Elder Scrolls 6 Fans Are Split on Sailable Boats

A recent discussion among The Elder Scrolls 6 fans has revealed that the community may be rather split on Bethesda introducing a sailing mechanic to the game. While very little is known about The Elder Scrolls 6, fans of the franchise haven’t been deterred from speculating on where it takes place, when it takes place, and what the next installment will bring to the table. Following the lukewarm reception to Starfield, discourse around The Elder Scrolls 6 evolved from an optimistic wishlist to a cautious debate on how it might avoid making the mistakes of Bethesda’s most recent release.

A prominent topic concerned Starfield‘s implementation of procedural generation, often cited as the weakest part of the game, and antithetical to the winning formula of a Bethesda sandbox. Despite Daggerfall featuring a procedurally generated map back in 1996, the franchise’s community largely believes that a hand-crafted, content-dense, open-world experience yields the best results for The Elder Scrolls – with Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind all cited as examples.

However, as evidenced by a thread on The Elder Scrolls 6‘s subreddit, there are certain topics where its fans don’t have a proper consensus. Posted by JollyMuppet, the discussion centers around the merits of the next Elder Scrolls game featuring sailing and shipbuilding in a similar fashion to Starfield. Some players argue that it would be a waste of development time, as owning a mandatory ship would hinder the role-playing potential and ruin immersion. Other players believe that Bethesda simply invested too much into Starfield‘s ship-building to let the feature collect dust.

Arguably, what separates a ship in the Settled System from a ship in Tamriel isn’t necessarily the technology, but rather its gameplay purpose. Players cannot explore the map in Starfield without a ship, but players have historically been able to explore Tamriel without a boat. Assuming The Elder Scrolls 6 takes place in Hammerfell and High Rock, two Imperial provinces connected by land, making sea travel mandatory could end up feeling contrived.

On the flip side, some players yearn for a new Elder Scrolls title that pushes the envelope. They argue that a Skyrim with better graphics is just a Skyrim with modern mods, and that The Elder Scrolls 6 should make its own mark as its own thing. A suggested alternative to sailing appears to be underwater exploration, something that the franchise already has a framework for due to its Alteration spells. The recent release of Oblivion Remastered reminded players of how much underwater areas can add to dungeon-delving, spelunking, or even to set up certain quests, such as “Cheydinhal Recommendation.”

Ultimately, it is important to remember that sailing is a point of speculation rather than a confirmed mechanic for the next Bethesda title, as The Elder Scrolls 6 was unveiled with an announcement trailer eight years ago, but has yet to confirm its own setting. As Bethesda Game Studios continues to work on the project, Todd Howard has at least confirmed that the majority of its team is indeed working on The Elder Scrolls 6. What that means for its release window remains to be seen, but most guesses and projections point towards a launch in 2027 or 2028.