The Elder Scrolls 6 is Bethesda’s chance to surpass Skyrim’s legacy and help bring about a new generation of next-gen open-world RPGs. Unsurprisingly, this will be no small task, and to pull it off the studio will need to find ways to improve upon some of its fantasy franchise’s most famous features.
The Elder Scrolls 6 will need to spice up its prison and guard systems, increasing the roleplaying opportunities the system presents without stepping on the trademark freedom that the franchise allows its players. After all, players begin as a prisoner of some sorts, so prisons and those guarding them should be more than a running gag for the franchise. Whether it’s the prison cell in Oblivion or hearing “You’re Awake” in Skyrim, there’s a nostalgic sense TES6 could take advantage of. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways the next game could improve upon guards, prisons, and the rippling effects these could have in the world of The Elder Scrolls 6.
There are a few ways The Elder Scrolls 6 could improve upon Skyrim’s guard system. Mods like Guard Dialogue Overhaul help make the game more immersive by making the game more selective with guard comments. Towards the start of the game, this mod prioritizes guards’ more condescending lines, while making guards increasingly impressed with the player characters as the progress through certain questlines and perform certain deeds.
However, beyond immersion, there are ways guard mechanics could be improved in The Elder Scrolls 6. In Skyrim, committing a crime in public and being seen will cause the nearest guard to coming running to arrest the player. If the player refuses to go quietly, every guard in the area will become hostile to them and begin to attack. It’s an improvement on The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion’s system, where committing a crime could cause guards to appear out of nowhere even if there were no witnesses.
However, despite the improvements, Skyrim’s guards still never immersively engage with their environment, preferring to simply outnumber the player and engage with them head on. The Elder Scrolls 6’s guards could lower gates, make better use of fortifications, and could act more realistically, perhaps working to corner the player before attempting to arrest them. Small changes like these could make a big difference to the experience of questlines like the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, leading to more dynamic and exciting escapes. However, there’s no reason getting caught shouldn’t also be part of the fun.
The best part of prisons in Skyrim is the opportunity for escape. Entering a Skyrim hold‘s prison empties the player’s inventory aside from some ragged clothing and a single lockpick, which can be usually be used to open a sewer grate and escape, with another opportunity to steal back the player’s belongings on the way.
The Elder Scrolls 6 could make each prison it’s own specific challenge, with greater variation between escape routes, guard schedules, and other imprisoned NPCs. A prison in one Elder Scrolls 6 city, for example, might contain a relatively straightforward sewage escape route, but may also include a mean-looking cellmate who insists on coming along. Another prison’s escape route might lead the player precariously along the outside of a building, while another might be more similar to Cidhna Mine in Skyrim, requiring the player to make valuable alliances if they’re to have a hope of breaking out.
There are other ways the game could make the prison system more interesting. Crimes committed outside of cities could give players opportunities to escape while being transported, just like the Stormcloak prisoners the player can see being transported across Skyrim. Adding extra steps might be frustrating to some players, however, so the game could include the option to be taken straight to jail.
Prisons could be more dynamic, with guards in corrupt cities like Riften more likely to accept a bribe. Different prisons could even learn from previous escapes, making each subsequent escape from the same prison harder. An escape route that the player took a first time might be blocked by new guards a second time, making a non-lethal escape more difficult. Players could also be put in cells with increased security, or increasingly far from the exit. This might only work a limited number of times, but it would still bring a greater amount of variety to The Elder Scrolls 6’s prison system and the roleplaying opportunities it presents.
The Elder Scrolls 6 could create a more dynamic world by including a form of reputation system. A player who has a high bounty might not just draw attention from the guards, but could be treated differently by some of the other NPCs they meet as well. The last two Elder Scrolls games reused the same voice actors for many of the world’s NPCs, allowing for greater flexibility with fewer recorded lines. The Elder Scrolls 6 could also have each of its voice actors record lines to indicate fear of the player, or possibly admiration if they have no bounty or have a Robin Hood-esque reputation, like Oblivion’s Grey Fox.
Elder Scrolls NPCs could even have greater confidence depending on their proximity to guards. A tavern owner in the middle of a busy city might be harder to intimidate than a tavern owner at a crossroads, for example. A guard could also be easier to bribe or intimidate if they are alone, encouraging the player to use their common sense when attempting different tactics.
Crimes committed in one town or city in The Elder Scrolls 6 might not cause guards to pursue the player in another hold, but this doesn’t mean that the player’s reputation shouldn’t precede them. A player charged with stealing a horse might be able to disappear into anonymity if they flee the hold and travel to a big city, but a player charged with murder might treated with fear in adjacent holds, even if they can only be arrested nearer the scene of the crime.
There are other, more obvious ways The Elder Scrolls 6 could make its guard and prison system more immersive. NPCs could react more appropriately to certain crimes, for example. No longer would entire villages attack the player for killing a chicken. Overall, however, the most important aim for the prison system in The Elder Scrolls 6 should be creating a greater diversity of roleplaying opportunities for the player, while still giving the player the franchise’s signature freedom.
A part of this also means increasing the realism of guard AI, so that players can immerse themselves into their character without having to worry about using video game logic over real-world logic. By increasing the variety of roleplaying opportunities and by making the response of the world more natural, The Elder Scrolls 6’s prison system could help the next game in the series live up to Skyrim’s legacy.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.
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