Although developer Bethesda Softworks is currently focused on finishingStarfieldfor its fall 2022 release date, it is expected that some work will soon shift toThe Elder Scrolls 6, if it hasn’t already. The studio’s highly anticipated follow-up toSkyrimhas been a long time coming, and fans hope that the time betweenElder Scrollsreleases will allow for a lot of innovation.
Of course, there have been a lot of generational leaps in games sinceElder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Open World games have become more immersive, visual fidelity in those games has grown by leaps and bounds, and the depth of story available to players can be overwhelming (in a good way). Interestingly, though, there is one area that games have struggled to improve in the time sinceSkyrim, and it’s an area thatThe Elder Scrolls 6needs to get right to succeed.
Combat in Elder Scrolls 6
First person melee combat has certainly seen some changes over the last 10 years, but it hasn’t reached a point where it is as sophisticated and as deep as players want. Plenty of RPGs have attempted to offer their own twist on melee combat, but usually it fails to deliver anything more than hacking at an enemy, backing up or blocking, and then moving in again. It’s honestly not too far off from whatSkyrimoffered all those years ago.
Admittedly, plenty of fans were satisfied with the combat inSkyrimand would be happy to see a similar system return inElder Scrolls 6. But if this is to be a melee combat game then the hope would be that it would look and play better than in 2011.
Titles likeDishonored,The Outer Worlds, andCyberpunk 2077have featured some form of first-person melee combat but by and large, it looks relatively the same between the three. The addition of a parry system has helped the melee combat feel more like a third-person action game, but even then, the structure is relatively familiar. It’s unclear what that element is that would push first-person melee combat to the next level, but if the answer was so obvious all games would feature it.
There are other areas thatElder Scrolls 6will likely nail, like the story, character interaction, and world-building, but combat is such an integral piece that it would be nice to see some innovation as only Bethesda can deliver. Melee combat has surprisingly not evolved in those ten years and by the timeThe Elder Scrolls 6releases, it still might exist in that familiar packaging.
Obsidian’sAvowedmight be the first game sinceSkyrimto try to offer something new in the first-person melee combat department and perhaps Bethesda will even borrow some of those ideas forElder Scrolls 6. Whatever the case may be,The Elder Scrolls 6has a lot of hype surrounding it already and a lot of elements that it needs to get right. Not just for the sake of providing entertainment, but for getting Bethesda back on track.
