So what's the setup for this first Oblivion expansion pack? Someone's left the door open in Niben Bay, and there's a cold draught rolling straight through it and freezing locals to the bone. Honestly, whoever it was must have been born in a bloody barn. Someone had better head on into that mysterious door (comprised of linked faces, one looking sullen, the others a bit mad), walk through its open, gaping mouth and do some questing or we'll all catch our death.
Beyond it, you see, is the realm of Sheogorath - the god of madness and dementia who you could watch raining burning dog corpses onto a village of terrified cat people in the vanilla game. It's all a bit wrong in this torn realm you see - and while you'll get to meet the bearded mad-deity in person and plough through his trials - rather excitingly your adventure may end in his usurpation.
What with this (actually rather sane) god in charge of these islands devoting much of his time to sending people plainly bonkers, you can expect some odd goings-on in the Shivering Isles, alongside the expected new dungeons, quests, creatures and freeform niceness.
Seen left, for example, is a Gatekeeper golem of sorts - comprised of bloodied spare legs, arms and heads that you can find lying on tables and hanging on walls in a nearby store-room, Red Dwarf Kryten-style. Elsewhere, there'll be Knights of the Order to battle, creatures comprised of tree roots and some green chaps called Grummites who are a little grumpy, but also quite grudgingly sweet at the same time.
With more than 30 hours of material promised, quest-lines that branch more than before and a land that you can watch change according to your vital life-or-death decisions, we're all a-quiver. To say that the Shivering Isles creates a 'shiver' of excitement would not only be lazy journalism, but also a marked understatement. Expect a goliath feature next issue...[/b]