The Elder Scrolls series is an action role-playing game, but also contains some elements of action and adventure games. In The Elder Scrolls: Arena, players grow (gain experience points) by killing monsters, and upgrade when they reach certain criteria. However, The Elder Scrolls 2: Dagger Rain, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion are three works in which character growth is skill-based. Players through the continuous use of skills to enhance skill levels, a specific set of skills are up to a certain level when the character will upgrade. And The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim uses a new model where the higher the level of a skill, the more it helps to upgrade the character. The focus of the game thus shifts more from character creation to character growth. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim's game engine provides the Elder Scrolls Development Kit, which greatly facilitates the creation and distribution of expansion packs (or modules) for the game.

In early November 2006 Joystiq published an article comparing Bioware's and Bethesda's titles by pointing out the difference in their respective emphases. Bethesda's work focuses on "aesthetic presentation and open-ended adventure"; Bioware focuses on combat systems and modular architecture. The designers of The Elder Scrolls series have also made particular reference to this point. Bethesda has explained their motivation in creating the first installment of the series, The Elder Scrolls: Arena: to create a game environment in which players are free to choose their own path of growth, a quality expected of a pen-and-paper role-playing game masterpiece. The player's guide for The Elder Scrolls 2: Dagger Rain begins with a design statement that the developers' goal was to "create a blank book" and that the game is "a game that encourages exploration and rewards curiosity. The game's various paths, whether for good or evil, are chosen by the player, and these choices are "just like real life". This design philosophy continues with The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, which has not seen a similar epic game between The Elder Scrolls 2: Dagger Rain and The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, but the quest for graphics mentioned in Joystiq's article is back in focus. During the development of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, Bethesda added twice as many people to better create the newly crafted game world of Morrowind. In Bethesda's own words, "We understood that The Elder Scrolls: 3 Morrowind had to surpass the graphical performance of other games on the market, and our goal was to bring back the Elder Scrolls series as the benchmark for gaming innovation."