Redguard is not an RPG, and as such is often treated as fairly unimportant in the Elder Scrolls series. In fact, it is one of the most crucial games in the series, marking the point when the TES world finally came into its own, abandoning its "generic AD&D fantasy" roots. Somewhere between Daggerfall and Redguard, a vast amount of world-building took place, and Redguard is the point when this world was finally presented to the audience in full glory. However... the presentation did not take place in the game, but in the additional materials that accompanied the package, and which are sadly not included here. Redguard included three key items in the box. The first of these was The Pocket Guide to the Empire - a 46-page document presenting a geographic and historical summary of Tamriel from an in-universe perspective. It's a fantastic document also because it's the point when we see the developers abandon talking about their world, and instead they let the world do the talking: from this point onwards, most sources providing any new information about the TES world would be written from the perspective of a character in that world, and often the same information would be presented from multiple perspectives and biases. Sadly, this guide is not included in the package. The second key item was a map of Stros M'Kai - the first time the a paper map was supplied with an Elder Scrolls game. Not super-significant, but still noteworthy. Again, not included in the package. The final key item was a comic, which as I understand was included in the earliest edition of the game (I've never actually seen it in its original printed form), and which presented the backstory to the game, again doing a lot of fantastic world-building. Again, missing. Without these items, Redguard is simply an enjoyable, but unimportant TPP action-adventure game. Its true significance, however, is obscured. A real pity!
