If you told someone back in 2018 that The Elder Scrolls 6 still wasn’t available, they would probably believe you. But if you revealed this to the same person in 2011 when The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim launched, there might be some measurable disbelief. While a lot goes into making these games, Bethesda likes to take its time. Director Todd Howard, for instance, likes to “start over” when approaching a new title in the series.
In the second part of Game Informer’s “An Oral History of Fallout” series, Howard followed design director Emil Pagliarulo in discussing how Fallout evolved over the years. “Fallout 1, like, the tone of that game and the world of it became our boilerplate in terms of whenever you go to do something new.”
The conversation then shifted to Bethesda’s own The Elder Scrolls series. “We do that with our own stuff, right? When we go to do an Elder Scrolls game, I do kind of like to start over, so you look back across the franchise and say, ‘Okay, what’s important? How do you sort of file away the age? Like, okay, what’s underneath that? Why do certain game mechanics… how do they make you feel, as opposed to the actual mechanic? What are the unique things about the world?’”
Interestingly, even if Bethesda hadn’t obtained the rights to Fallout, it still “wanted to do something post-apocalyptic.” However, the title itself “is just so unique,” says Howard.
While The Elder Scrolls 6 could very well alter how players interact with the world, its leveling system apparently won’t veer too far away from Skyrim. This is according to former design director Bruce Nesmith, who noted that the “whole, ‘You do it to get better at it’” system would continue. Of course, considering how significantly the series had changed throughout history (remember that Arena and Daggerfall had procedurally generated worlds), it could end up surprising fans.
Alongside the lack of a release date, The Elder Scrolls 6 lacks any officially announced platforms. Its setting was seemingly decided when Fallout 4 was in development, though whether it remains the same is unknown. Wherever it may be, there are “most definitely” more trees present than in Skyrim, per Howard.
