The Elder Scrolls 6 Taking an Avowed Approach Could Be for the Best

Highlights

• The Elder Scrolls 6 aims to avoid Starfield’s pitfalls by potentially following Avowed’s narrative-driven approach.
• Avowed’s smaller world size allows for a more focused narrative experience compared to Skyrim.
• Perhaps The Elder Scrolls 6 should prioritize story over world size to avoid narrative overshadowing.

The Elder Scrolls 6 may still be a long way off, but that’s not stopping it from being one of Bethesda’s most anticipated titles, and likely one of the developer’s most important titles to date. Starfield, ambitious and promising as it was, succeeded in some ways but fell short in many others. While its combat and visuals are among its best features, its massive open world tends to feel empty, simply because it is arguably too large to handle any sort of worthwhile substance. Now that it has been over twelve years since the release of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls 6 has a chance to make up for Starfield‘s sins and deliver even more than its predecessor did. However, to accomplish this, The Elder Scrolls 6 may need to take a different approach to ensure it doesn’t end up in the same boat as Starfield, and it may not need to look further than Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming fantasy RPG Avowed.

While The Elder Scrolls 6 originally aimed to follow in the footsteps of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Obsidian’s Avowed has instead opted for an entirely different approach that may actually benefit it in the long run. These “detours” involved Avowed‘s explorable world and the developer’s iconic Outer Worlds formula, both of which could serve The Elder Scrolls 6 in the long run. As such, it might be better for The Elder Scrolls 6 to mimic Avowed‘s cautious approach rather than aiming for the stars as Bethesda did with Starfield.

Avowed Doesn’t Look Much Different From The Outer Worlds

Ahead of its release, Avowed has already been labeled “fantasy Outer Worlds,” and while that sounds like a criticism, there may not be anything wrong with that approach. The Outer Worlds established a formula for Obsidian that worked, both in its style and its substance, so Avowed taking that DNA and simply using it to build a different world could work for it. In the same way, perhaps The Elder Scrolls 6 would be better off being more like its predecessor, Skyrim, rather than attempting to innovate the franchise further.

The Size of Avowed’s World Creates a More Narrative-Driven Experience

Avowed originally seemed to be targeting an open world similar in scope to The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, but the developer has since shot down those expectations by clarifying that its upcoming fantasy RPG will be more akin to The Outer Worlds in size. While this might feel like a downside to some, Avowed‘s smaller scale allows it to be a more narrative-driven experience — something that The Elder Scrolls has always struggled with but should consider adopting in the next installment.

…perhaps
The Elder Scrolls 6
would be better off being more like its predecessor,
Skyrim
, rather than attempting to innovate the franchise further.

The Elder Scrolls has never really been too concerned with its narrative, though its lore is deep and intricate enough to merit focusing more on the story than everything else. Instead, Bethesda has a penchant for making each of its worlds a main character, generally leading to more attention being placed on it than the story. While that approach might have worked for Skyrim, more recent sizable open-world games have proven that the larger a game’s world becomes, the easier it is for its narrative to get sidelined. Despite any temptation there may be to go even bigger in The Elder Scrolls 6, perhaps it might be better to rein things in a bit and give players a more story-driven experience.

There is certainly a lot riding on The Elder Scrolls 6, especially in light of the criticism Starfield has faced. However, if it approaches its design and size in the same way that Avowed has approached its own, perhaps it could be every bit of what fans expect from an Elder Scrolls game and more.