Since The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced in E3 2018, Bethesda has featured zero updates about it. This isn’t much of a surprise, as Bethesda game director Todd Howard has long maintained that open-world FPS Redfall and sci-fi action RPG Starfield will come out first before development for TES 6 begins in earnest.
With Redfall just launching and Starfield still in development, TES 6’s team has more than enough time to think about how they can innovate with the new title. Dozens of triple-A titles have come out since TES 5: Skyrim’s first release in 2011. Including, or taking inspiration from, novel mechanics in these games can make the wait for the highly-anticipated entry worth it.
10 Advanced Companion AI
TES has a wide variety of followers from various factions, holds, and quests. Skyrim alone has dozens of companions suited for different playstyles. In exchange for variety, however, players often have to work around their sometimes janky AI.
Companions in TES 6 can take cues on how to program helpful AI allies from Pillars of Eternity, God of War, and Bioshock Infinite. Atreus and Elizabeth never get in the way of the player, and aid combat and exploration in intuitive ways. PoE’s AI script is intricate, and can be perfectly programmed around player preferences.
9 Physics & Mechanics That Work For Combat & Exploration
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom can’t be ignored as an influence for any future open-world RPG.
ToTK’s awesome physics engine allowed hundreds of different systems to work together flawlessly in an open world. If TES 6 can even emulate a fraction of that, it can open new doors for exploration and combat, and a new way to play cabbage basketball.
Meanwhile, Horizon Forbidden West’s free-climbing, mounted combat, gliding, underwater exploration, and Pullcaster not only make exploring fun but makes the world feel fully playable and not just an open display.
8 Better Stealth
Stealth in Skyrim is incredibly overpowered; so much so, that mods that intentionally punish stealth, or make it more challenging, exist. Revamping the beloved, and beloathed, mechanic in TES 6 is a must.
Hitman 3, Dishonored, and Metal Gear Solid 5 have radically different stealth mechanics, but have responsive AI and environment mechanics worth revisiting.
Hitman 3 makes its limited levels feel fresh by creating dozens of ways to sneak around and accomplish missions. Weather, destruction physics, player equipment, and enemy states heighten the tension and action potential in MGS 5. Lastly, Dishonored provides players with a mix of tools and powers to vary their approach to stealth, and end things lethally or non-lethally.
7 Dynamic Melee
While it would be hilarious, and intriguing, to have Devil May Cry-style action in TES 6, it’s likelier to find stylish but grounded melee combat in the sequel. To this end, it’s worth revisiting God of War (2018) and Ghost of Tsushima to modernize TES’s melee system.
God of War has distinct fighting styles per weapon. Fluidly chaining combos together also feels good, especially when switching weapons and stances on the fly. On the other hand, there’s nothing quite like parrying or dodging a blow in Ghost of Tsushima and following up with a satisfying counter.
6 Experimental Magic System
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind won fans over with custom spells, and although bringing this feature back would be great, this and Morrowind's entire magic system would need retooling for a modern player base.
Divinity: Original Sin has a boatload of options for combining spells and effects. Mages can teleport unsuspecting enemies on untold hazards; Entangle foes for easier roasting with pyro spells; use Contamination on puddles after casting Rain to poison then set enemies on fire, and so on.
Adding Dragon’s Dogma’s magic system to the mix builds another layer to spellcasting. Fantastic animations aside, there’s a real sense of progression for improving spells, and figuring out the perfect counter to resistances lets players broaden their spells list.
5 Environmental Damage
If Skyrim had slayable dragons to make the player feel powerful, TES 6 can have gameplay-relevant destruction physics to make them feel like their power can literally change the world.
Control and Rainbow Six Siege feature gameplay-influenced destruction physics that are both functional and heighten the tension of every encounter. If Starfield's game engine can truly enable players to expand on the worlds they land on, then TES 6 can have some form of destructible environment that can have gameplay consequences.
4 Weapon, Armor, And Accessory Crafting
Skyrim had alchemy, blacksmithing, and other crafting mechanics available, but games with interesting and functional crafting show that players can do more than renaming an enchanted ebony sword.
Monster Hunter Rise's crafting mechanic is simple, yet made unique by the fact that every beast in the game has a one-of-a-kind armor set or weapon tied to its materials. Prey's system of using junk to craft game-changing items can turn the average Bethesda RPG player's impulse to collect miscellaneous items into a useful trait. Finally, Nioh gives players a chance to tweak their gear with parts from almost any item for precise stats, instead of leaving it all to chance.
3 Convenient Homesteading & Building
Skyrim’s DLC Hearthfire rewards players with their own customizable property, and a home to raise a family in. Admittedly, not a lot of triple-A titles have the family part of this mechanic, but Ni no Kuni 2, Fallout 4, Animal Crossing: New Horizons have the building part down pat.
The hundreds of Hearthfire-related mods for Skyrim show there is a market for Animal Crossing-style building and customization for TES 6. If TES 6 allows players to become jarls or another kind of landowner, the advanced settlement-building mechanics from Ni no Kuni 2 and Fallout 4 will not go amiss.
2 Army Command System
Fans have had years to speculate TES 6’s plot. Some fans think it's possible that in-game lore in Skyrim points towards a possible exploration of Akivir, or a trip to Hammerfell.
Another possibility is the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion finally coming to a head. Regardless of how players resolve the civil war in Skyrim, it’s clear the two sides despise each other. If players are given a role in resolving this conflict, it wouldn’t be amiss to look at strategy games for a fun gameplay twist.
Total War: WARHAMMER 2 offers the time-tested Total War gameplay with elements of the Sci-Fi fantasy wargame. Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition freshened up the 1999 classic’s core gameplay and AI, which learns from player input on higher difficulty levels.
1 Quests That Change The World State
Major quests have marked effects on character dialogue and behavior in Skyrim. Despite these cosmetic changes, nothing of substance truly happens. Assassinating the Emperor adds new street chatter but not much else, defeating Alduin makes dragon invasions rarer but does not allow burnt villages to rebuild, and so on.
Final Fantasy 15, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, and Red Dead Redemption 2 have pretty drastic changes to their world states after certain points in the plot. The points of no return are definite and have repercussions.
With a new engine, TES 6 can make far-reaching changes in the world once certain quests are accomplished. It also creates real consequences for the series’ hallmarked narrative freedom.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is currently in development.