Featured Image Credit: Bethesda
Topics: Starfield, Bethesda, The Elder Scrolls, The Elder Scrolls 6
Bethesda fans are convinced that if the Elder Scrolls VI has one of Starfield’s boldest features, it’d ruin the game, and I’m inclined to agree.
Starfield was intended to be a creative reset according to Bethesda, so the company wasn’t exclusively working on The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.
As a new IP, it wasn’t half-bad though players had their fair share of issues with it, from its open-world emptiness to its reuse of the same Bethesda style we’ve had for years. The ship building was good though.
One of its boldest features was New Game+, a new one for Bethesda as previously, if you wanted to start over in former titles, you’d have to start a new save file. The game explains this through the multiverse, with each new playthrough featuring some subtle changes for players to spot.
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Some fans reckon there’s a chance The Elder Scrolls VI will feature something similar. Perhaps some kind of big, magical reset button that takes us back to the beginning so we don’t need to make a new character.
As you’d expect, most people hate that idea for The Elder Scrolls and I can fully understand why, as even in a world of magic, it’d still feel like it was jumping the shark.
Starfield’s multiverse works because of the sci-fi nature of it, whereas in a game like The Elder Scrolls VI which is set in one part of the world, having some form of reboot every time you beat the game would just feel a bit silly.
Seems like most fans agreed, though many feel like there’s little to no chance a New Game+ gets included anyway. It’s just not Bethesda’s style, Starfield proved that.
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Starfield is the only setting out of the three where a multiverse makes any sense. They haven’t brought guns to Elder Scrolls, beast forms to Fallout, or power armour to Starfield," read one response to the concerns.
Some were slightly more into the idea though, believing a New Game+ in The Elder Scrolls VI would create “lore friendly” opportunities for those who want to “replay the game and be a badass in the beginning chapters”.
That said if you wanted to bulk up your character for an early-game playthrough, surely you could accomplish the same thing with mods?
Starfield’s New Game+ was an interesting experiment by Bethesda, but I think it’s fair to say future Elder Scrolls and Fallout games are safe from such innovations.