Bruce Nesmith knows RPGs. A designer on Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion—and the lead designer on Skyrim—he also did quest writing on Fallout 3. Not to mention, oh, plenty of professional impact on Dungeons & Dragons. The list goes on.
Nesmith departed Bethesda Game Studios in 2021, but he’s remained appreciably vocal about the company’s past, present, and even its future. Now, via a recent interview which also included some pointed thoughts on a hypothetical Morrowind remake, the prolific creator has weighed in on what he’d love to see from the long-gestating sixth entry in The Elder Scrolls’ mainline series.
Drawing Lessons
PressBoxPR has an excellent wide-ranging interview with Bruce Nesmith that I urge you to check out in full. Even if it means exiting this article’s tab, go for it, though as always, I’ll do my best to offer my own insights! Nesmith is asked some great questions about The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and gaming at-large.
Not to bury the lede, though; in my view, the biggest moment stems from the dev’s perspective on what Bethesda ought to be considering emulating in some broad-stroke ways. Asked how the company could “shake up the Bethesda formula to subvert expectations,” Nesmith looked to a far more recent game than Skyrim which, well, many of us view quite highly:
“…Look at Baldur’s Gate 3 and draw lessons from that smash hit, that part of what made it so popular is that it felt like all choices were meaningful, because you made a choice, and it made a big difference in your play.”
He continues by analyzing that “Bethesda games have maybe pulled back from doing that a little bit,” a sentiment that some of us would argue is something of an understatement. “The world and the game” in Baldur’s Gate 3 “is changed because of your choices,” he assesses, so “have it make a real impact.”
“If I were in a position of being able to make the decisions, that’s something that I would look to be doing because I think the gaming community has spoken and said they want games like Baldur’s Gate 3 where their actions feel like they have impact in a broader sense.”
Indeed, the community has spoken. As of this past December, 2023’s TGA Game of the Year has eclipsed the 20-million mark. To be sure, while that’s a tremendous achievement no matter how you slice it, it still trails Skyrim (a much older game, to be fair!) by quite a bit. But The Elder Scrolls 6 is going to sell like hotcakes unless something goes catastrophically wrong; borrowing from the playbook of a complete and utter critical darling with legions of diehard fans—made by a far smaller developer!—sounds like a prime play in my book.
Highguard Just Got That Much-Needed 5v5 Mode, But It’s A “Limited Time” Event
Props for happening so fast, though?
