Hammerfell Would Have One Big Advantage Over Skyrim as a Setting

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 17, 2024 22 Views 7 Min Read
Hammerfell Would Have One Big Advantage Over Skyrim as a Setting



The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim‘s titular setting helped to establish a unique identity for the popular RPG. Skyrim‘s alpine locale and the Scandinavian-inspired culture of its inhabiting Nords combine to create a consistent vision for the world. This vision can be sensed in both the aesthetic and lore of the game, which helps to create a believable world for the player to explore. As memorable as the province of Skyrim is, it has a notable flaw that its sequel’s rumored setting could easily improve upon.




With so few details regarding The Elder Scrolls 6 made public, fans have gone back and forth theorizing about different aspects of the game. This includes where The Elder Scrolls 6 will take place. Tamriel is made up of many culturally unique provinces that could all benefit from a current-generation, mainline entry in the series. However, multiple rumors have already indicated that The Elder Scrolls 6 might be set in Hammerfell. If true, this next game’s open world could raise the bar for The Elder Scrolls series.

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While the scope of Skyrim’s story DLC was limited, Bethesda should have exactly what it needs to surpass hurdles from the past.

What Hammerfell Brings to the Table


Skyrim‘s setting is an iconic one that lends itself well to the game’s narrative. That said, it isn’t always the most intriguing open world to explore. Being in the northernmost region of Tamriel, Skyrim’s biomes primarily consist of snowy mountains, pine forests, and rocky coastline. Bethesda did a great job at varying the settlements and enemies located in each section of the map, but the environment itself can feel one-note after hours of exploration. This is where The Elder Scrolls 6‘s rumored Hammerfell setting has the opportunity to swoop in and immediately wow players.

Located to the southwest of Skyrim, the vast province of Hammerfell is the original homeland of the Redguards. Certain regions of Hammerfell have been explorable in The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, and most recently The Elder Scrolls Online. Hammerfell’s defining biome is the vast Alik’r Desert. Going from frigid mountain ranges to a vast desert would already be enough to differentiate The Elder Scrolls 6 from Skyrim. However, despite many common assumptions about the province, Hammerfell’s map has far more to offer than sand and rocks.


The Different Regions of Hammerfell

While Hammerfell’s last appearance in The Elder Scrolls Online mainly confined players to the Alik’r Desert and coastal regions like Hew’s Bane, the province’s geography in The Elder Scrolls lore is much more diverse. Besides the aforementioned biomes, Hammerfell is composed of mountains, jungles, grasslands, and forests. Having a map with this many contrasting areas would make The Elder Scrolls 6 a huge draw for fans of the series and anyone who was grabbed by Skyrim‘s setting.

Being able to travel through deserts, jungles, and mountain chains all in one game without needing any DLC or mod additions would make The Elder Scrolls 6 incredibly engaging to explore. Though the settings in mainline entries of The Elder Scrolls have featured unique subcultures and distinct lore from region to region, having noticeable aesthetic changes would make those differences all the more palpable. Exploration has always been a key aspect of Bethesda’s RPGs, and players would feel more motivated to delve into every nook and cranny of the map if each one didn’t feel copied and pasted.


Hammerfell’s Appeal Over Skyrim

With Skyrim‘s minimal number of biomes and limited color palette, many of the game’s forests and dungeons eventually begin to blend together in players’ minds. Having plants and architectural styles carry over from one corner of a province to the other makes the setting feel more convincing as a place that could actually exist, but this is fantasy, after all. Some players may want a map that is visually striking or simply more diverse across the board. The Elder Scrolls 6 distancing itself from Skyrim‘s visual homogeneity by staking its flag in Hammerfell would give this next entry an immediate leg up.

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