One thing is for sure, we are years away from the launch of The Elder Scrolls 6 (and also Fallout 5, but that one is a given, since Fallout 4 just released last year). While both series are extremely popular, with millions of players and fans worldwide, pestering Bethesda about them is not likely to make new games in the series release any sooner than they will otherwise.

But hey, given that a new Elder Scrolls game, at least, has been acknowledged by Bethesda, we can, maybe, expect to hear a bit more about what the new game will be like, right? Like maybe we get some information about where it will be set, or the general premise of the plot? Unfortunately, even that is unlikely to happen. Responding to a fan on Twitter, Pete Hines confirmed that Bethesda does not like to discuss games unless they are officially announced- and given that Bethesda don’t announce games until they have an almost complete game to show, and that they like shorter marketing campaigns to longer ones, we’re not likely to get an official Elder Scrolls 6 or Fallout 5 acknowledgement from Bethesda any time soon. In turn, that means we won’t hear anything about either game for a good while, either.

Until then, I suppose, it’s just best to keep speculating about what these games might or might not be like. That, or you can just play Fallout 4 and Skyrim: Special Edition to pass the time till the next entries in these franchises release, I suppose.

no, not really. Unless we're officially teasing an announcement or a game, I don't talk about when or if info is coming

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) December 14, 2016

we don't like to talk about out games until we can actually show them. and we prefer shorter campaigns to longer ones

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) December 15, 2016

I absolutely love and adore The Elder Scrolls– it is one of my favorite RPG franchises, and Skyrim is probably one of my all time favorite games. One of the reasons the games work as well as they do is because of their sheer openness right from the start, which allows players to go wherever they want, and do what they want, whenever they want.

The problem with something like that is that it makes the late- and end-game a slog. Once you reach a certain in game level, you’re powerful enough that combat in all areas of the game becomes trivialized. There are no stakes to quests or dungeons, simply because you’re so strong that nothing can kill you. and not in a good ‘power fantasy’ kind of way- in the sense that there is nothing that can keep you engaged in the game’s world anymore.

Bethesda are definitely aware of the problem, evidenced by the fact that they have tried to resolve it through level scaling in the enemies. But that’s a band aid, not an actual solution, and I don’t think that that’s the route Bethesda should look into taking with The Elder Scrolls 6. Instead, what i think they should do is take some cues from Zelda and Dark Souls, which ostensibly allow players to go wherever they want in the game world, too- but instead passively corral them into specific areas by gating the world via difficulty.

In other words, all areas of the world are open to the player right from the start- but if the player tries going into an area they shouldn’t be in, they will encounter enemies significantly higher leveled than themselves, and probably be beaten back into some other area of the world that they can handle. Having something like this in the game will maintain its openness, give players something to work towards in terms of exploration of the world, make sure that the endgame doesn’t become trivialized, and even reward players who venture into higher leveled areas of the world before time with a unique sense of accomplishement, and presumably higher leveled and better gear than they would be able to get anywhere else in the game. I don’t see why Bethesda wouldn’t do something like this.

This article is part of our weekly series on Bethesda’s next big entry into the world of The Elder Scrolls. Through this series we take a look at the possible new features that Bethesda can add into the next The Elder Scrolls game, based on what they implemented in the previous entries and player feedback.

At GamingBolt, we like to think of the directions that Bethesda could take with their upcoming The Elder Scrolls 6, the next entry in their flagship franchise, which has been officially confirmed, but is also years and years away from release. Skyrim is one of the greatest games ever made, and certainly one of our all time favorites- and we are very interested in seeing how Bethesda follow that up.

One of the things we considered was a deeper, more nuanced combat system. So far, so good, especially since the combat in Skyrim is undoubtedly one of the game’s weakest points. This could, for instance, entail Bethesda locking moves and entire combat styles behind progression meters, so players would unlock more as they leveled up.

But then when you think about it, you realize this is the antithesis of what The Elder Scrolls should be- Bethesda emphasizes the player’s freedom, including in the kind of character that they want to play, by not locking the player into any specific kind of style or ‘class,’ and letting them switch over to something else at will. It is a beautiful system, and this would run counter to that.

Combat is definitely something that could stand to improve in the next Elder Scrolls game, don’t get me wrong- but maybe there are better ways to achieve this than by taking options away from the player.

This article is part of our weekly series on Bethesda’s next big entry into the world of The Elder Scrolls. Through this series we take a look at the possible new features that Bethesda can add into the next The Elder Scrolls game, based on what they implemented in the previous entries and player feedback.

A friend of mine recently got the Skyrim remaster, and they really got into it. They had played for almost 50 hours, and were on their way to Platinuming the game, with every intent to invest hundreds of hours into the game beyond that. However, it then turned out that an essential NPC, who gives the player character a quest for a Daedric artifact, was dead- that NPC had been killed by a vampire at some point over the game, and owing to the state of permanence in Bethesda RPGs, they stayed dead. My friend couldn’t get that last Daedric artifact, couldn’t Platinum the game, got discouraged at this, since this was no fault of theirs, and gave up on the game.

This highlights an issue in Bethesda’s games- see, the big reason that they are as popular as they are is that they allow you to do anything, at any time, anywhere in the game, and what you do sticks. Nothing is off limits in an Elder Scrolls game, no character that you can’t kill, no place that you can’t go to. This mix of openness and permanence is what makes these games so compelling.

But on the other hand, as the example above demonstrates, there is clearly a downside to this, as even ‘essential’ characters, needed to progress the story, can sometimes die, leaving the player with no way to progress, or get certain quests done. This is one thing that Bethesda need to address in The Elder Scrolls 6– how do they offer the kind of openness that they are known for, while also not potentially stranding players in the game with no ways to progress?

Some ways to implement this might be making certain characters unkillable, as an example, until certain checks are passed (for instance, until the character has given the player the quest or item that they are supposed to). Alternately, Bethesda could implement a backup, where every major or essential quest or item in the world reverts to a dungeon or hidden location in the world that the player must find if the character who was supposed to give it to them otherwise dies prematurely- this would still be frustrating, but at least affected players would have a backup, and it would be in line with the series’ penchant for openness and exploration.

Whatever Bethesda do, they should not ignore the issue. It’s not big enough to affect most players- but those that do can get disenfranchised with the entire series, given enough time.

The Elder Scrolls series has only recently taken off, with it first getting popular attention (albeit still remaining a niche title with Morrowind, and with Oblivion finally breaking the series into the mainstream, and Skyrim becoming the kind of monster success the series is associated with today. Arena and Daggerfall, the first two games in the series, remain curiosities to most of the gaming public, more than anything else.

But what this means is, mechanics from those older Elder Scrolls games can now easily be brought back and reintroduced to modern Elder Scrolls games- for most players, they would be new. Something as basic as making the world far more dangerous to venture into at night, encouraging rests at inns, to more complicated mechanics, like weapon enhancements, custom spell creation, and the more complex interlocking web of politics, reputation, and religion, all of which interacted with each other and the game, making unexpected things happen, could all return.

Look, Daggerfall is the forebear to modern Elder Scrolls games- so a lot of what it did survives in newer entries in the series, too. But it was more nuanced, more complex, than the series would become in its later years. Maybe with The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda could look into reintroducing some of the nuance that Daggerfall was known for back into the mix- in the process, they’d also reverse the trend towards casualization that the series has been associated with for the last few entries.

The long wait for mods for the PS4 version of Fallout 4 ended in the worst possible way earlier this month when Bethesda confirmed that mods would not be coming to the PS4 version of the game at all, thanks to Sony blocking them, and Bethesda being unwilling to compromise on their vision for how mods should work.

It was a shame all around, and it is widely considered to be a major misstep from Sony. That said, however, the one question that does not get enough consideration in all discussions regarding this topic is what this might mean for future Bethesda games, and especially, future Fallout and Elder Scrolls games.

Now that Bethesda are clear that Sony will not allow mods on their platform to the extent that Bethesda want mods to be offered, and with the PS4 offering the largest install base for Bethesda to sell their games to, at least on consoles, one must ask themselves whether this episode might not end up having a bearing on how Bethesda handle and approach mods as a whole going forward.

Is it possible, for instance, that Bethesda make games that are less expandable via mods going forward, simply because they are now aware that on at least one major platform, they will not be able to deliver on their envisaged product? Or conversely, is it possible that Bethesda simply double down on mods, and continue to deliver games on Xbox and PC with them, offering a lesser product to PlayStation gamers, and hoping to pressurize Sony into budging from their stance?

I do want to call attention to the fact that Bethesda have been all to happy in the past to deliver an inferior product on PlayStation- does anyone remember Fallout 3 and Skyrim on PS3? So they might not necessarily change their games because Sony won’t allow mods.

But there is always the tiniest chance that they do – maybe to offer an equal product to everyone, or to simply remove mods entirely, and offer monetized user generated content – and if that is something that happens, then Sony, and their refusal to allow mods on the PS4, will have been responsible for it.

Let’s hope that none of this comes to pass, and that in the worst case, Bethesda deliver an Elder Scrolls 6 that can be modded on Xbox One and PC, but not on PlayStation. In the best case, Sony will have changed their minds by then.

While The Elder Scrolls 6 isn’t coming anytime soon (and isn’t much more than a concept at this stage), it’s still interesting to examine how the game could change based on recent Bethesda happenings.

The progression system seen in Skyrim and more recently in The Elder Scrolls Online allows players to gain levels, assign skill points and essentially get better with certain skills the longer they’re used. Fallout 4’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. changed quite a lot for hardcore fans, especially when it did away with straightforward skills and made Perks that could facilitate certain builds better.

There are positives and negatives to both approaches but one has to wonder which benefits an RPG better. The freedom and flexibility offered by both is dependent on how players want to approach the game. In my opinion, I wouldn’t mind a stronger emphasis on gear and items that could substantially alter a player’s status and build in less concrete ways. Think Legendary weapons that are named and which carry their own intricate stories. These would then change your character as your progress through the game – a demonic sword would be slowly corrupt you but unlock new variants on your abilities while also making NPCs more scared of you.

Likewise, a certain ancient armour set could attract a certain faction, one thought long dead, to a town to meet you. It’s less by way of RNG for drops and more progression-based with each discovery adding to your legend and bestowing new abilities (some only gained by equipping certain items. Granted, levels could still be gained and skills unlocked but enemies would scale with you, neither overwhelming you nor proving giant pushovers. Granted, there should be ways to help players feel overpowered as well but that’s another topic for another day.

What kind of progression system would you like to see in The Elder Scrolls 6? Let us know below.

Fallout 4 in general featured a lot of dumbing down of the RPG elements from previous games in the series, and from other titles in the genre, including Bethesda’s own work, too. But one area where the game did great was with its crafting mechanics, especially in the new settlement system- the settlement system let players create entire new settlements from the ground up, and manage them, using all the junk and loot that they were picking up.

This was the one thing that Fallout 4 did so well that we actually want to see it return in future Bethesda games- including the upcoming The Elder Scrolls 6. A settlements mechanic in The Elder Scrolls 6 actually would make complete and total sense- especially since the previous entry, Skyrim, already had a smaller and more limited version of it added via the Hearthfire expansion.

Take that, and consider other things that you could do in Skyrim, including becoming the Jarl of cities and towns- combine the settlement creation mechanic with an expanded version of that, and you could have a full fledged city management simulation metagame present within The Elder Scrolls 6. As long as this wasn’t being added to the game at the expense of the core RPG elements, as was the case with Fallout 4, I hardly think anyone would complain- I know for sure that I wouldn’t.

Bethesda have been making a surprisingly strong push for VR- they are, in fact, one of the few major publishers to be making any attempts to support VR in a meaningful capacity. In a way, this makes sense- after all, this is the publisher that also houses id Software, the developer once known to be on the cutting edge of new tech.

This E3, Bethesda showed off some early fruits of their VR experimenting and tinkering- Fallout 4 and DOOM, both in VR, and both translating to the format exceedingly well, which isn’t always true of traditional games converted to VR post facto. Both of these were strictly shown as tech demos, though Fallout 4 VR will actually be coming to the HTC Vive next year– but the general question now stands: is Bethesda going to make VR a part of its products going forward?

If so, then that raises some very interesting questions and implications about the company’s upcoming The Elder Scrolls 6– the title is not currently in development, and it won’t be for a while, but that actually works more in the favor of an argument for why it may have VR functionality of some kind. By the time The Elder Scrolls 6 is out, VR will definitely have gained traction- more traction than it has right now, which is essentially none. Making a game VR compatible at that point will even make some financial sense.

That said, the reverse of this could also very well be true- if The Elder Scrolls 6 isn’t due out for a few years at least, as is likely, then there is every possibility that the current VR push has fizzled and died out by the time the game ever enters development. And if that is the case, Bethesda likely won’t want to waste any resources on having any VR functionality at all, no more than they wanted to include Kinect functionality in the Skyrim remaster.

In the end, then, the question of whether or not The Elder Scrolls 6 will have any VR functionality comes down to whether or not VR actually survives until the time the game enters development. If it does- then I feel comfortable in saying that yes, The Elder Scrolls 6 will have some kind of VR component after all.

You know, at this point, I feel a bit bad for Pete Hines- the dude is probably getting sick and tired of talking about not talking about The Elder Scrolls 6 (which was definitely evident in his statement on the matter last week). That said, another week, another interview in which Hines was asked about The Elder Scrolls 6– and another clarification about the game not coming any time soon.

Speaking to GameStar, Hines noted that The Elder Scrolls 6 won’t be ‘announced at this Gamescom, or the one after that.’ In fact, he said, ‘there are at least two big games from Bethesda Game Studios before [Bethesda] get around to Elder Scrolls 6,’ he said, indicating that this may be a very long wait for fans of the franchise.

Key here in that statement is his emphasis on Bethesda Game Studios– this means that games published by Bethesda, but developed by other studios, such as DOOM, Dishonored 2, or Prey, do not count towards that number- rather, these will be games Bethesda Games Studios, the core development team that brings us Fallout and Elder Scrolls, develop. And we all know how long they take to make one game- strap in guys, this is going to be a long wait.