10 Darkest Quests In Elder Scrolls History

3. A Shadow Over Hackdirt - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

A Shadow Over Hackdirt - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Bethesda

I haven’t played Oblivion in a good 15 years and have definitely forgotten many of the side quest intricacies, but hearing the name Hackdirt still makes me instantly uncomfortable. A Shadow Over Hackdirt tasks you with finding a woman’s missing daughter who is thought to be in Hackdirt. Hackdirt has that creepy everything is just a little bit off vibe, and it turns out that’s for a good reason. Everything is in fact, super off. Turns out a few decades before you rocked up Imperial soldiers had raised the town as it was home to a murderous cult.

The ‘nowadays’ townspeople aren’t much better, though one will help you and inform you that the young woman Dar-Ma is being held captive in Hackdirt’s underground caverns.

Not only that but she’s due to be sacrificed. It’s all sacrifices and cannibalism with these Elder Scrolls villains.

Eventually you’ll meet the Brethren, six mostly nude loonies who aren’t too happy with you poking around. Guess that cult is alive and well after all. Not to worry, you take them head on, save the girl, and you can come back and kill the whole town if the existence of a cult-run murder town just doesn’t sit right with you. That’s what I did, anyway.

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Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.