One New Weapon That Could Revolutionize The Elder Scrolls 6 Combat

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The wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 is starting to feel interminable, but Bethesda Game Studios remains steadfast in its claims that the Skyrim sequel will indeed be released at some point. Such claims are fairly easy to believe in spite of the growing gap between The Elder Scrolls 6 and its predecessor, mainly due to the fact that Skyrim is widely lauded as one of the best and most commercially successful games ever made.

But what Skyrim’s success means for The Elder Scrolls 6’s game design is a little more complicated. There are no doubt small sects of the Elder Scrolls fanbase that would love nothing more than a graphically updated Skyrim with a few additional bells and whistles, but the general consensus among the broader gaming populace is that TES 6 could benefit from more significant and meaningful mechanical, as well as narrative, innovations. This advice might be especially poignant in the wake of Starfield, which has received criticism for being too similar to Bethesda’s previous RPGs, not doing enough to evolve and experiment. Thus, while The Elder Scrolls 6 may not need to reinvent the wheel, Bethesda would be wise to shake up its formula, and combat design is as good a place to start as any.

The Elder Scrolls 6 Could Benefit from the Addition of a Spear Weapon Type

The Core Problems of Elder Scrolls Combat

Fans who love games such as Skyrim and Oblivion may acknowledge that combat is not its strongest aspect. Although building characters, gathering equipment, and improving gear can be enjoyable features on their own, the act of fighting in Bethesda’s role-playing games needs improvement.

In the earlier versions of “The Elder Scrolls” series, the combat system was not as robust, making the archery archetype particularly appealing because it offered a way to add complexity and challenge to battles. As a result, many players found themselves gravitating towards this playstyle in their gameplay.

When faced with a group of enemies in Skyrim, the factors that are most likely to lead to player success are gear strength and character level, not player skill. The process isn’t totally mindless, but the bulk of such encounters consist of spamming the attack button and mitigating damage taken until the enemy forces are conquered. Players can certainly choose to experiment with integrating magic, buffs, and unique weapon combinations, but this sort of approach is rarely, if ever, required. As such, leveraging higher-level strategies is far less rewarding, as combat isn’t designed for them.

A Spear Weapon Type Could Go a Long Way in The Elder Scrolls 6

It might seem highly specific, but the addition of a spear category, which is missing from previous Elder Scrolls games, could help to deepen TES 6’s combat sandbox. Recent releases like Avowed have proven how effective spears and other stabbing implements can be in first-person, and there may be a fairly elegant reason as to why this is the case.

First-person combat is tough to get right: player-character animations are heavily restricted, as are movement and attack types, making mechanical staples like I-frame dodging and managing multiple enemies at once difficult to implement. But strategies like positioning and thoughtful use of resources like stamina can thereby be made all the more important.

This is why weapons like spears can be particularly fun to use in first-person games, as they reward spatial awareness and slow, methodical attacks more so than reaction time and combo mastery. Naturally, the addition of the spear archetype won’t be enough to bring The Elder Scrolls 6’s combat up to snuff, but it represents the specialized design philosophy that Bethesda ought to embrace if it wants the game to be a generational leap from its predecessor.

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2025-03-15 20:37