Games You Should Play While Waiting For The Elder Scrolls 6
In 2018, Bethesda Softworks announced The Elder Scrolls 6. Aside from confirming its existence, the company has provided little information about the game. It's not even clear which area of Tamriel will serve as the backdrop or what world destroying catastrophe you will have to avert. Prospective players don't even know if the title will continue the tradition of starting in prison, and they certainly aren't sure when The Elder Scrolls 6 will release.
So, what can you play in the meantime? If you are in the market for an open-world RPG, you will find a plethora of titles since this genre dominates the market. Of course, there's a difference between having plenty of games to choose from and having plenty of good games to choose from. Thankfully, the industry has a surplus of those as well. Here are four titles you will likely enjoy while waiting for The Elder Scrolls 6.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Once upon a time, The Elder Scrolls was the king of the open-world RPG genre, but CD Projekt Red may have stolen Bethesda's crown with its The Witcher series. CD Projekt Red started off on solid footing with The Witcher, and the company honed its craft to a razor's edge through The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Gaming sites like IGN have praised The Witcher 3 for its near perfect blend of combat, open-world exploration, and storytelling. It's is one of the few titles where certain side-quests outshine the main campaign. Even after completing the core game, you're nowhere near finished thanks to its Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine DLC campaigns. These story packs received praise that rivals the original release.
Even though you can't customize Geralt to the same degree as a The Elder Scrolls protagonist, the amount of content, virtual real estate, fun, and replayability the developers squeeze into The Witcher 3 is nothing short of black magic. The Elder Scrolls 6 could be delayed until 2025, and that probably wouldn't be enough time to sift through everything The Witcher 3 has to offer.
Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2
While modern RPGs let you step into the shoes of a character, you're usually still railroaded into one of several paths and decisions. Need to enter a locked house? You have to either steal a key or use a lockpick on the door. Even The Elder Scrolls is guilty of this shortcoming, but series like Divinity: Original Sin are the exception.
Developed by Larian Studios, sites such as GameSpot regard Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 as role-playing royalty. Virtually every quest and story plot twists into unforeseen directions, and the franchise isn't afraid to go wild and wacky with abilities. Sure, you could choose a skill that lets you sneak more easily, but wouldn't you rather talk to animals and obtain unique quests from a nearby hen? Or how about turning a character into a suicide bomber who explodes upon death? Freedom is the name of the game in Original Sin.
At first glance, Original Sin's strength lies in its storytelling, but even the IP's pitch-perfect narratives are nothing next to its open-ended ability synergy. Take the Unstable talent, for example. If you pair it with a skill that increases damage the less health you have and max out your character's health, you can create a combo that one-shots the final boss. The number of overpowered builds in the Divinity: Original Sin series is near endless, as are the hours you can spend experimenting with them.
The Outer Worlds
Thanks to the persistent issues with Fallout 76, some gamers have lost faith in Bethesda's ability to develop games. This sudden crisis of faith is enough to make audiences pine for a modern title that nails everything they used to love about Bethesda titles. Obsidian Entertainment has delivered that game, which you can play while waiting for The Elder Scrolls 6.
The Outer Worlds shares much of its DNA with Fallout: New Vegas, but The Outer Worlds also iterates and improves on what came before. Better yet, The Outer Worlds taps into the same vein of creativity that birthed Fallout by recruiting that series' creators. The result is basically Fallout as it used to be, but in space.
Essentially, The Outer Worlds provides everything you love about The Elder Scrolls roleplaying but with a level of polish that some feel Bethesda is no longer capable of delivering. Thanks to The Outer Worlds' replayability, the game can tide you over until The Elder Scrolls 6's inevitable release, which will either prove the detractors wrong or confirm their suspicions.
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Usually, The Elder Scrolls titles focus more on narrative than combat, but what if you wanted to play a game where the opposite were true? If you want an open-world RPG where the combat is basically Monster Hunter: World but with magic — look no further than Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen.
In Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, you can climb all over monsters. Instead of hacking away at giant shins and dragon flanks, you can introduce your sword to their jugulars, Spider-Man crawl over their bodies, and strategically hack off their limbs. Some monsters can't even be killed unless you decapitate their multiple heads.
Better yet, you can hunt monsters with your friends, even when they aren't online with the Pawn system. While most RPGs give you NPC allies to fight alongside and babysit, Dragon's Dogma lets you create your own and then rent out other players' Pawns. You can take your friends' allies on your adventures and send them back with extra experience and some material rewards for their troubles.
While Dragon's Dogma probably won't wow you with its story, it might make you wish that other open-world RPGs followed its take on combat.