The Elder Scrolls Online is changing gear! With its Zero Season, dubbed The Dawn and the Dusk, Bethesda’s MMORPG enters a new phase of its evolution. The goal isn’t merely to add content, but to rethink how the game structures progression, distributes rewards, and paces its activities, making the model clearer, more flexible, and better suited to players who can’t log in every day.
This first season, running from April 2 to July 8, 2026 on PC, Mac, Xbox and PlayStation, serves as a proving ground. Each season will run roughly 90 days and centers on a unique theme, complete with activities, challenges and rewards. The seasonal content will be freely accessible to all players who own the game, giving the studio a chance to establish a fresh framework without locking the core experience behind a paywall.
The main highlight of this Saison Zéro will unfold at the Marché nocturne, an event zone set within the Oblivion de la Tombe du Fin fond. It will run for seven weeks, from April 29 to June 17, and will invite players to join one of the three factions on site to take part in PvE‑oriented skirmishes.
On paper, this content serves several purposes. First, it gives a concrete identity to the new seasonal format. Next, it establishes a long-term engagement loop, with rewards designed to encourage regular participation. Among them, one reward stands out: the chance to snag a free home, the Night Den.
But this Zero Season isn’t just about a brand-new zone or an unfamiliar schedule. It also comes with a slate of tweaks that are subtler, yet likely to have a bigger impact in the long run. Bethesda is highlighting a redesign of the Dragonknight class, plus about twenty quality-of-life improvements aimed at smoothing out some of the tedius aspects players have long known.
Among the changes already available, players will notice faster mount training, the ability to tweak skills directly from the interface, and an easier way to expand their bag. The furniture cap has also been raised, which will especially appeal to housing fans. Nothing spectacular on its own, but taken together they point to a common thread: streamlining the experience, reducing friction, and making the game less punishing in its most routine aspects.
The most defining new feature remains the arrival of the Tomes of Tamriel. This system, conceptually close to a Battle Pass, replaces both the Wills and the daily login rewards. The studio promises a more flexible formula, giving players greater freedom in how they progress and in choosing rewards.
Each season will have its own Tome, offered in free version, premium, and premium + bonus. The first, dubbed Tome of Dawn and Dusk, naturally accompanies the launch of this Zero Season. Its mechanics revolve around weekly challenges and seasonal challenges, which award Tome Points. These points both unlock the Tome pages and allow players to purchase rewards in the order they choose.
The player is no longer tied to a strictly linear path... They can bank their points, focus on the items that truly matter to them, and progress at their own pace. Another notable point: weekly challenges don’t vanish after just a few days, easing frustration for more casual players.
That extra flexibility, however, comes with a more pronounced commercial logic. The Free Tome grants access to a portion of the rewards, while the paid versions unlock premium content and a range of progression bonuses. The game also highlights benefits tied to ESO Plus, including point bonuses, additional caches, and tokens that can eventually lead to a premium Tome. The promise is therefore twofold and somewhat ambivalent: greater freedom for players on one hand, but a more sophisticated — and more monetizable — progression ecosystem on the other.
The Zero Season will also serve as a proving ground for other evolutions. A new difficulty mode is set to arrive on June 8, with four tiers that raise the stakes in the open world to secure better rewards. On the PvP front, the studio is also gearing up the progression system of Vétérance and continuing tests of the campaign "Vengeance" in Cyrodiil.
Taking the whole package into account, this launch reads less like a mere update and more like a thorough reorganization. ESO isn’t reinventing itself entirely, but it’s clearly pushing to modernize how it operates. The question now is simple: will this seasonal approach give the game a real renewed breath, or just add another layer of systems to chase? The answer won’t come from a trailer, but from the players themselves, with controllers and keyboards in hand.
Trailer:
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Dates and Opening Time
From April 2, 2026 to July 8, 2026
