Elder Scrolls 6: 10 Ways To Make The Perfect Sequel
2. Have The World Genuinely Change Based On The Player's Decisions
Bethesda
This one's really for the role-playing purists out there, but still - Bethesda can do a much better job of making their worlds evolve over the course of a player's journey in-game, whether that be Elder Scrolls or Fallout.
In Skyrim, you could join multiple factions and none of them would really complain if you held membership for one that effectively contradicted their main goals. That means you could actually be the leader of the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood and still join up with the Companions or the College of Winterhold, which doesn't really make sense in the grand scheme of things.
Looking elsewhere, and should the player decide the fate of Skyrim's Civil War by either leading the Stormcloaks or the Imperials to victory, and you'll emerge with the world not having really changed all that much. Ulfric might be dead or there may be Stormcloaks in Solitude, but Skyrim never really changes that much.
The next Elder Scrolls needs to evolve in tandem with the player's journey. Not that Skyrim didn't in places, but the next title needs to better realise that feature next time around.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
