[STEAM] Bethesda's Former Elder Scrolls Loremaster Reveals His Idea for The Elder Scrolls 6 Story — and How It Would Have Set Up Elder Scrolls 7

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Bethesda’s former Elder Scrolls loremaster has revealed his idea for

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story, and how it would have set up The Elder Scrolls 7.

In an interview with

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discussing his dissatisfaction with working at Bethesda and subsequent departure from the company following the release of Starfield, Kurt Kuhlmann said if he had got the chance to lead The Elder Scrolls 6 it would have been like the beloved Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back.

Kuhlmann, who left Bethesda in 2023 after more than 20 years at the studio, said that in his story the elven supremacists the Thalmor would not only have been the big bad of The Elder Scrolls 6, but they would have ended the game on the road to victory. This, he said, would have turned Elder Scrolls’ long-running ‘player is the chosen one’ who achieves a definitive victory at the end of the game plot on its head, saying that while you would have “preserved hope for the future” by the end of The Elder Scrolls 6, “overall it looks like the Thalmor are on the march.”

The problem, Kuhlmann said, is that he doubts Bethesda would go for an Elder Scrolls game with a “bad” ending such as this, and a cliffhanger is "completely unfeasible" because it takes so long for Bethesda to release new mainline games in the fantasy series. "That's not a good way to end a game and say, yeah, we'll see you in 10, 15 years,” he said.

Alas, Kuhlmann’s idea is just that: an idea, and it’s unlikely that the actual storyline of The Elder Scrolls 6 will turn out to be anything like it. As for when we’ll find out, it could be some time yet. Last year, amid increasing pressure from fans for some information on the game, Howard said

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. In an interview with

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to celebrate the release of Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 is “still a long way off,” adding: “I’m preaching patience. I don’t want fans to feel anxious.”

More recently, speaking to

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, studio design director Emil Pagliarulo pointed to GTA 6’s high-profile delays as the “smartest thing they could do.”

“What do fans really want?” he asked. “Do they want a game that comes out before it should and doesn’t meet their expectations? Or do they want the turkey that is in the oven for long enough to be delicious when it finally comes out of the oven, you know? That’s what I think people are going to want. So, we’re going to take our time and as long as it needs to be great.”

Earlier this month, former veteran Bethesda developer Nate Purkeypile said

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, which he considers to be one of the top 10 games of all time.

In January last year,

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. Skyrim was released on November 11, 2011, and

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— 2,403 days afterwards. It is now seven-and-a-half years since the announcement, and we’re no closer, it seems, to the release of the game.

When the six-year anniversary of The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement arrived in June 2024, even Bethesda chief Todd

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The Elder Scrolls 6 is at least in production, with Bethesda confirming

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and "early builds" were available in March 2024.

Purkeypile said he assumed Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 so early because the studio was announcing Starfield at a time when it had already been so long since Skyrim came out, so “we needed to make sure people were not just ******* at us.” He continued: “it’s a very expensive way to do that, though. Those trailers are not cheap.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on

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at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld.

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