursed through her teeth and beneath her breath. Then she laughed to herself. She hadn’t been in Dementia for more than an hour and already something was trying to kill her.

“Just like home,” she mused.

The creatures—a patrol or raiding party, most of them cloaked—took her by surprise. And the damned things healed faster than Spriggans. She took some of them out them out with her Wizard’s Fury and Withering Bolt spells. Then one got off a lucky shot with an arrowed tipped with a poison that weakened her and drained her Magicka, while another hit her simultaneously with a Silence spell and a painful shock attack from the staff it was carrying. Using a scroll to summon a Storm Atronach to keep the survivors and their reinforcements busy, she ducked into the nearby ruins to evade them. That was her second mistake. The place was crawling with the tough and highly-skilled frog-men.

There was an odd, gurgling noise, and it suddenly occurred to her that her right arm was getting tired and beginning to hurt. A foul-smelling, dark fluid flowed from the mouth and nostrils of the bulbous-headed, gold-eyed reptilian creature she had around its thick neck. It was still feebly struggling against her, clutching at a dagger on its belt. She forced the creature to its knees, reached over with her other arm, and in one quick, brutal motion, broke its neck with a hideously loud snap.

Jaiden heard the other Grummite stirring around the corner, as if it knew what she had just done, heard it notch another arrow in its bow. She also heard several more of the creatures coming to back up the one that had her pinned down. Her Magicka was still low and would not regenerate in time to take on all three of the beasts.

So, she would have to do this the hard way—unfortunately for them.

Jaiden hurled the Grummite she had just killed out into the open, drawing both of her Dreadweave Axes as she leaped out seconds behind it, using its body as a shield. The Grummite Deathdealer with the bow took the bait and fired the arrow directly through the chest of its dead brethren. When it saw the dark blur of armored fury lunging at it from behind the falling corpse with alarming speed, it realized it could not notch another arrow in time. The Deathdealer dropped its bow and drew a large, crude cleaver.

But it was too late for that, too.

Jaiden hurled her axe—black and braided gold with an evil silver edge as cold as an assassin’s heart; harder, stronger and sharper than any Daedric alloy forged in the fires of Oblivion. The runes carved near the edge of the blade left an almost angelic trail behind them—glowing in the dim light of the torches illuminating the chamber. Spinning end-over-end through the air with a low-pitched howl that was almost demonic, the sound was replaced by the sickening crack of bone and spraying fluid, as the axe imbedded itself deep into the Deathdealer’s skull, surgically cleaving through most of its brain.

The Grummite Painbringer’s makeshift mace was already swinging towards Jaiden’s head as she landed like a cat right in front of him. She wasn’t about to try and find out if her armored hood was strong enough to take the blow. The Painbringer let out a guttural rumble of rage when Jaiden deftly dodged the attack—then pain when she savagely kicked the frog-man in the chest, and sent it flying backwards and crashing to the stone floor. It was on its feet with surprising speed, its body bathed in a shimmering glow as it charged her with its mace draw back to deliver a crushing blow. The third Grummite—another Painbringer—was almost upon her with his hollowed-out crab shell shied raised, and his cleaver poised to strike. In spite of their unusual regenerative abilities, Jaiden bet that these things couldn’t regenerate limbs.

Time to test her theory.

The Grummites were strong, merciless, and fast—but Jaiden was faster. She spun to the right, away from the Painbringer with the mace. It missed and could not react in time as she spun back towards him. Jaiden’s second axe sung its death-song as it sliced through stale, dusty air—then stopped as she severed the mace-wielding frog-man’s stumpy head clean from its shoulders.

The pain in her side was almost unbearable as she side-stepped and dodged the cleaver of her other amphibious assailant. Sparks flew from the right Pauldron of her cuirass as the cleaver glanced against it. The Grummite let out a horrible, wet-sounding bellow as it attempted to bash Jaiden with its shield and drew its arm back to strike her with the cleaver—except it no longer had an arm—at least not from the elbow down.

Before the creature could even react, there was a blur of Darkweave and a ghostly, sharp glint of silver. The Grummite’s shield violently flew away, with a good portion of its chopped-off arm still attached. Suddenly, there was the crack of weakened stone and mortar. The chamber shook as a section of ceiling came crashing down on the reptilian brute, burying and crushing him mercifully to death.

Jaiden staggered to her feet, strapping the second Dreadweave Axe in place on the left hip of her armor as she stumbled past the pile of rubble that was now the grave of one headless and one armless Grummite. With her Magicka almost back to normal, she cast a Heal Major Wounds spell on herself three times, and then drank a Potion of Healing.

Placing an armored boot squarely on the chest of the Grummite Deathdealer Archer, she reached down and grabbed the handle of her axe lodged into its head, surrounded by a pool of thick, dark liquid. She looked into the frog-man’s dead, beady gold eyes, and smiled.

“I’ll take that, if you don’t mind,” she said, yanking the axe from its skull, which made a sound like a ripe melon being split open.

She wiped the blood from her axe on the webbing that the creature was using for a belt. Jaiden was still exhausted and sore, but there was no time to rest if she was going to make it to New Sheoth before nightfall. At least now she knew that trying to take refuge from an ambush by these disgusting, reptilian beasts inside these old ruins was a bad idea, as they seemed to be using them for shelter. With one axe at the ready, she made her way up the steps towards the ornamented steel door that was the exit.

Diseases you can get from some creatures are a lot nastier in their side-effects than those you may have encountered in Cyrodiil. One particular creature can badly injure you even after you’ve killed it, if you’re standing too close. Many of your new adversaries require a little more “elbow grease” with a sword or blunt weapon—or a few more arrows than you’re accustomed to using—to put down once and for all. As a result, you’ll want the best weapons available to your character before entering the Shivering Isles. Some extra healing, attribute restoring and fortifying, disease and poison resisting and curing spells, potions, and ingredients—or equivalent enchanted jewelry and/or armor—wouldn’t hurt, either. They’ll keep your character alive and healthy long enough for you to begin the main and side quests and find all of the new ingredients and weapons in the game.

Since The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles is an expansion pack, it has the same system requirements as the original game. Shivering Isles is larger than the Knights of the Nine add-on, and comes on a DVD rather than CD disc. The main quest will take about 25-30 hours to complete. If you include the side quests and explore every inch of the Shivering Isles, you’re looking at close to 50 or more hours of game play. As you would expect, you can jump right into the main quest to save Sheogorath’s realm from the Greymarch. Or you can explore the Isles, and perform whichever of the settlement quests in Mania and Dementia that you choose—or a combination of both. You can also travel back and forth between the Shivering Isles and Cyrodiil. Any quest in progress will be right there waiting for you when you step back through the portal. However, certain benefits and abilities that you’ve earned once you’ve completed the main quest, will only work while you’re in the Shivering Isles.

No matter how put-off you may find yourself at Sheogorath’s madness and the lunacy of the Shivering Isles and its population, once the Greymarch shifts into high gear—which won’t take long once you’ve started the main quest—you’ll see that Jyggalag and his forces of Order are hardly a better alternative (particularly when you start the “Retaking the Fringe” quest). Obelisks of Order will begin thrusting their way through the surface just about everywhere, spreading like a virus. Jyggalag’s Knights of Order slaughter everything in their path.

The larger Obelisks of Order are guarded by Jyggalag’s mortal servants, the Priests of Order. The obelisk splits into a top and bottom section with a wave of purplish energy between the two, and spawns several Knights of Order. These “master obelisks” need to be shut down Oblivion-gate style by inserting 3 Hearts of Order from slain Knights of Order, into it. However, a 5-second delay is required before the insertion of each Heart of Order—at which time another Knight of Order is spawned. If you are unable to insert the third and final heart that overloads and shuts down the obelisk, it will return to full capacity—only it will spawn four, rather than two Knights of Order. The obelisks can be plundered for loot once deactivated—a small token for your troubles. The only other thing you can take from a dead Knight of Order is its effective but rather unremarkable sword. You can take the robes and whatever weapons and items a Priest of Order happens to be carrying, but be careful. You can get a nasty shock trying to loot a Priest of Order’s body if he is merely stunned, but not dead.

The Shivering Isles has a wild, exotic beauty that can be both majestic and sinister at the same time. The wide range of madness you encounter in New Sheoth and the Mania and Dementia settlements range from amusing to downright chilling, and will always keep you guessing—and on guard. New enemies from reptilian Grummites, Scalons and tree-like Gnarls, to the fast and lethal Elytra insects and nightmarish Flesh Atronach, who are already tougher than anything you’ve encountered in Cyrodiil—will really put your fighting and spell-casting skills to the test—especially if you’re playing with a high-level character. Don’t be surprised—or embarrassed—if you find yourself dialing down the game’s difficulty setting more than a few notches.

The superb voice acting of all the characters, major and minor, keeps the Shivering Isles from becoming a just another bland showcase of NPC “talking heads.” Most notable of course, is the ever-manic, over-the-top Sheogorath, counter-pointed by the straight-laced and stiff-upper lipped Haskill, whose snide contempt for your character slowly turns to begrudging respect as you prevail over every obstacle in your battle to stop the Greymarch. And there’s the no-nonsense demeanor and quiet dignity of the Dark Seducers. One particularly telling moment is during a massive Knights of Order offensive, when a Golden Saint captain realizes that neither she nor the other Saints are as invincible as their pride and arrogance has led them to believe. It’s one of the few times you witness something you thought the Golden Saints were totally incapable of—humility and fear.

Bethesda did a good job with all the new weapons, which now features a more “granular” rating system representing the weapon’s physical condition that determines its weight, value in gold, and the amount of damage it can do. Although Dawnfang/Duskfang is the most unique and spectacular sword in the game, the Shadowrend Claymore or Battleaxe with its leveled Weakness to Magic and Damage Health on-strike enchantments that becomes available in the “Symbols of Office” quest, gets my personal “Most Subtle but Badass” award. Which Shadowrend you get depends on which of your character’s skills is highest—Blade (you get the Claymore), or Blunt (you get the Battleaxe) Now I don’t feel so bad about giving Umbra back to Clavicus Vile. If you prefer a more colorful way of slaying your foes, there’s always the Duchess of Dementia Syl’s favorite toy—Nerveshatter. Part Amber, part Madness Ore, this wicked and wild-looking hammer has a 48% Weakness to Shock and 24% Shock on-strike enchantment.

The Amber and Mad Ore weapons are a refreshing change from the ones that have become standard-fare in the Elder Scrolls IV universe, particularly the enchanted ones that can be created by the appropriate matrix. The somewhat comical-yet-sinister look of the Madness Ore armor really fits the "theme" of the Shivering Isles though, and looks pretty good on female characters—better than on male characters in my opinion. The only thing I didn’t like about the Amber armor is the scarf for the female armor.

In spite of all that’s new, you shouldn’t expect The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles to bring any major changes to how the game fundamentally works—which is, I suppose, good news for those who loved The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and bad news for those who found it the game seriously lacking. Fighting alongside multiple friendly NPCs, for example is still literally a hit or miss affair—a miracle that when you are trying to hit an enemy, that you miss one or all of your allies—who in their zeal almost always manage to get in your way.

Unfortunately, it seems that Sheogorath’s realm isn’t the only thing threatened by total destruction. Installing Shivering Isles patches your Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion installation to Version 1.2.021 and introduces its own version of Jyggalag’s Greymarch—an extremely nasty “Reference ID” bug that can make Elder Scrolls unplayable whether you play the Shivering Isles content right away, or not. You can get all the details on this bug and the fixes currently available here—though the latest beta patch hasn’t worked successfully for everyone (I used the FormIDFix Mod and Reference ID Bug Fix to salvage my afflicted saved games and this review).

It has been announced that Bethesda has a final patch that should squash this problem once and for all, and that they are shooting for a Monday, April 30^th release. If you’ve installed either the FormIDFix Mod, Reference ID Bug Fix or both, but not the latest beta patch; or you feel like you’ve held off installing Shivering Isles long enough and want to give the beta patch a shot, I strongly recommend that you avoid installing the beta patch and wait for the official and final patch from Bethesda. No matter what you do in the interim, don’t forget to have a last-known good backup of all your saved games before trying any of the currently available solutions (and yes, that includes the upcoming final patch as well).

Shivering Isles is also plagued by a number of small, yet irritating bugs in some quests where NPCs essential to the quest’s successful completion don’t do their part; get stuck somewhere, or engage in some other erratic behavior that trips you up. Sometimes loading a previous saved game and trying again solves the problem (but not always). Sometimes you can resolve the problem by taking a different approach to the offending NPC, or even attacking and yielding to it when it fights back (if it’s friendly). Hopefully Bethesda’s upcoming final patch will address these little glitches as well.

One thing that I found particularly annoying, is that whether you’ve replaced the Duke of Mania or Duchess of Dementia, one of the entitlements that do not go with your little promotion is the private quarters of your unfortunate predecessor. Not only are they much nicer than the public sleeping arrangements in either Bliss or Crucible, but they have a number of chests and urns to store your gear and any items you found that you want to keep for yourself—and are certainly more secure than they’d be at either of New Sheoth’s inns. Face it; who wants to schlep back and forth to the house they own in Cyrodiil, just to sleep and stash their new acquisitions?  Entering the private quarters of the Duke or Duchess once you’ve gained their position is considered trespassing. At least the Golden Saint or Dark Seducer guard will give you a much “nicer” tongue-lashing and “escort” you out of the area, than crack you upside the head and haul you off to one of those god-awful dungeons. Where there’s a will there’s a way, however. A little breaking-and-entering and the SetOwnership console command, and my character had a more convenient, suitable set of digs in no time…

Despite one nasty, show-stopper bug and a few niggling issues, with a new, wondrous realm to explore, powerful new weapons, spells and armor—and a plot with a totally different twist than what you’d normally expect, The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles is as addictive and fun as its 2006 Game of the Year namesake, and shouldn’t be missed by any fan of the Elder Scrolls saga.

The Greymarch was over. Jyggalag was defeated, and Sheogorath’s realm was safe. At least, for now. There was no way of knowing how the other Daedra Lords or the Nine Divines would respond to the recent turn of events in the Shivering Isles. Jaiden wondered how would she be viewed by Ocato and the Elder Council, once she told them what happened here, and what she had done. Hero? Heretic—or Madwoman? It all seemed like a dream—or a nightmare. Jaiden wasn’t sure which.

There was one thing Jaiden was sure of; her actions had tipped the cosmic scales for Gods and mortals alike. For better or worse she didn’t know...only that her life and her fate was now inextricably bound between the mortal realm of Cyrodiil and the Daedric realm of the Shivering Isles—and would never be the same…

Final Score: