The Elder Scrolls 6is one of the most anticipated games of the coming generation. However, with very little news since the first teaser trailer was released by Bethesda in 2018, the gaming giant will need to deliver a fresh new experience if it’s going to live up to its legacy.
With more players looking to Obsidian’s upcomingAvowedas the spiritual successor toSkyrim,The Elder Scrolls 6will need to offer long-time fans an experience they’ve never had before. Thanks toThe Elder Scrolls Online, fans have already seen more of Tamriel than ever , so introducing new locations will likely not be enough. To truly deliver a new experience,The Elder Scrolls 6needs to expand its character creation with the true variety of the world’s lore.
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The Races of Tamriel
The Elder Scrollshas always allowed players to pick from a wide array of races for their player character. However, many of these races are different types of humans or the archetypal fantasy elves – High Elves, Wood Elves, and Dark Elves. While theKhajiit and Argoniansare more alien, they have also been in the franchise sinceArena,so the array of available races needs expansion. Fortunately,The Elder Scrolls’ lore has a great range of fascinating races, many of which have made peripheral appearances in the franchise but have not been available as player characters.
Subraces like the Maomer, the pale island-dwelling Sea Elves, could make for some interesting player characters. These tropical elves were already introduced inThe Elder Scrolls Online, where players learn that they have a contentious relationship with their High Elven brethren for settling on the Summerset Isles while they lived in the swampy lowlands of Pyandonea.
IfTES 6is going to give players a truly new RPG experience, however, it will need to expand its sub-races beyond elves and humans. The Khajiit have a huge array of sub-races depending on which moon cycle they were born into, and only very few have made it into the games, even withThe Elder ScrollsOnline’s Elsweyr expansion. These sub-races range in appearance from house cats with human intelligence to Wood Elves with tails. While introducing the less humanoid sub-races as player characters could prove difficult, there are still plenty of different types of Khajiit that would fit the main games.
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More Possibilities and the Future of the Franchise
Tamriel is full of strange new races players have only just been introduced to.Skyrim’s Dragonborn DLChad the diminutive boar-riding Rieklings that could make for interesting role-playing opportunities. While Bethesda would need to ensure that all the species in the game were of roughly the same intelligence level as a human – only the Riekling Chief is shown to be able to speak common - the Rieklings demonstrate the breadth of unexplored possibilities whichTES 6should introduce if it’s going to live up toSkyrim’s immense legacy.
The unexploredcontinent of Akaviris known to contain other interesting beast-folk including the Tang Mo monkey-people and the Tsaesci, whose appearance is said to range from humanoid to snake-like. With greater scrutiny on the role of stats and race in fantasy, it is likely thatTES 6will continue the trend fromObliviontoSkyrimwith race differences being more aesthetic than statistical.
However, it is also important that the player’s choice of race feels like it is organically reacted to in the world.Skyrimtreated persecuted Argonian, Khajiit, and Dark Elf NPCs very differently to player characters of the same race. There is little explanation, for example, why the player is the only Argonian or Khajiit allowed into Windhelm, or why they can become aStormcloakgeneral with no comment despite the xenophobia of that faction.
IfTES 6is going to feel like the next generational step from Skyrim, it needs to expand the breadth of player options when it comes to character creations, but also the depth of reactivity in the world.
The Elder Scrolls 6is in development.
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