One of the many,manymemes surroundingBethesda’sown Todd Howard is the whole ‘See that mountain? you’re able to climb it.’ concept. You’ve probably heard that before, or something along those lines, and it’s been around since the days ofSkyrimback in 2011. It’ll often resurface in conversation, as it has with bothFalloutandStarfieldover the years.
Here’s the thing:The Elder Scrolls 6needs to let usactuallyclimb that mountain. I don’t mean walk up a path. I don’t mean to use a horse on impossible slopes. I don’t mean awkwardly hop backwards until I make my way up there.
I mean, climb.
Climbing In Games Has Become More Standard Now
Way back in the scarily distant days of 2017,The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildcame along and casually revolutionised the open-world genre. That’s a conversation you’ve probably heard many times, but one of the things it did was allow you to climb anything.
Like,anything.
To some extent, it’s strange that Link can seemingly grip onto a flat slab of slate and begin working his way up, but the freedom this feature gave us to explore a huge sandbox world was unlike anything we’d seen before.
Of course, a series likeAssassin’s Creedwas always notable for its parkour system, but it was only then, in 2018’sAssassin’s Creed: Odyssey, that you were let loose to climb cliffs and vertical terrain to your heart’s content. 2022’sHorizon Forbidden Westalso introduced more free-form climbing compared to 2017’sHorizon Zero Dawn.
Horizon Zero Dawn launched mere days before Breath of the Wild, marking it as the last open-world to hit shelves before Zelda came along to reinvent things.
Breath of the Wild also added gliders, which have arguably become a more common addition across games, fromGenshin Impact,Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Horizon Forbidden West again, and even the upcomingLight No Fire… Well, I don’t see The Elder Scrolls giving us gliders any time soon. Unless…
It’s Time For The Elder Scrolls 6 To Give Us More Freedom
The Elder Scrolls has always been about freedom. It’s a series that strives to set us loose in an expansive fantasy world, hiding away secrets and locations to discover in every square inch, with the means to become whoever we want to be. Well, what if I want to be a mountain climber, Todd?
The ability to climb whatever we want in The Elder Scrolls 6 would only give players more reasons to explore. With this, there is so much that would have otherwise been dead space, now able to house some new secrets and quests to uncover for years to come. Breath of the Wild fits 900 Koroks into its world, and while I don’t want 900 Stones of Barenziah in The Elder Scrolls 6, it does prove there’s more reason to explore when you’re free to explore anything.
Plus, wouldn’t you like to be a stealthy archer once more, only this time, climbing the rooftops of a city and marking your Dark Brotherhood contracts from out of sight, before making an escape where the guards can’t reach?
To limit the game without the means to climb is to condemn the formula of The Elder Scrolls never to evolve. There have been countless improvements to what’s possible in the genre since 2011, from Breath of the Wild toThe Witcher 3, and fromRed Dead Redemption 2toDeath Stranding 2.
Climbing is the biggest thing I’m hoping The Elder Scrolls 6 will adopt, as it’s easily the thing that will make the biggest difference to the overall experience.
But I will take a glider, if you have one.
