The Elder Scrolls 6 Faces Huge Expectations as Fans Push for Major RPG Changes

If The Elder Scrolls VI ends up repeating the same problems many players had with Starfield, the long-awaited RPG could struggle to meet expectations after all these years. Since The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released, the RPG genre has changed in a major way. You no longer jump into open-world games just to clear quests and collect loot because players now expect worlds that react to their actions and feel alive long after the main story moves on.

One of the biggest concerns surrounding The Elder Scrolls 6 is combat. Skyrim’s combat worked well for its time, but many players feel it would not be enough in a modern RPG without major improvements. When you swing a sword or block an attack, you want to feel the impact through animations, sound, enemy reactions, and movement.

That does not mean Elder Scrolls needs to turn into Elden Ring or Dark Souls. Players still want the series to keep its identity and slower role-playing focus. You also want each weapon to feel different at the same time—daggers for speed, heavy weapons with real weight, and shields for meaningful defensive gameplay in fights.

Players also want Bethesda to improve enemy AI. Players expect soldiers to charge at you, only to be properly defended; mages to keep their distance; and archers to be careful about their positioning, instead of enemies just charging at you without any strategy.

Different enemy types should also fight in different ways so that exploring caves, ruins, castles, and wilderness areas keeps combat feeling fresh throughout the game.

Combat matters even more because of how much time you spend fighting in an Elder Scrolls game. You enter countless dungeons, clear enemy camps, battle creatures, and possibly take part in large-scale wars over hundreds of hours. If combat becomes repetitive early on, even a massive open world can eventually start to feel exhausting, no matter how impressive the map looks.

There are only so many dungeons and enemy camps you can clear before the experience wears on your sense of fun and discovery. Exploration is another part of the series that fans believe Bethesda cannot afford to mishandle. One of the greatest aspects of Elder Scrolls has always been the ability to veer from the main path and discover hidden locations that weren’t marked as major objectives. 

Whether it’s a distant tower, a cave between mountains, or forgotten ruins deep in a forest, these are the times when your curiosity is meant to be rewarded in ways you’ll never forget. Those are the moments that make exploring special. The problem players want to avoid is exploration that leads to meaningless rewards.

Clearing a dangerous dungeon only to get random gear, basic gold, or forgettable armor no longer feels satisfying in a modern RPG. Instead, players want every important item to carry history, context, or some connection to the place where it was found.

That means a weapon hidden inside an ancient tomb should tell you something about the warrior buried there. The magical ring discovered in a forgotten temple should be linked to the cult or civilization that inhabited that place. Players want loot to feel like it is a part of the world, not just random rewards at the end of every dungeon.

Open-world RPGs are also taking more of a hold in environmental storytelling.

You expect locations to tell their stories through journals, broken statues, burnt books, scribbles on walls, and other details sprinkled around the environment. When the final reward connects all those details together, the item becomes memorable because of the story behind it rather than simple stat increases.

It makes you feel like every clue and detail in that location really mattered throughout the journey. Players also want The Elder Scrolls 6 to improve immersion without becoming a hardcore survival game. Most people are not asking for constant hunger meters or exhausting survival mechanics every few minutes. 

The weather should matter when you travel through snowy mountains or dangerous regions. 

Purchasing food, resting at inns, carrying supplies, or setting up camps to prepare for lengthy journeys could help ground the world a bit more without slowing the game down too much. Small systems like these can help make your character feel like an actual traveler. For many players, balance is the key to making these features work. Survival systems that are too punishing can frustrate players who are just after exploration and quests.

A lighter standard mode combined with a deeper optional survival mode would give different types of players the freedom to experience Tamriel however they want. These systems also enhance the game's role-playing aspect. Elder Scrolls has always been about creating your own story, whether you want to become a warrior, mage, thief, hunter, or wandering traveler.

Simple actions like sleeping under the stars, stopping at inns during storms, or preparing supplies before entering dangerous areas can make those fantasy roles feel much more believable. Cities are another major focus for players hoping Bethesda pushes the series forward. Modern open-world games often create large cities that look impressive at first but quickly feel lifeless once you spend time inside them. 

Fans of The Elder Scrolls 6 want to feel like the cities are still alive even when you’re not there. You can see merchants setting up their shops in the morning, blacksmiths working during the day, drunk people fighting inside taverns at night, and criminals quietly going through the darker parts of the city after sunset. 

The NPCs should also feel like real people, not quest givers waiting for the player to show up. You do not directly interact with citizens. Citizens have routines, jobs, fears, rumors, and personal problems. This kind of design makes the world feel like it’s moving, not stuck.

Players also want cities to react to larger events taking place across Tamriel. Wars nearby can either push prices up or down or make merchants less active. Strong factions can change guard uniforms, dialogue, and political influence throughout certain areas.

If your character is an infamous or feared NPC, NPCs should react differently to your reputation and past behavior.

Many fans believe that meaningful player choice may be the most important part of the game. Great RPGs should have your choices leave a visible mark on the world, not just change a few lines of dialogue. They want their own actions to actually shape the future of Tamriel over time.

For example, when you save a town, you should see visible improvements in it. You could repair buildings, new merchants could come in, and your actions could make the region itself safer. On the other hand, there should be consequences for failing to protect a settlement, such as abandoned roads, increased danger, or enemy control spreading into nearby areas.

Factions are expected to play a major role in these systems as well. Helping kingdoms, joining rebel groups, joining guilds, or working with criminal groups should change how politics works, the quests available, and even who controls certain areas. 

If Bethesda can somehow combine better combat, meaningful exploration, immersive survival systems, living cities, and lasting consequences, The Elder Scrolls 6 could be much more than just another big open-world RPG. Players are not just waiting for a prettier Skyrim anymore.

That long gap between games has changed expectations to a world that feels responsive and personal and can change around the player in ways previous Bethesda RPGs never quite managed.