īlades features three main game modes: Abyss, Arena, and Town. Players can customize and level up their characters to enhance their abilities. The game features dungeons that are both hand-crafted by designers and procedurally generated. Regarding the use of magic, the player can only equip up to three different magic spells to use during combat.

Combat includes using melee weapons, magic spells, and ranged attacks. Another distinction is that the abilities of sneaking around non-playable characters, moving corpses, and hiding/storing/stealing items were not included in the game. Unlike the majority of the installments in the series, which are primarily built on open-world and world map features, the game's overall design is linear, due to the challenges and limitations of mobile devices. The game was designed specifically for mobile devices and features nearly-unavoidable one-on-one combat, which is engaged by tapping, swiping, or using virtual dual-stick controls via touch screen. The Elder Scrolls: Blades is an action role-playing game played from a first-person perspective.

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