Apparently inspired by the prices for the LucasArts games on Steam (which are so cheap, they’re practically free!), Bethesda has decided to release their classic first-person rpg, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, for free on their website.

Actually, the release commemorates the 15th anniversary of the Elder Scrolls franchise, much like the free release of the first game, Arena, celebrated the 10th anniversary back in 2004.  In order to run the 13-year-old game, you’ll need a DOS emulator, such as DOSBox.  Running programs in an emulated DOS environment can be tricky, though, so Bethesda was nice enough to include detailed instructions on how to get the game up and running.

So what do you get for the low, low price of free?  Just the biggest game world ever created.  Daggerfall’s map is estimated to represent approximately 62,394 square miles.  That’s almost 4,000 times the size of the map for Oblivion, which covered about 16 square miles.  In addition, the free game features over 15,000 towns and cities to explore, as well as a staggering 750,000 NPCs.  It’s truly amazing how much fantasy content they were able to fit into 148 MB of hard drive space.