Markarth is now included with the Elder Scrolls Online base game, changing the access path for The Reach, the Dark Heart of Skyrim finale, and November’s Golden Pursuits activity.
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Markarth moves from paid add-on to base-game content
The Elder Scrolls Online has folded the Markarth DLC into the base game, opening The Reach and the finale of the Dark Heart of Skyrim storyline without a separate DLC purchase. The official @TESOnline account announced on November 10 that “The Markarth DLC is now part of the ESO base game and free to all existing players,” according to HappyGamer’s report on the post.
There is a small timing wrinkle worth keeping straight. MMOHuts and GamerHeadlines both report that Markarth joined the base game on November 9, with GamerHeadlines attributing that date to ZeniMax Online Studios’ official Season Two announcement for Echoes of Skyrim. HappyGamer, meanwhile, dates the public social announcement to Tuesday, November 10. The practical reading is that the rollout was tied to the November 9 Season Two activity window, while the official social push followed on November 10.
For returning players, the change is straightforward: if Markarth was the skipped piece of ESO’s 2020 Skyrim arc, it is no longer a separate purchase gate. For new players, the access picture is nearly as encouraging, though the exact wording varies by source. HappyGamer notes that the social post specifically says “existing players,” while GamerHeadlines says Echoes of Skyrim bundles previously paid Chapter and DLC content into the standard edition and makes Markarth free for every player. That means a new buyer should treat Markarth as part of the current base-game package, but still check the platform storefront before purchase, especially because ESO’s editions and bundles have changed repeatedly over the years.
The Reach now fills the biggest gap in ESO’s Skyrim path
Markarth’s value is easier to understand if you look at it as the missing closing chapter rather than as an isolated zone. GamerHeadlines reports that Greymoor moved into the base game on October 21, bringing Western Skyrim, Solitude, Blackreach, the Antiquities system, and the Kyne’s Aegis 12-player Trial. The same report says Wolfhunter also moved over that day, adding March of Sacrifices and Moon Hunter Keep in their four-player form. Markarth now adds The Reach and closes the Dark Heart of Skyrim storyline that Greymoor began in 2020.
That sequence matters for quest-minded players. Before this season’s reshuffling, the Skyrim arc was fragmented across purchases: Greymoor as a Chapter, Markarth as a story DLC, and Wolfhunter as dungeon content. GamerHeadlines says a player can now complete the entire Skyrim story without buying those three releases separately. Fextralife’s Elder Scrolls Online Wiki also lists Greymoor, Markarth, and Wolfhunter as base-game inclusions as of Season Two, though its page is an unofficial wiki and should be treated as a reference rather than the primary announcement.
For a returning player who left after Greymoor, Markarth is the piece that gives that storyline a proper endpoint. For a new player drawn in by Skyrim, it gives a cleaner route: Western Skyrim, Blackreach, The Reach, and the surrounding dungeon material now sit under the same access umbrella instead of being scattered across old store listings.
What Markarth actually adds for progression-focused players
The Markarth DLC is set in The Reach, the rugged western Skyrim region centered on the city of Markarth. HappyGamer describes it as content tied to The Reach and its main zone access, while MMOHuts says the base-game move unlocks The Reach zone and its storyline for all ESO players. GamerHeadlines identifies it as the conclusion of the Dark Heart of Skyrim arc.
The Fextralife wiki’s Markarth page gives the clearest content breakdown, with the caveat that it is a community-maintained listing. It describes Markarth as adding The Reach, two delves named Briar Rock Ruins and Gloomreach, two world bosses, a solo arena, collectibles, item sets, achievements, titles, and Antiquities that can be dug up in The Reach. It also describes the story setup as the Gray Host, an army of vampires and werewolves, turning toward The Reach in search of an ancient relic of power while the player aids the Reachfolk.
That is a useful package for several kinds of ESO players. Completionists get a zone to clear, delves to map, achievements to pursue, and collectibles to chase. Build tinkerers get another old DLC pool of itemization to revisit, although none of the provided sources list specific sets by name. Solo players get a zone story and, according to Fextralife, a solo arena. Lore-first players get one of ESO’s more important modern treatments of the Reachfolk, a people often flattened into enemy-camp shorthand elsewhere in the series. Markarth becoming base-game content does not automatically make it current endgame, but it makes a once-separate story arc easier to recommend as part of a coherent account progression path.
Golden Pursuits makes the timing unusually practical
This access change is arriving alongside active Skyrim-themed live-game incentives. MMORPG.com reports that The Elder Scrolls Online’s Golden Pursuits campaign, Return to Western Skyrim, is now live and that the same patch adds Markarth to the base game. MMOHuts gives the campaign window as November 9 through December 2 and says it offers bonus rewards for adventuring, exploring, and digging up Antiquities, including a pet, a mount, and Antiquities leads.
That pairing is important for players deciding whether to log in now or leave the newly free DLC for later. Markarth is permanent base-game access under the current announcement, while Golden Pursuits is time-limited. If your account already owns ESO and you want to combine story catch-up with extra reward progress, the November window gives you a reason to route through Skyrim content now instead of treating Markarth as backlog filler.
MMOHuts also notes that November’s broader activity slate is heavily Skyrim and Nord focused, with extra rewards tied to Western Skyrim, Markarth, PvP, and the ongoing Witches Festival. Whitestrake’s Mayhem is reported to return November 12 through November 23, while the Witches Festival continues through November 4. Those event dates sit around the Markarth unlock rather than replacing it. In practical terms, a player returning for Golden Pursuits can use Markarth as part of a larger Skyrim loop, then decide whether to branch into PvP events or stay focused on exploration and Antiquities.
Access is simpler, but ESO’s store still needs careful reading
The Markarth move also exposes how complicated ESO’s long-running content model has become. HappyGamer notes that the game’s Steam page still showed six separate DLC entries at the time of its report, even as Markarth was being folded into the base game. The same report says Steam listed The Elder Scrolls Online at $19.99, with ZeniMax Online Studios as developer, Bethesda Softworks as publisher, Windows and macOS support, and an 80 Metacritic score for the PC version. Store prices can change, so that figure should be read as a reported snapshot rather than a standing price.
For a new player, the key question is less “Should I buy Markarth?” and more “Which edition am I buying, and what does the storefront currently say it includes?” The sources agree that Markarth is no longer supposed to be a separate access barrier under the current base-game arrangement. They do not provide a platform-by-platform storefront audit for every console and region. GamerHeadlines says Season Two runs through January 27 across PC/Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation, and MMOHuts frames the Markarth base-game addition as applying to all ESO players, but readers should still verify the listing on their platform before spending money on older bundles.
Returning players have an easier checklist. If you own the base game and skipped Markarth, log in and check your zone access rather than buying anything. If you also skipped Greymoor or Wolfhunter, the Season Two reports indicate those are now part of the same broader Skyrim catch-up package. If you already owned them, the value is less about compensation and more about population: more players can now enter the same older zones and activities without coordinating DLC ownership.
A better on-ramp for questers, collectors, and Skyrim returnees
The cleanest recommendation is for story players. If you care about ESO’s zone arcs, Markarth now belongs in the natural Skyrim route after Greymoor because it resolves the Dark Heart of Skyrim story that began there. The sources do not give a required character level, a mandatory order, or a revised in-game quest guide path, so players should follow ESO’s in-game zone and quest tools rather than assume the game will automatically place them at the beginning of the arc.
Collectors have a different reason to go early. The Fextralife wiki lists Markarth-specific Antiquities, achievements, titles, collectibles, item sets, delves, world bosses, and a solo arena. MMOHuts says Golden Pursuits: Return to Western Skyrim rewards adventuring, exploration, and Antiquities activity during its November 9 to December 2 run. That makes the current period a sensible time to clear maps, unlock wayshrines, and dig where the campaign objectives point you, particularly if you skipped the Antiquities system when Greymoor was paid content.
For group players, the larger Season Two package matters as much as Markarth itself. Greymoor’s Kyne’s Aegis Trial and Wolfhunter’s dungeons are now reported as base-game inclusions alongside Markarth, which reduces the friction of getting friends into the same slice of ESO’s older Skyrim content. For solo-first players, Markarth’s zone story and reported solo arena give the update value even if you never touch Trials or PvP.
The unanswered question is whether Markarth is a one-off catch-up move or part of a broader policy for aging ESO DLC. HappyGamer explicitly notes that the social announcement did not say whether other older DLC would follow the same path. For now, the confirmed development is narrower and still significant: Elder Scrolls Online Markarth DLC access has been folded into the base game during an active Skyrim reward campaign, giving new and returning players a cleaner reason to step into The Reach.