Bethesda Game Studios is currently hard at work on The Elder Scrolls 6. Currently in development, the upcoming RPG is the studio’s first post-Starfield RPG, and Bethesda veteran Bruce Nesmith believes that some of the game’s technical advancements will be seen in the studio’s next adventure.
In an interview with GoHumanize, Nesmith explained that the addition of “naval combat” would be a natural fit for The Elder Scrolls. While previous games in the RPG series did not have any vehicle combat, systems for vehicles were designed for Starfield, which is just one of the reasons why that game took so long to create.
“What will be the big new feature for Elder Scrolls 6? I think boats and potentially even naval combat are the natural ones,” he told the company. “Moving vehicles is not something that the Elder Scrolls has never really had. You had carriages that would take you from place-to-place, but most players only did that once.”
“Setting Elder Scrolls VI in Iliac Bay, you’re setting yourself up for a big expansion into seafaring stuff.”
Skyrim co-lead Bruce Nesmith on Elder Scrolls 6
The Elder Scrolls 6 is theorised as being set around Iliac Bay and Sentinel City. Nesmith explained that, if that is indeed true, the location would benefit from naval combat or at least usable boats. I mean, if it is heavily set around the bay, it would be a pain if all we could do is swim there, even if you’re playing as an Argonian.
“Setting Elder Scrolls VI in Iliac Bay, you’re setting yourself up for a big expansion into seafaring stuff, and even if you never go under the water, think about all the things you could do on top of the water. It could be really cool.”
Nesmith, who left Bethesda before The Elder Scrolls 6 started development, explained that taking full advantage of such a location—if that is indeed the game’s location—could result in “entire skill trees allowing you to walk on water or have boats that allow you to do more than just sail your boat”.
“To me, that would be an opening you take real advantage of because there is a lot of stuff there, and I think it would be very exciting for the team working on it too,” he said. “Boats and gameplay over water, that would be a dragon-level feature, in my opinion, but of course, you could have kraken to content with at sea.”
Nesmith was also asked about the possibility of The Elder Scrolls 6 featuring underwater dungeons or gameplay underwater. While always a possibility, the Skyrim designer explained that it would be a serious undertaking for Bethesda, and it would be better to focus on a hyper-polished game above the sea.
“When it comes to Elder Scrolls 6, if it were me, I would probably kibosh anything underwater and keep everybody focused on the surface in that same spirit, not because it wouldn’t be cool, but because I’d rather do this part really well rather than do both of these parts not so well.”
Nesmith maintains that he doesn’t know exact details about The Elder Scrolls 6. While the game’s location was reportedly decided during Fallout 4’s development, the exact gameplay of the RPG was not, and the Skyrim lead doesn’t know if Bethesda has changed ideas over the last 15 years. (And let’s face it, they wouldn’t say if they knew they had, either.”
Nevertheless, naval combat has been a major talking point regarding the game, especially as it seems quite certain that the game is set around Sentinel. One of the only leaks surrounding claimed that the game would feature some form of naval combat, and it would be a natural evolution over the systems seen in Starfield. Whether it’s actually true or not, we’ll have to wait until the game actually releases… whenever that is.
