A former Bethesda employee who worked on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is happy not to be on the team developing The Elder Scrolls 6 as, in his words, "that's a high fucking bar."
In an interview with Time Extension, lead designer Bruce Nesmith and world artist Nate Purkeypile reflected on their time working on Skyrim and spoke about the lofty expectations associated with making sequels to universally acclaimed games. Nesmith said he felt an "immense pressure" to deliver a worthy successor to The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, while Nesmith expressed relief that he isn't one of the folks working on The Elder Scrolls 6, who have an unimaginably tough act to follow.
"[Skyrim's success] is an aspect of why I went independent," Purkeypile said. "Some people would say 'I really want to work on The Elder Scrolls 6,' but for me, that's a high fucking bar. I'd rather do my own thing."
Indeed, Skyrim's enduring legacy is undoubtedly a huge consideration for the developers at Bethesda working on The Elder Scrolls 6, as there are inevitably expectations for a bigger, better sequel. Of course, it'll take time for Bethesda to make something that lives up to those expectations, and it would seem The Elder Scrolls 6 was still in pre-production as of January of this year.
Bethesda's Todd Howard suggested late last year that we could be waiting until 2026 to play the sequel, which sounds reasonable when you consider the team's number-one priority right now is getting the much-vaunted Starfield onto shelves in the first half of 2023.
In the meantime, here are some games like Skyrim that'll satisfy your need for adventure.
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