Skyrimreleased nearly a decade ago, and asThe Elder Scrolls 5approaches its ten-year anniversary, the next game still seems to be a long way away. Although there has been little news aboutThe Elder Scrolls 6since its announcement all the way back at E3 2018, the long wait between theElder Scrollsgames does have its advantages.
TheSkyrimmodding community has kept the last game alive well beyond its release date, adding new content and mechanics for players to enjoy, much of which eclipses the ambition of the retail release. Not all mods fit well with the retailElder Scrollsgames, with many changing the art styles, taking players to settings that don’t exist in theElder Scrollslore, and others adding silly details from lute-playing bears to replacing dragons with “Macho Man” Randy Savage. There are some mods, however, with long-lasting legacies that Bethesda should look at when developingThe Elder Scrolls 6.
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Frostfall Mod
It’s harder to find a better-integrated mod thanFrostfall, a survival modwhich adds a huge amount of depth toSkyrim. With Frostfall, players can suffer exposure, frostbite, and death when facing downSkyrim’s elements. They can camp, wear clothing with greater coverage, and buy cloaks and backpacks to help them on their journey through the wilderness. Frostfall encourages immersive roleplay acrossSkyrim, sometimes in very subtle ways.
Players will suddenly find themselves looking for bridges instead of running straight through water to get their destination, with wetness a surefire way to die of hypothermia. They may find themselves taking shelter during a snowstorm only to find another ofSkyrim’s ancient barrows, or ambushing bandits in the hope of using their fire to survive the night.
Frostfall and mods like it transform the setting ofThe Elder Scrollsfrom a scenic backdrop to a character, constantly generating dynamic and immersive stories asthe Dragonborntravels from vista to vista. Although the setting ofThe Elder Scrolls 6is unlikely to be as cold a clime asSkyrim, there are still plenty of ways Frostfall’s innovations could make the nextElder Scrollsa generational step forward. Players could find themselves hiding in the shade from the heat of Hammerfell’s sun, avoiding a convenient mountain shortcut through High Rock due to their lack of supplies, or simply sitting under the stars in the Summerset Isles by a campfire of their own creation.
There have already been rumors thatThe Elder Scrolls 6will contain survival mechanics. Hopefully the developers looked to Frostfall when designing those mechanics, with the mod managing to transform the game while still maintaining the overall structure ofSkyrim’s gameplay.
Interesting NPCs Mod
Interesting NPCs is another earlySkyrimmod, but it still has a lot to teachBethesdaabout NPC design nearly a decade later. Interesting NPCs fills the world with new fully-voiced NPCs for the player to run into on their journey. While this helps pad out the world with new interactions, it’s far from the mod’s greatest achievement.
“Super Followers” are Interesting NPC’s ace in the hole. Like the mod’s other offerings these are new, fully-voiced NPCs. However, they have far more to say and far more unique characterization than almost any of the followers found inSkyrim’s retail release. Fortunately, it seems Bethesda is already on the way to integrating some of the ideas found in Interesting NPCs.Fallout 4’s followers were a huge leap forward for Bethesda, with characters likeNick Valentinetied to the main plot while containing their own unravelling stories.
However, this came at the expense of the number of availablefollowers inFallout 4. HopefullyThe Elder Scrolls 6, like Interesting NPCs, strikes a good balance between breadth and depth that creates some more memorable characters than pastElder Scrolls games without limiting the number of available followers in-game.
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The Forgotten City Mod
The Forgotten City is a quest mod which won its writer Nick Pearce an Australian Screenwriter’s Guild Award, and is currently set to be released as a standalone game developed from the ground up.RPGs likeMass EffectandDragon Agehave always been known for their tight, character-driven storytelling and memorable companions. Games likeSkyrim, on the other hand, are known for their vast open worlds but ultimate lack of depth. For a long time this was attributed to the first-person perspective, size of the map, and the lack of protagonist characterization.
The Forgotten City shows that you may tell a fantastic story even with a silent RPG protagonist and large open world. Instead of populating its world with a handful of voice actors playing into different character types, Bethesda needs to look at the waysThe Forgotten City brought its setting to life. Every city inThe Elder Scrolls 6could have the depth of The Forgotten City, with as many memorable characters and mysteries.
Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul
Skyrimmassively simplified the series' spell system compared to previous games.Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaulis a fantastic mod that completely revampsTES 5’s spell mechanics. Most notably, it expands the Alteration school of magic to allow players to do everything from set up magical alarms to anchoring teleportation points to seeing through walls.
It’s a far more flexible and dynamic magic system that allows for some seriously creative ways to surviveSkyrim’s many dangers and dungeons. There has already been some indication that magic will work differently in the next game, with rumors thatThe Elder Scrolls 6will bring back spell-crafting. Hopefully the next game’s spell system has the same breadth as Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul.
Relationship Dialogue Overhaul Mod
Skyrim, likeOblivion, was populated by a huge number of NPCs and a small number of voice actors. It’s unlikelyThe Elder Scrolls 6will find unique voice talent for every quest NPC, but mods like Relationship Dialogue Overhaul have found a way to turn that flaw into an advantage. This mod expands the dialogue options for almost every NPC in the game by mixing lines already spoken by their voice actors elsewhere in the game. It adds a huge amount of depth and roleplaying options, while the line repetition is less noticeable than the reuse of different voice actors. Hopefully,The Elder Scrolls 6will find similarly crafty ways to make its world feel more alive.
The Elder Scrolls 6is in development.
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